The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
● CT-Gov: The Connecticut GOP held their state party convention over the weekend, and there were some significant developments in the crowded August primary to succeed Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton won the state party endorsement and a place on the primary ballot, but because Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst and businessman Steve Obsitnik each secured the support of at least 15 percent of the delegates, they also will be on the ballot.
Campaign Action
Following the vote, some other Republicans ended their campaigns, while others are continuing on without knowing if they'll make it to the primary. New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart announced on Friday, the day before delegates voted on the party endorsement, that she was dropping out of the race and would instead run for lieutenant governor. Meanwhile, former Stamford Director of Administration Michael Handler and former United States Comptroller General David Walker didn't hit the 15 percent threshold, and they each announced on Monday that they would drop their respective bids.
Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti and state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan also didn't hit 15 percent, but they both took out paperwork to collect petitions to make it to the primary ballot. They're following the path laid out by two wealthy businessmen, David Stemerman and Bob Stefanowski, who both decided weeks ago not to compete at the convention and to instead concentrate on getting signatures.
In order to make it to the ballot, these petitioning candidates need to turn in valid signatures from 2 percent of registered Republicans in the state, which amounts to about 9,000 voters, by June 12. While getting on the ballot this way is de rigueur in many other states, according to the Connecticut Mirror, only one candidate has ever successfully qualified for a statewide primary in state history by collecting signatures: In 2010, Peter Schiff pulled this off in the U.S. Senate race, an effort that cost a hefty $150,000. (For all his trouble, Schiff ended up taking third place.)
Lauretti himself tried making the ballot for lieutenant governor this way in 2014 but fell 1,467 signatures short of the 8,190 needed. And to put the burden of petitioning in context, Lauretti only had $149,000 in his campaign coffers as of April 10—as much as it cost Schiff to get on the ballot.
Democrats, meanwhile, will hold their convention this weekend ahead of their own primary contest. Only four candidates will be competing there: former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz; former Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs Sean Connolly; Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim; and businessman and 2006 Senate nominee Ned Lamont. A fifth candidate, businessman Guy Smith, is skipping the convention and just collecting signatures.
Democratic candidates will also need the support of at least 15 percent of the delegates or signatures from 2 percent of registered party voters to advance to August. However, since there are significantly more registered Democrats than Republicans in Connecticut, petitioning candidates need to collect about 15,500 valid signatures.
Primary Day
● Primary Day: The Raul Labradoring: The primary season continues on Tuesday in Idaho, Oregon, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania, and we've put together our guide of what's on tap.
The main event is in Pennsylvania, where the state Supreme Court struck down the GOP's congressional gerrymander in January and redrew the map completely. Idaho Republicans also have a competitive three-way race for governor between Rep. Raul Labrador, a notorious tea party bomb thrower; Lt. Gov. Brad Little, who has the support of much of the party establishment; and physician and developer Tommy Ahlquist, who began airing ads a year ago. We'll also be watching the GOP primary for governor in Oregon and House primaries in Idaho and Nebraska.
Things kick off at 8 PM ET when polls close in Pennsylvania, and Nebraska closes an hour later. Polls close in the portion of Idaho located in the Mountain Time Zone at 10 PM ET, and in the rest of the state at 11 PM ET. Oregon votes entirely by mail, but ballots must be received by election authorities by 11 PM ET (and 10 PM ET in the small portion of the state in the Mountain time zone). We hope you'll join us at Daily Kos Elections on Tuesday for our liveblog of all of the races on the docket: You can also follow us on Twitter, where we'll be live-tweeting the results. And check out our calendar for a look at primary nights to come.
Senate
● FL-Sen: Republican Gov. Rick Scott's latest TV ad for the Senate race is a Spanish-language spot that praises him for helping Puerto Ricans recovering from the devastation of last year's Hurricane Maria, while it also touts his record creating jobs.
● IN-Sen: Republican group One Nation has launched a TV ad attacking Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly for opposing the GOP's tax law. It's unclear how much they're spending on it, since it's an "issue" ad that doesn't have to play by the same disclosure rules as ads that urge viewers to vote for or against a candidate.
