The April 7th Wisconsin presidential primary on a ballot that also includes an election for an important state Supreme Court position, will move forward as scheduled according to rulings from two Supreme Courts. The primary date had become a political football with many Democrats urging Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican legislature to postpone the election in relation to Coronavirus precautions.
Gov. Evers had not joined the move chorus until this past week, but the legislative leaders would not go along. He then issued a State of Emergency and attempted to move to the election to June 9th. The legislative leaders petitioned the state Supreme Court to decide whether a Governor has such power, and the high panel ruled that the position does not brandish the unilateral power to move an election. Therefore, the vote will take place today in-person and through absentee balloting through the mail. The US Supreme Court also ruled on motion to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed the state to extend the absentee ballot deadline past the April 7th election guidelines that the state Board of Elections previously adopted. On a 5-4 vote, the SCOTUS issued the countermanding order. Tied to tonight’s results are 84 bound first ballot presidential nomination delegates. Gov. Tony Evers (D), previously rejecting pleas to move the state’s April 7th judicial and municipal election date, has now asked the legislature to postpone, but the General Assembly leadership has rejected such action at this late date. Therefore, this vote, and the May 12th special congressional election in District 7, will proceed under the state’s usual electoral procedure.
The Democratic National Committee officially announced yesterday that the party’s national convention will move from July 13-16 to August 17-20 and will end in Milwaukee just four days before the Republican National Convention commences in Charlotte. The Democrats are moving forward with their traditional convention, rejecting, at least for now, arguments to transform into an online national nominating meeting.
The move takes us back to the recent period when the two conventions ran back-to-back, with only days in between. The original 2020 schedule reverted to the timing of earlier decades when there was a month or so in between the two national political gatherings. The shorter time frame previously showed that the challenging party scheduled first typically received less of a post-convention polling bump than did the incumbent’s party. Historically, the party controlling the White House hosts the later nominating convention. Last night voters in northern Wisconsin chose party nominees to replace resigned Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wausau) who left Congress earlier in the year for family reasons. Republicans selected state Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) in a 57-43% win over Afghanistan War veteran Jason Church. Wausau School Board member Tricia Zunker, a consensus Democratic candidate, scored a major 89-11% landslide win in her primary contest. Republicans hold a clear advantage in this district, so Sen. Tiffany becomes the heavy favorite to win the special general election on May 12th.
Another special primary election is on the upcoming political calendar, this one in northwest Wisconsin on February 18th. The process will eventually designate a successor to resigned Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wausau). The early action will be in the Republican primary as state Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) and disabled American Army veteran and former congressional aide Jason Church square off for the party nomination.
According to reports just released for the pre-primary period ending January 29th, Mr. Church has raised $653,000 compared to Sen. Tiffany’s $463,000. The state legislator, however, has a little bit more cash on hand, approximately $208,000 to $189,000. For the entire special election cycle to date, Sen. Tiffany has pulled in over $719,000 as compared to Mr. Church’s $658,574. Both men have outside help. The Club for Growth and US Chamber of Commerce will be spending independent expenditure money for Sen. Tiffany, while the With Honor Fund, a veterans’ Organization, is backing Mr. Church. Wausau School Board member Tricia Zunker is expected to easily win the Democratic nomination but will be a major underdog against the eventual Republican nominee. The special general election is May 12th. Marquette Law School, a frequent political pollster of the Wisconsin electorate, conducted a new survey for their April 7th Democratic presidential primary (1/8-12; 800 WI registered voters; 358 likely WI Democratic primary voters) and found former Vice President Joe Biden clinging to a small 23-19-15-14-6-6% lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), ex-Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and businessman Andrew Yang. This poll suggests that Wisconsin is yet another state where four candidates could qualify to receive committed delegate votes.
Fox News’ third state from their latest polling series is the only one with a later primary. The organization’s Wisconsin survey (1/5-8; 671 WI likely primary voters) tests an electorate that won’t vote until April 7th. Here, we see Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) making a dash to the front as he comes in just two points behind former Vice President Joe Biden’s 23 percent. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), South Bend Mayor Peter Buttigieg, ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MA) follow with 11-9-7-4%, respectively. Wisconsin holds 84 first ballot delegates for the Democratic National Convention, an event for which Milwaukee is the host city.
Marquette Law School released its latest Wisconsin state poll on Friday (12/3-8; 800 WI registered voters), and the results basically confirm the Firehouse Strategies/Optimus surveys conducted within the same time frame. For Wisconsin, the Firehouse data projected President Trump to be leading all five of the top tier Democratic candidates.
Marquette’s result finds only former Vice President Joe Biden forging ahead of Mr. Trump in the Badger State, and then by only a single percentage point. The poll further finds the President leading all others by similar margins. Wisconsin can be viewed as one of the major barometer states for the coming campaign. Therefore, the research firms will be closely monitoring the candidates’ progress here throughout the election cycle. The candidates are now set for the February 18th special primary election to begin the process of replacing resigned Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wausau). Just four total candidates filed, meaning each party will see head-on primary contests.
For the Republicans, as expected, state Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Menomonee) and US Army Purple Heart veteran and former Senate staff member Jason Church will vie for the party nomination. The Democrats will see Wausau School Board member Tricia Zunker battle businessman Lawrence Dale. The two primary winners will advance to the special general election on May 12th. The eventual Republican nominee is favored to hold the seat. The Marquette University Law School pollsters released their quarterly survey of the Wisconsin electorate (11/13-17; 340 WI likely Democratic primary voters) and project that former Vice President Joe Biden is expanding his lead in the Badger State. The data shows Mr. Biden pulling 30% support, ahead of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who follow with 17 and 15%, respectively. Mayor Pete Buttigieg is trailing with 13%, but he expands into double digits for the first time in Wisconsin. The others are far back with no one even reaching 4 percent.
|
The Rundown BlogLearn more about the candidates running in key elections across the United States. Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|
|
BIPAC© 2022 BIPAC. All rights reserved
|