“Virginia’s board of elections has ruled that Del. Nicholas Freitas (R) did not qualify for the ballot this fall, upholding a finding from elections department staffers,” the Washington Post reports.
“The ruling amounts to an unforced error for state Republicans, who are scrambling to protect narrow majorities in the legislature with all 140 seats on the ballot this November.”
“President Trump’s reelection campaign is still a year away, but Kentucky is going to get a preview this fall,” Politico reports.
“Gov. Matt Bevin is clinging as tightly as he can to Trump — even borrowing some of his tactics — as he attempts to overcome rock-bottom approval ratings in a bid for a second term. The unpopular governor is counting on Trump’s appeal here — the president won Kentucky by 30 percentage points in 2016 — and conservative cultural positions to knock off his chief political rival, state Attorney General Andy Beshear, the son of Bevin’s predecessor.”
“Greg Murphy won Tuesday’s runoff for the Republican nomination in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District in a race that exposed a gender rift among U.S. House Republicans and attracted attention from some of the biggest names in Republican politics,” the Raleigh News and Observer reports.
“Murphy will be the favorite to represent the GOP-leaning district in Eastern North Carolina.”
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Dan Bishop (R), who is running in the do-over election in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district, likened his efforts to undermine LGBTQ rights via religious exemptions to the work of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved Jews during the Holocaust, the HuffPost reports.
“Under normal circumstances, the Kentucky governor’s race would be all but over except for the concession phone call. The incumbent running for re-election this year is a conservative Republican in a state that has recently become as red as hot coal, where unemployment is as low as it has been in nearly two decades and most of the voters are still crazy about the governor’s ally, President Trump,” the New York Times reports.
But, said former Gov. Paul Patton (D): “This is not a normal governor’s race. We’ve got an abnormal governor.”
The Cook Political Report sees the Kentucky gubernatorial race between Gov. Matt Bevin (R) and Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) as a Toss Up.
“There haven’t been any recent general election polling, but we suspect that a reliable poll would show the race within the margin of error. We wouldn’t even be surprised to see polling showing Beshear ahead, at least at the start.”
Pennsylvania state Rep. Fred Keller (R) easily defeated Marc Friedenberg (D) in a special election Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s 12th district, Roll Call reports.
Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) marched to victory in the Democratic primary for governor Tuesday, laying the groundwork for a battle with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) that has been festering in Frankfort for three years, the Lexington Herald Leader reports.
“The two political rivals, who have sniped at each other from their first-floor offices in the Capitol, will move their fight to the campaign trail until Nov. 5. Beshear won Kentucky’s two largest cities to hold off House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins’ rural surge and set up the familiar storyline for the fall.”
“On his Air Force One flight to Louisiana earlier this week, President Trump tried to persuade Rep. Steve Scalise to run for governor of Louisiana,” Axios reports.
“The president’s personal appeal to the second highest ranking Republican in the House shows how determined Republicans are to knock off Louisiana Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards.”
Even though President Trump won the district by 12 points in 2016, the Cook Political Report still rates the do-over election in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district a Toss Up.
“We’re keeping this contest in the Toss Up column for now, but these latest developments are all encouraging signs for Republicans. Ultimately, they’re defending a seat that is still very red in nature, even if the oddities that preceded another vote still leaves quite a bit in limbo to give Democrats an opening.”
North Carolina state Sen. Dan Bishop (R) won the Republican nomination to face veteran Dan McCready (D) in September’s do-over election in North Carolina’s scandal-plagued 9th Congressional District, after last year’s results were thrown out amid allegations of election fraud, the Washington Post reports.
Bishop authored the 2016 “bathroom bill,” which was later repealed, requiring transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate.
Wall Street Journal: “Republicans are looking to avoid a runoff in Tuesday’s primary for North Carolina’s do-over Ninth Congressional District race, a possibility that seemed unlikely in March when 10 candidates filed for the empty seat.”
“Avoiding a four-month runoff would be a boon to the Republican candidate, who will face Democrat Dan McCready in the fall. Mr. McCready had $1.6 million in cash on hand as of April 24 … In a recent poll, State Sen. Dan Bishop was the top candidate, with 31% support, while Stony Rushing, a gun-range owner and Union County commissioner, had 17%.”
A new JMC Analytics survey in Louisiana finds Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) is leading his Republican gubernatorial challengers by several points in a new poll, but is still well short of the 50% needed to win re-election.
Edwards leads with 38%, followed by Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-LA) at 23% and Eddie Rispone at 7%. Another 32% are still undecided.
Edwards is also leading Abraham and Rispone in runoff scenarios, which pollster John Couvillon deems likely.
“Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) is a presidential phone-buddy and White House regular who’s become one of President Trump’s loudest surrogates,” Politico reports.
“He’s also one of the most unpopular governors in the country, facing a treacherous reelection in November. And the White House, fearing that an embarrassing loss in a deep-red state would stoke doubts about the president’s own ability to win another term, is preparing to go all-in to save him.”
“Wisconsin voters on Tuesday delivered a stinging defeat to Democrats hoping to hold a seat on the state Supreme Court — and a hint that a sleeping Republican base is beginning to wake up just in time for the 2020 presidential election,” The Hill reports.
“Just weeks ago, Democrats believed their preferred candidate, Judge Lisa Neubauer, was the heavy favorite. Her opponent, Judge Brian Hagedorn, a conservative former aide to ex-Gov. Scott Walker (R), spent nearly the entire race defending himself from attacks over blog posts he wrote that laid out controversial views of gay rights and public religion.”
Lori Lightfoot was elected the next mayor of Chicago, making her the city’s first African-American female mayor, the AP reports.
“Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot face off Tuesday in a historic election that will see Chicago elect its first black woman mayor,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
“Preckwinkle and Lightfoot emerged from a field of 14 candidates in February, with Lightfood receiving 17.5 percent of the votes while Preckwinkle got 16.1 percent. Since then, the rivals have tried to one-up each other on their progressive credentials, with each trying to paint the other as a product of the Democratic machine.”
A new WTTW/Crain’s Temkin/Harris poll in Chicago finds Lori Lightfoot leads Toni Preckwinkle by a whopping 53% to 17% in the mayoral runoff, with another 29% still undecided.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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