● MO-Sen: It's another icky poll for Republican Josh Hawley, who once again trails Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill 48-44 in a new poll from Democratic pollster TJP Strategies on behalf of the tipsheet Missouri Scout (whose proprietor, Dave Drebes, graciously provided the numbers to us). That's the exact same result as last month, but one thing has gotten worse for the GOP: Gov. Eric Greitens' job approval rating, which slipped from an already-bad 37-51 to an even-more-terrible 34-53.
● MT-Sen: State Auditor Matt Rosendale's latest ad ahead of the June 5 GOP primary attacks Democratic Sen. Jon Tester over his opposition to Trump's tax law. The spot tries to tie Tester to Nancy Pelosi and criticizes him for calling the tax law "one of the shittiest bills" ever, although the commercial censors the phrase.
● VA-Sen: The NRA has endorsed state Del. Nick Freitas ahead of the June 12 Republican primary for Senate.
● WI-Sen: Republicans held their state party convention over the weekend, and the party delegates voted 73-27 to endorse state Sen. Leah Vukmir over businessman Kevin Nicholson in the primary for Senate. Unlike in neighboring Minnesota, party conventions in Wisconsin aren't so important that candidates often drop out if they don't win the endorsement. However, it still sends a signal that the state party establishment favors Vukmir and gives her access to their donor list and field offices.
● WV-Sen: Now that last Tuesday's GOP primary has concluded, Republican pollster WPA Intelligence is out with a survey testing the general election matchup between Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Republican state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. The firm has Morrisey leading 46-44, but it's hard to know whether or not that result is close to the mark, given that we have had no general election polls here for several months.
Gubernatorial
● AL-Gov: Evangelical Minister Scott Dawson has launched his first TV ad ahead of the June 5 Republican primary for governor. The spot features Dawson talking about how hard-working his father was even in the face of adversity and how it's essential that people have hope for a better future.
● CA-Gov: California's top-two gubernatorial primary is well underway, and several candidates have recently released new TV ads. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, talks about the importance of "standing up for people who work hard." He claims he'll "take on the school establishment," by which he means (but doesn't say aloud) that he'll support charter schools and butt heads with teachers' unions. By contrast, Democratic state Treasurer John Chiang is up with an ad attacking Villaraigosa over his record of "failure" as mayor, blasting him for driving Los Angeles to "the brink of bankruptcy." The ad closes by praising Chiang's tenure overseeing the state's finances.
Meanwhile, businessman John Cox, a Republican, has a new ad that promotes his conservative bona fides, saying he opposes California being a "sanctuary state" for refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and that he wants to repeal the gas tax that Democrats passed last year. The second half of the ad hits Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom for being a "career politician," supposedly loving every tax he meets, and allegedly wanting to protect "illegal alien felons."
● GA-Gov: PowerPAC has a new TV ad boosting former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams ahead of next week's Democratic primary. The spot highlights her background growing up in a family "dedicated to church and doing what's right for others." It touts her hard work to get to where she is today and praises her for taking care of her family after Hurricane Katrina. The spot lauds her for fighting for public education and gun-safety measures.
● HI-Gov: The Hawaii State Teachers Association has endorsed Gov. David Ige in the Aug. 11 Democratic primary, where he faces Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and former state Sen. Clayton Hee. The union has 13,700 members statewide and previously backed Ige when he successfully challenged then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie in the 2014 primary.
● NV-Gov: A PAC linked to the Clark County Education Association has debuted a 15-second TV ad attacking Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani for not listening to a citizen who was speaking at a public debate ahead of the June Democratic primary.
● OH-Gov: GOP Gov. John Kasich has finally endorsed state Attorney General Mike DeWine, who beat Kasich's preferred choice, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, in last week's Republican primary. Kasich had previously tried to tie his support for DeWine to the latter changing his position on Medicaid expansion and the JobsOhio program, which DeWine had previously stated he wants to change or partly dismantle.
● SC-Gov: Gov. Henry McMaster has launched his first negative TV ad against former state cabinet official Catherine Templeton in the Republican primary. The spot shows McMaster with Trump, while it accuses Templeton of having voted against former Gov. Nikki Haley when the latter was running for office. The commercial claims Templeton is getting millions of dollars in support from an outside group that tried to stop Trump in 2016, noting by contrast that Trump has endorsed McMaster.
