In a week where The Spy Who Loved Me has become more than just a Bond movie, it’s easy to forget the non-Russia action transpiring in states across the country.
But fret not! I’ve got my GoldenEye on the action.
Campaign Action
Dr. NOPE: I’ve been writing in this space about how former Arizona GOP state Rep. Don Shooter, who was expelled from the House by his colleagues in February after his years of sexual misconduct came to light, is running for the state Senate this fall.
- Shooter’s apparently perfectly viable candidacy is pretty depressing all by itself.
- I mean, if being the first state lawmaker to be expelled from a legislature in the wake of the #MeToo movement isn’t enough to keep you on the political sidelines, what is?
- Well, the AP dropped a little report this week on the negligible impact sexual misconduct allegations seem to be having on state legislators’ political careers.
- Sure, Rep. Steve Lebsock got the boot from the Colorado state House earlier this year, North Carolina Rep. Duane Hall lost his primary, and at least 14 other state lawmakers across the country resigned over the past year or so because of sexual harassment or misconduct allegations.
- But 25 other state lawmakers facing similar accusations are still running this year.
- 15 of them have already advanced to the general election.
- And seven of those didn’t even face a primary challenger.
Ugh.
But at least some of these alleged miscreants will face opponents in November, so there's still a hope of seeing some of them gone.
From Republicans With Love: A GOP state senator in Kansas is facing pretty severe backlash from her party after she broke ranks and endorsed a Democratic congressional candidate, Tom Niermann, over Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder this week.
- Sen. Barbara Bollier was swiftly removed from her leadership post on a key Senate committee.
- She’s not up for re-election this year, but state Republican officials are already plotting to “sink her” if she runs in 2020.
- Bollier is a notorious moderate in the Kansas Senate who made expanding Medicaid a priority after being elected to the upper chamber 2016; she’d previously served in the state House since 2010.
- Oh, and Bollier also plans to endorse her Senate colleague Laura Kelly—another Democrat—if Kelly wins her upcoming gubernatorial primary, so that should go over well.
Goldfinger: The New York state Senate has been controlled by Republicans since 2010 (whether they had a majority or not, thanks to the Cuomo-enabled IDC), but smart money is on the GOP’s power finally giving way this fall.
- I mean, the money is literally on it.
- The Republicans’ Senate committee, however, started the cycle with more money in the bank and still have more cash on hand than the Democrats’—$1.68 million versus $1.32 million.
Doughraker: New York Democrats aren’t the only ones with mad cash these days. North Carolina Democrats are raking it in, too—including $250,000 from Eli Global founder and major GOP donor Greg Lindberg, a move that understandably raised some eyebrows locally.
- But Lindberg’s not Tar Heel Democrats’ only six-figure donor this campaign finance reporting period, which ran from April 22 through the end of June.
- LinkedIn cofounder Reid Garrett Hoffman gave $500,000.
- Eric Holder’s NDRC gave $250,000.
- Democrats are in a deep hole in the legislature here (15 Democrats/35 Republicans in the Senate, 45 Democrats/75 Republicans in the House), but groups like the NDRC hope to at least break the GOP’s supermajorities this fall.
You Only Run Twice: Virginia Democrats aren’t on the ballot this fall, but the bumper crop of Democrats elected to the state House in November 2017 aren’t wasting any time gearing up for their re-election campaigns.
- In the first six months of this year, freshman Democrats, on average, each raised more than twice as much as newly-elected Democrats in years past—specifically, the class of 2018 raised $35,919, while the Democratic classes of 2008 through 2016 raised an average of just $14,317 each.
- Additionally, fewer donations are coming from corporate donors than ever before—just 8 percent of the 2018 Democrats’ donations, versus 39 percent of the donations to freshman Democrats from 2008-2016.
- Low-dollar donations are up, too—14 percent this year, compared to just 8 percent in years past.
License to Vote: So New Hampshire basically just legalized voter suppression.
- After a surprise advisory opinion from the state Supreme Court last week removed his fear of the new law being declared unconstitutional, GOP Gov. Chris Sununu signed legislation last Friday that drastically tightens residency requirements for the state’s voters.
- The new law requires New Hampshire voters to have legal "residency" in the state, rather than making it just their "domicile," or the place where they live day-to-day.
- Becoming a “resident” requires voters to register their cars in-state and get an in-state driver's license.
- These things cost cash money.
- College students are known to not have tons of said cash money just sitting around, waiting to be used on registering cars and getting new drivers licenses.
- So, effectively, this new requirement is an ill-disguised poll tax on Democratic-leaning college students from other states, who are unlikely to go to the expense and trouble of becoming legal residents even if they live in New Hampshire full-time for four (or more) years.
Et voila! A brand-new law that’s basically surgically targeted at preventing college students from voting in the Granite State.
- The law appears to run afoul of a prior U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying college students have the right to vote where they live, so further litigation is possible, but who knows if Trump’s new SCOTUS will give a fig about things like, say, precedent?
Welp, it’s cocktail time. Until next week, stay cool!
