“A Democrat running for a crucial seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates performed sex acts with her husband for a live online audience and encouraged viewers to pay them with ‘tips’ for specific requests,” the Washington Post reports.
“Susanna Gibson, a nurse practitioner and mother of two young children running in a highly competitive suburban Richmond district, streamed sex acts on Chaturbate.”
“Virginia, whose off-year elections are usually closely watched as an indicator of the national mood, has been mostly out of the spotlight this year, overshadowed by the Republican presidential primary and the looming general election clash,” the New York Times reports.
“But with every seat in the Legislature up in eight weeks, the stakes are unusually high, with Republicans in position to swing the entire state, just four years after Democrats did the same. The effort, led by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a popular Republican with national ambitions, is likely to serve as an early read on the politics of 2024, spinning out lessons for both parties, especially on abortion.”
“Democrats have made abortion rights their top issue, warning that if Republicans win full control of the General Assembly, then Virginia will join other Southern states by sharply restricting abortion access.”
“Utah Republicans blocked an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump from the nomination for soon-to-be-vacant UT-02,” Politico reports.
“Instead, they nominated Celeste Maloy to succeed Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), who is resigning from Congress later this month to care for his ailing wife. Maloy, a former aide to Stewart, beat former state Rep. Becky Edwards and former state party chair Bruce Hough, who came in second and third, respectively.”
“Gabe Amo, a former aide to President Biden, emerged as the winner of a wide-open, twelve-candidate Democratic primary in Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District,” The Messenger reports.
“Just over a year before the 2024 elections, three races for governor in Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi are offering a window into the parties’ political strategies and how they might approach statewide and congressional contests next year,” the New York Times reports.
“Strikingly, even as former President Donald Trump’s indictments and President Biden’s polling struggles have consumed the national political conversation, the two men rarely show up in advertising for the three governor’s races.”
“Since July, nearly 150 ads have been broadcast across the contests. Just one ad mentioned Mr. Trump. Three brought up Mr. Biden.”
New York Times: “As Rhode Islanders return from their state’s well-loved beaches after the long Labor Day weekend, they will cast votes on Tuesday in a special primary election to determine who will replace former Representative David N. Cicilline, the seven-term Democrat who stepped down in May to become president of the Rhode Island Foundation.”
“His resignation, a surprise to much of the Rhode Island political world, gave rise to a crowded and chaotic contest during an otherwise sleepy summer political season. With 11 Democrats and two Republicans comprising a historically diverse field, the candidates regularly bump into one another at community festivals, ice cream socials, meet-and-greets and more as they try to prove themselves to voters.”
“Utah’s special election primary on Tuesday to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart could offer a glimpse into how Republican voters feel about a string of indictments against former President Donald Trump that haven’t deterred him from charging ahead with his 2024 presidential run,” the AP reports.
“Virginia voters’ choices this November will give crucial clues about the direction of the national elections next November, and about the political future of a rising Republican star: Gov. Glenn Youngkin,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Control of the state legislature is at stake, with all 140 seats in both chambers up for grabs. Democrats hold a slim majority in the Senate, Republicans have an edge in the House.”
“Youngkin, while not on the ballot, is pushing hard for a GOP trifecta so he can pass a 15-week abortion limit and other conservative priorities—and so he can burnish his reputation as a Republican who can win in swing territory after his 2021 victory put him on the national map.”
“President Biden directed the Democratic National Committee this week to pour $1.2 million into Virginia legislative races to counter record-smashing fundraising by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), whose prospects as a potential last-minute presidential candidate could rise or fall with the outcome on Nov. 7,” the Washington Post reports.
“The money will bring the DNC’s contributions to the Democratic Party of Virginia this year to $1.5 million — 15 times more than it invested four years ago, the last time all 140 seats in the state Senate and House of Delegates were on the ballot.”
A new Mississippi Today/Siena College poll shows incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves (R) is leading challenger Brandon Presley (D) by 11 points ahead of the November general election, 52% to 41%.
Williams College told Rhode Island congressional candidate Don Carlson (D) in 2019 “he couldn’t return to teach there in the future after administrators were alerted to an overture he made to a student,” WPRI reports.
“Carlson’s interaction with the student, a graduating senior, was eventually reported to Williams officials by a second student, who felt Carlson’s actions were inappropriate for a professor.”
After trying to kill the story for a week and then publicly denying its accuracy, Rhode Island congressional candidate Don Carlson (D) acknowledged Friday he broached a romantic relationship with a student while serving as a college professor, WPRI reports.
Carlson, a 62-year-old candidate for Congress, posted a video message on YouTube downplaying the episode, which occurred at Williams College in 2019 and was revealed earlier this week.
“The Ohio Ballot Board approved language Thursday for a fall measure seeking to establish abortion access as a fundamental right, but one Democratic member blasted it as ‘rife with misleading and defective language,’” the AP reports.
“Key among opponents’ objections is language developed by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, an abortion opponent, amid warnings the language could face a legal challenge even before the proposal goes before Ohio voters in November.”
“Among the new language, the word ‘fetus’ in the Democrats’ proposal was changed to ‘unborn child’ in the ballot measure.”
“An obscure race for county commissioner underway here in a suburb outside of Philadelphia could tell us a lot about who will win the presidential election in 2024,” Politico reports.
“Bucks County is one of the swingiest counties in one of the swingiest states in America.”
“This year it is home to a local race that has the hallmarks of a race for national office: Candidates sparring over book bans in schools, crime and public safety, and the security of democracy in the next presidential election.”
“I struggled with pornography and being exposed to it at a young age. Of course, that leads to, you know, sexual sin, masturbation and stuff. And so, that was a chronic habit that I had that just became a bad habit.”
— Pennsylvania congressional candidate Mark Houck (R), quoted by Politico on his “sexual sin.”
“A Connecticut alderman and mayoral candidate is pressing ahead with his campaign after being charged this week by federal prosecutors with illegally entering the U.S. Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021,” the AP reports.
“The Ohio Supreme Court cleared the path for a November vote on abortion access by rejecting a legal challenge to backers’ petitions,” the Columbus Dispatch reports.
“In a unanimous decision, the Ohio Supreme Court denied a lawsuit filed by several Republicans to boot the measure from the Nov. 7 ballot. The GOP politicos had argued that abortion rights activists failed to include on their petitions the language of state abortion laws that would be repealed if the constitutional amendment passed.”
CNN: “Ohio was once the most important presidential bellwether state on the map. In recent elections, it has shifted right – with former President Donald Trump carrying the Buckeye State twice and Republicans controlling the state government.”
“Tuesday’s outcome demonstrated that despite the state’s rightward drift, Republicans’ opposition to abortion rights continues to hamstring the party – and legislative pushes such as Issue 1 could shift the focus of elections in key states onto politically problematic ground for the GOP.”
New York Times: Ohio vote shows abortion’s potency to reshape elections.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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