House
● AZ-02: Former state Rep. and 2016 nominee Matt Heinz has released an FM3 Research poll of the Democratic primary for the open Tucson-area 2nd District. The survey gives him a 27-23 edge over former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, while no other candidate tops 6 percent.
Kirkpatrick has so far dominated the money chase, though, having raised $507,000 in the first quarter and finishing March with $822,000 on-hand. By contrast, Heinz raised a mere $55,000 from donors, but a self-loan of $250,000 allowed him to end the quarter with $429,000 in the bank. Furthermore, former Defense Department official Mary Matiella had only $61,000 on-hand and doesn't look like she'll have the resources to be competitive. With the DCCC firmly in Kirkpatrick's corner, it's hard not to see her as the favorite in the late-August primary despite Heinz's poll.
Meanwhile on the Republican side, Lea Marquez Peterson, who is the president and CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, raised a decent $284,000 and had $428,000 in the bank. She faces no major opposition for the Republican nomination to succeed GOP Rep. Martha McSally, who is running for Senate.
● AL-02, MN-03, NE-02, VA-10: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is closely aligned with the GOP establishment, is airing positive TV ads on behalf of four Republican incumbents, three of which are backed with a $250,000 buy, while the ad in VA-10 is for $350,000. Each ad praises the Republicans for voting for Trump's tax law, while they also include a localized touch. The Chamber repeatedly calls AL-02 Rep. Martha Roby a conservative who helped grow the economy; Roby is the only one of the four who faces a competitive primary.
In MN-03, the Chamber touts Rep. Erik Paulsen for "[leading] the fight against [the] medical device tax." Meanwhile, in NE-02 they use ominous images of Nancy Pelosi to argue Democrats will repeal the tax law if Rep. Don Bacon loses, using a groan-worthy closing line: "With Don in Congress, Nebraska is bringing home the bacon. And you can never have too much bacon." Finally, the VA-10 ad features several women repeatedly saying Rep. Barbara Comstock "is with us" while they praise her supposedly bipartisan work on issues like transportation.
● CT-05: Former Meriden Mayor Manny Santos has won the Republican convention endorsement in Connecticut's 5th District, guaranteeing him a spot on the Aug. 14 primary ballot. Retired psychology professor Ruby O'Neill and businessman Rich DuPont, the latter of whom we hadn't previously mentioned before, both secured the minimum of 15 percent on the first ballot necessary to qualify for the primary; O'Neill said she will stay in the race, but DuPont's position is unknown. Finally, Simsbury Town Tourism Committee member Liz Peterson failed to make it to the primary.
● FL-06: Former Vice President Joe Biden has endorsed Clinton-era Deputy National Security Advisor Nancy Soderberg in the late August Democratic primary. Soderberg, who is on the DCCC's Red to Blue list, is the front-runner, but she unexpectedly faces two well-funded primary foes: radiologist Stephen Sevigny and travel agency owner John Upchurch.
● GA-06: Everytown For Gun Safety has dropped a hefty $540,000 on TV ads in support of prominent gun-safety activist Lucy McBath ahead of the May 22 Democratic primary to face GOP Rep. Karen Handel.
Everytown's decision to get involved is especially good news for McBath because she's been badly outspent by both of her main primary rivals. From April 1 to May 2 (which the FEC defines as the pre-primary period), businessman Kevin Abel outspent former local TV news anchor Bobby Kaple $310,000 to $179,000, while McBath deployed just $22,000. If no one takes a majority next week, there would be a July 24 runoff.
● KY-06: With one week to go before the Democratic primary, retired Marine Lt. Col. Amy McGrath is up with a TV spot starring retired Marine Gen. Charles Bolden, who was Obama's NASA administrator. Bolden lays out his long resume before saying that after McGrath "inspired thousands of young girls across the country, I just say I was Amy McGrath's commanding general." Bolden tells the viewers they have the chance to vote for someone "really special" who can "fix a broken Congress."
The contest to take on GOP Rep. Andy Barr has been very expensive. Lexington Mayor Jim Gray outspent McGrath by a small $580,000 to $560,000 during the pre-primary period, though he held a larger $437,000 to $302,000 cash-on-hand edge on May 2. A third Democrat, state Sen. Reggie Thomas, dropped just $30,000 during this time. Barr, who faces no serious primary opposition, has amassed a hefty $2.3 million war chest, though both Gray and McGrath have demonstrated that they can raise money quickly.
