Tricia Zunker (D), the Wausau School Board member who lost a wide 57-43% to Rep-Elect Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) in the special election earlier this month, announced that she will file to run for the full term in the regular primary (August 11th) and general election. Candidate filing is fast approaching on June 1st. Considering the size of his May 12th victory, Rep-Elect Tiffany will be rated a heavy favorite to win the full term.
A large slate of candidates will adorn the jungle primary ballot in Washington State on August 4th, with the top two finishers in every election advancing to the general. There is no Senate race in Washington this year, and among the ten House campaigns only two appear competitive.
The 3rd District again features a battle between five-term Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Battle Ground/Vancouver) and college professor Carolyn Long (D). The Congresswoman won an expensive 2018 campaign with a 53-47% margin. The open 10th District (Rep. Denny Heck-D running for Lt. Governor) that sits in the Olympia area will likely remain in Democratic hands, but it is unclear who will emerge. Eight Democrats, eight Republicans, and three Independents will be on the jungle primary ballot. One race that was competitive in 2018 but won’t be in 2020 is in the eastern 5th District. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Spokane) only faces comedian Chris Armitage (D) this year, and he hasn’t even filed a 2nd Quarter campaign finance disclosure report, meaning virtually no money has been raised. Gabriela Linder, a former US Senate intern who had a past love affair with current Nevada US Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Las Vegas), has publicly asked the Congressman to resign his seat. Ms. Linder said that Mr. Horsford, according to the Daily Kos Elections news site, "…obtained his position under false pretenses that he was a family man and man of God. He should take a step back, atone, and if people are satisfied, then he can come back into politics."
Rep. Horsford said the affair, which he acknowledged, does not have any bearing on his ability to perform his congressional duties. Eight Republicans are vying for their party nomination to oppose Mr. Horsford in the Fall. Five Democrats are challenging him in the June 9th primary election. Since the COVID-19 virus became omni-present, a state law was enacted to give the Lt. Governor, the chief elections officer in Alaska, the ability to order an all-mail election. Yesterday, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer (R) announced that the August 18th primary would proceed as usual, rejecting the all-mail option citing potential voter fraud. Mr. Meyer said, “that’s 600,000 unsecured ballots that are either sitting in the post office, sitting on your kitchen table, or in the garbage can. And that’s very concerning to us.”
The Pennsylvania state Supreme Court, overturned a lower court ruling that allowed voters to return their primary absentee ballots after the election so long as the envelope was postmarked by election day. The plaintiffs were asking for a seven-day post-election period for the various county election departments to receive ballots. The high court’s action means that local authorities must receive all ballots by June 2nd.
The Texas state Supreme Court, overturning a lower court ruling, disallowed the all-mail voting option for the coming July 14th runoff and general elections. The mail voting issue may not be settled, however. Two more lawsuits, both addressing the same all-mail option issues, remain alive in a pair of federal courts.
Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who was one of the first 2020 presidential candidates to exit the national race, is running for a third term in his home state. He is a clear favorite for re-election, but the jungle primary will be interesting. He faces no less than 35 opponents who just completed the candidate filing process on Friday.
Last week, Public Opinion Strategies (5/7-10; 500 GA likely voters) released a survey showing Sen. David Perdue (R) leading Democrat Jon Ossoff by just two percentage points, 43-41%. The Republican survey research firm BK Strategies, polling for the Republican State Leadership Committee (5/11-13; 700 GA likely voters; 100-person over-sample in Cobb and Gwinnett Counties), sees a bit better results for Sen. Perdue. Their data posts him to a 46-41% edge over Mr. Ossoff. The sampling group also gave the Senator a 45:28% favorable to unfavorable rating.
Like with the Public Opinion Strategies poll, BK only tested Mr. Ossoff against Sen. Perdue. Former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson is challenging Ossoff for the nomination, and him winning the Democratic primary is not a foregone conclusion. Coming off four consecutive April-May polls that found Sen. Thom Tillis (R) trailing Democratic nominee Cal Cunningham, East Carolina University just released their latest data (5/7-9; 1,111 NC registered voters) that sees the Senator rebounding to take a slight 41-40% advantage. The previous May poll from the Civiqs organization for the Daily Kos Elections website (5/2-4; 1,362 NC registered voters) projected Mr. Cunningham to a large 50-41% lead.
Interestingly, though the detected margin between the candidates in the two polls was much different, each found Sen. Tillis pulling 41% support. The Georgia primary has already been moved from May 19th to June 9th as a result of COVID-19 precautions, but a number of voting rights groups coalesced to file a lawsuit asking for the election to again be delayed, this time until June 30th. On Friday, a federal judge sitting in the Northern District of Georgia, rejected the lawsuit, saying moving the primary is a “nonjusticiable political question," therefore, it will remain on June 9th. Judge Timothy Batten said that the election scheduling issue is a matter for the legislature and Governor to decide.
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