Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold
Leading Off:
• TX-27: On Tuesday, the news broke that Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold's former communications director was suing her former boss for sexual harassment. It also doesn't help Farenthold's situation that we just learned that he owned the domain name "Blow-me.org" for well over a decade (It's unclear if former Rep. Ben Quayle ever got the chance to guest-blog). Furthermore, on Thursday a collection of some of Farenthold's online writings from 2006 to 2010 were unearthed and they do nothing to help his reputation. Farenthold's travails don't look like they'll be going away anytime soon, and local Republicans are talking about a primary challenge.
According to The Texas Tribune, Debra Medina is being mentioned as a potential contender. The tea partier placed third in the 2010 gubernatorial primary, and she made news for showing some 9/11 truther tendencies. Earlier this year Medina ran for comptroller but again took a distant third. So far Medina is defending Farenthold, tweeting, "Remember innocent until proven guilty though even the accusation taints the office." She's unlikely to be the only name we hear though: Romney won this Corpus Christi-based seat 61-38, and there's no shortage of Republican office holders in the area.
Farenthold has actually been very lucky to avoid any real intra-party opposition up till now. The congressman was a virtual unknown in 2010 when he won a Democratic-held seat in a low-turnout fluke, and under normal circumstances he would have quickly faced a real challenge (see Bentivolio, Kerry). However, while a few serious Republicans talked about primarying him in 2012, it never happened. Farenthold's district was dramatically redrawn late in 2011, and evidently no one felt that they had enough time to organize a campaign. Farenthold easily won renomination in 2012 and 2014, and he looked likely to keep his accidental seat as long as he wanted it. But unless this story disappears, Farenthold's luck may finally have run out.
Senate:
• KY-Sen: We recently highlighted Republican Sen. Rand Paul's daring attempt to run for president and for re-election at the same time, even though it's against Kentucky law. Paul probably wasn't counting on Democratic Secretary of State Alison Grimes to make things easy for him, so he won't be disappointed to hear that she will challenge the senator in court if he tries appearing on the same ballot twice.
Paul's legislative allies tried to change the law earlier this year but were blocked by the Democratic state House. Speaker Greg Stumbo memorably declared, "Our position is that a man who can't decide which office to run for isn't fit for either office," and he isn't going to budge. Paul may try replacing the May Republican primary with a March caucus, which would keep his name from appearing on the same ballot twice. But it also sounds like Paul is preparing to take this to court. Either way, this matter is far from over.
Gubernatorial:
• NC-Gov: Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that Republican Gov. Pat McCrory received $171,000 from the mortgage broker Tree.com for his work on their corporate board. McCrory resigned a month into his governorship, and later appointed members of a banking regulation panel. It's not a good story but unless there are a lot more shoes to drop, it feels like one of those stories that will burn out long before McCrory needs to face the voters in November 2016.
Still, McCrory's team seems to be taking this very seriously. They spent Wednesday bashing the AP and doing everything they could to debunk the article. As the News & Observer points out, this is pretty standard operating practice for McCrory. In the past, they've aggressively gone after unflattering news stories, and they may not be especially worried about this one. Still, it's worth keeping an eye on this whole matter to see if things develop.
Other Races:
• Columbus Mayor: As expected, City Council President Andrew Ginther has jumped into next year's open seat race, and outgoing Mayor Michael Coleman wasted little time waiting to endorse him. So far fellow Democrat and Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott is the only other declared candidate, but plenty of other contenders are considering a bid.
• Memphis Mayor: Tennessee's largest city will hold its mayoral election next year on Oct. 8, and plenty of candidates are looking at running. Mayor A C Wharton is seeking re-election but he'll face some credible opposition. Former Shelby County Commissioner James Harvey is already running, and Councilor Harold Collins has formed an exploratory committee. Fellow city Councilor Jim Strickland is also a potential candidate, and on Thursday a new name emerged.
Shelby County Commission chairman Justin Ford confirmed his interest, saying he'll decide early next year. Ford is a member of the locally prominent dynasty, and like many of his family members his career has been filled with controversy. Over the summer his residency was investigated. Ford also inflamed fellow Democratic commissioners by relying on Republican votes to become chairman. If Ford runs for mayor, expect a lot of people to work hard to stop him.
Grab Bag:
• Site News: Daily Kos Elections will be going on a modified schedule for the final two weeks of the year. We'll be back to publishing the Digest regularly in 2015. Happy holidays!
The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir and Jeff Singer, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Taniel, and Dreaminonempty.