● MD-06: Pediatrician and best-selling novelist Nadia Hashimi has debuted her first TV ad ahead of the Democratic primary for the open 6th District. The ad opens by asking, "Is there a female doctor in the House?" then pointing out how no women physicians are currently serving in the Congress. She promises to protect Planned Parenthood, combat the opioid epidemic, ban assault weapons, and fight for better access to health care. Hashimi closes by saying there are too many millionaires and politicians in Congress "mansplaining" health care.
● NJ-05: Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan has gone up on the air with his first TV ad ahead of the June 5 Republican primary. The commercial bear-hugs Trump and rattles off a list of conservative priorities, such as being "pro-life," protecting the Second Amendment, and building Trump's border wall.
● NM-01: The Latino Victory Fund is spending $334,000 to produce and air a new ad in support of retired law school professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, one of the leading Democrats in next month's primary for New Mexico's open 1st Congressional District. The spot praises Sedillo Lopez for representing women, immigrants, and families, saying she supports "health care for all" and will "protect our DREAMers from Donald Trump." It's not clear whether the ad is airing on TV, digital platforms, or both.
● NY-18, NY-04, NY-AG: Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney had initially submitted his name to be considered as a possible replacement for former state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who abruptly resigned amid sexual assault allegations last week, but he's now withdrawn from the process and given his support to Acting Attorney General Barbara Underwood for the job. However, Maloney says he's still thinking about running for the job for a full term this fall and promised a decision "soon."
Maloney previously sought the post in 2006 but came in a very distant third with just 9 percent in the Democratic primary. (The winner of that race was now-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.) Maloney then went on to oust GOP Rep. Nan Hayworth in New York's 18th Congressional District in 2012 and easily held this seat (based in New York City's northern suburbs) against weak GOP opposition in 2016, even though it swung from 51-47 Obama to 49-47 Trump.
If Maloney were in fact to run for attorney general again, though, he could face some very tricky legal obstacles. That's because he's already filed to run for re-election to Congress, and since he was the only Democrat to do so in his district, he'll formally become the nominee after next month's primary. The problem is that state law doesn't allow candidates to be nominated for two offices at once, and the primary for state offices isn't until September. (We explain why New York is the only state in the nation to hold its state and federal primaries on separate days here.)
Maloney would therefore have to find a way to get off the ballot for Congress, which is seldom an easy thing in New York. And even if he could, that might shaft Democrats, because they'd have to find a replacement candidate in the 18th who'd then have little time to campaign against Republican James O'Donnell, an Orange County legislator who's raised a bit of money.
The same conundrum, incidentally, would also apply to Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice, who represents the 4th District on Long Island and also lost a primary for attorney general herself once before, back in 2010. Rice hasn't publicly confirmed her interest in another bid, but Nassau County Democratic Chair Jay Jacobs said last week that she was considering. Rice's seat went from 56-43 Obama to 53-44 Clinton and Republicans don't appear to have fielded a serious candidate here, so her departure would pose less of a risk than Maloney's as long as Democrats could replace her on the ballot. The filing deadline to run for state office in New York is July 12.
● SC-01: Now this here's a fun one. State Rep. Katie Arrington, who's challenging Rep. Mark Sanford in the June 12 GOP primary, just released a new TV ad, and its themes will be … familiar. Walking in the woods, Arrington declares, "Mark Sanford and the career politicians cheated on us. We sent him to do a job but he left his post and set off down a long trail towards obstructionism." After trashing Sanford for criticizing Donald Trump, she concludes, "Bless his heart, but it’s time for Mark Sanford to take a hike—for real this time." ("Bless your heart," by the way, is a seemingly sweet-sounding Southernism that actually means "oh, you poor, benighted bastard.")
But while this latest spot is Arrington's sixth, Sanford is only just now launching his first pair of ads, platitudinous spots which both mention (but don't focus on) his support for "the wall." Oddly, he doesn't seem able to mention Trump by name, only referring to "the president and others."
● TN-02: Jason Emert, the chair of the Young Republicans National Federation and one of three noteworthy candidates running for Tennessee's open 2nd Congressional District, is up on the airwaves with his first TV ad. It's pretty anodyne stuff for a GOP primary: America is great, he says, because of "our God-given liberty, endowed by our creator," but we're threatened by "a failing Washington." Sure, there are some images of Nancy Pelosi and some footage of the candidate with a rifle slung over his shoulder, but it's a pretty lean helping of red meat. Emert faces Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and state Rep. Jimmy Matlock (Maaatlooock!), along with several minor opponents, in the Aug. 2 primary.
● TX-02: Until recently, most of the outside spending for the May 22 GOP primary runoff in Texas' 2nd Congressional District benefited retired Navy SEAL Dan Crenshaw over state Rep. Kevin Roberts. However, the Houston Chronicle writes that a group called Conservative Results Matter has spent at least $590,000 against Crenshaw in this suburban Houston seat.
CRM's TV spot features snippets from a 2015 Facebook post Crenshaw wrote denouncing Trump. The narrator reads out the words "Insane. Hateful. Idiot," explaining that those were words that "so-called Republican Dan Crenshaw used to describe President Trump."
The ad then declares that Crenshaw actually supports "Bernie and Obama's radical bureaucratic takeover of healthcare and drug costs," and "wants amnesty for illegal immigrants. Yet Crenshaw called Trump an idiot." The commercial features plenty of pictures of Crenshaw, but it only shows him from the left side. Crenshaw lost his right eye in Afghanistan and wears an eye patch, something that CRM doesn't exactly want to remind the viewer about. However, CRM's ads could risk inviting a backlash that only boosts Crenshaw.
Roberts, who has the support of the NRA and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett (a position akin to county executive), took first place in the March primary with 33 percent of the vote, while Crenshaw upset wealthy GOP donor Kathaleen Wall 27.4-27.1 to win second place. The runoff started amicably, with the two opponents initially making plans to visit a gun range together, but as the above ad shows, things have become a lot nastier recently.
But it's not just outside groups that are throwing mud. Crenshaw himself has accused Roberts of disrespecting both his military experience and all veterans, while Roberts has said that an old Crenshaw Facebook post demeaned Christianity.
The contest has also become expensive. While Roberts outspent Crenshaw $191,000 to $170,000 from April 1 to May 2 (which the FEC defines as the pre-primary period), outside spending has very much favored Crenshaw so far. A group called American Patriots PAC has spent $233,000 so far, and they've aired ads praising Crenshaw and portraying Roberts as a typical politician trying to smear his heroic opponent. With Honor Fund, a super PAC that seeks to elect veterans from both parties, has also spent $550,000 promoting Crenshaw. The $590,000 buy from Conservative Results Matter was the first major outside buy for Roberts' side.
This seat went from 63-36 Romney to 52-43 Trump. While it's going to be tough to flip it, Democratic nominee Todd Litton ended March with a credible $242,000 in the bank, and he could benefit if the GOP runoff ends with some lingering hurt feelings.
Legislative
● Specials Elections: Five specials are on tap Tuesday, with summaries provided by (you guessed it) Johnny Longtorso:
Alabama SD-26: This is an open Democratic seat in Montgomery. Quinton Ross resigned to become president of Alabama State University. The Democratic nominee is Montgomery City Councilman David Burkette, while the Republican nominee is veteran DJ Johnson. Daily Kos Elections has not yet calculated presidential election results for Alabama's legislative districts, due to serious difficulties with the state's data (including court-ordered redistricting, changes in precincts, and a simple lack of necessary data in many cases).
Alabama HD-04: This is an open Republican seat in the north of the state, just outside of Huntsville. Micky Hammon was removed from office after he pleaded guilty to mail fraud. The Democratic nominee is Juanita Allen Healy, an event coordinator. The Republican nominee is Parker Moore, a marketing representative. Also on the ballot is independent Pete Willis, a machine shop owner.
Pennsylvania HD-48: This is an open Democratic seat in Washington County, southwest of Pittsburgh. Brandon Neuman vacated the seat after being appointed to a judgeship. The candidates are Democrat Clark Mitchell Jr., an attorney; Republican Timothy O'Neal, an army veteran and HR director; and Libertarian Demosthenes Agoris, a member of the Houston Borough Council. This seat went 55-41 for Donald Trump in 2016 and 53-45 for Mitt Romney in 2012.
Pennsylvania HD-68: This is an open Republican seat along the New York state line. Matthew Baker resigned upon taking a position with the Department of Health and Human Services. The Democratic nominee is teacher Carrie Heath, while the Republican nominee is construction subcontractor Clint Owlett. This seat went 75-21 for Trump in 2016 and 67-31 for Romney in 2012.
Pennsylvania HD-178: This is an open Republican seat in Bucks County. Scott Petri resigned after being appointed executive director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority. The Democrats have nominated Helen Tai, a member of the Solebury Township Board of Supervisors. The Republicans have nominee have nominated Wendi Thomas, a member of the Council Rock School District Board of Directors. This seat went 50-47 for Trump in 2016 and 56-43 for Romney in 2012.
Daily Kos Elections has not yet calculated presidential election results for Alabama's legislative districts, due to serious difficulties with the state's data (including court-ordered redistricting, changes in precincts, and a simple lack of necessary data in many cases).
Grab Bag
● Deaths: Former Louisiana First Lady Elaine Edwards, a Democrat who briefly served in the U.S. Senate in the early 1970s, died Monday at the age of 89. Edwards was the first wife of the legendary and controversial Gov. Edwin Edwards. The two were married in 1949, and Elaine Edwards was largely a quiet figure as her husband rose from local office to the House to the governorship in 1971.
In July of 1972, three months after Edwin Edwards' term began, longtime Sen. Allen Ellender died. It was up to the governor to appoint his replacement, and he picked Elaine Edwards to serve out the final months of his term. She was reluctant to accept, later admitting that she "never wanted to be liberated from sewing, cooking, or even gardening." Critics at the time also were not kind to her appointment, with the New York Times describing it as a, "hollow interim appointment" and speculating that her "function … will be to represent other women by supinely taking orders—and from men at that." The first lady herself made it clear she saw herself as a placeholder, declaring there should be "no misgivings. I’m not a United States senator."
But Edwards already knew her way around D.C. after spending six years as a congressional spouse, and she acquitted herself well during her three-and-a-half months in office. Edwards made it clear early on that she would not run for the seat that fall, but after a month in office she said she "like[s] being a Senator very much. I would have liked to have been able to run and keep the seat this fall, had I not been the first lady of Louisiana …. But I am going to stay with Ed and do whatever he's doing." Edwards said that her proudest achievement in office was to convince members of the Senate Public Works Committee to vote for funds to build a highway to connect two interstates in Louisiana, which she said could help "lure much–needed industry to the central part of the state."
Edwards resigned from office days after J. Bennett Johnston was elected in order to give him a seniority edge over other incoming freshmen, and she returned to the governor's mansion. However, she was not happy there. As early as 1979, when she was still serving as first lady, she said that the governor would frequently go away for the weekends without telling her where he was, but he'd "call me every night and tell me where he is." She also expressed frustration about how people assumed her role in a raunchy comedy performance spoofing the governor's womanizing was ghostwritten. How raunchy? The first lady herself described the skit in that 1979 interview:
“A group of women got up at the Gridiron Show dressed as prostitutes,” she recounted, “and sang, ‘My Heart Belongs to Edwin,’ and sang a word that rhymes with truck and the next line they said, ‘I know he likes to, mmmmm, govern.’
“Then I got on stage and said, ‘My heart belongs to Edwin, and he does know how to,’ and then I stopped. And the audience screamed, and I said, ‘govern.’ He turned the color of watermelon.”
Edwards would also later reveal more frustration and loneliness from serving as first lady. Edwin Edwards was termed-out early in 1980, and by then, the couple largely were no longer spending much time together. Out of boredom, Elaine Edwards started a business making custom dresses, which she would keep up even after Edwin Edwards won his third term in 1983.
In 1989, two years after the governor lost re-election, he asked her for a divorce. Edwin Edwards, who would marry two more times, would win one more term in 1991 in an infamous race with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, while Elaine Edwards would move to New York and occasionally work as a soap opera actress.
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