The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Carolyn Fiddler, and Matt Booker, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
● MS-Gov: Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood recently released a commercial that argued that Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves used "political pressure" to try to get taxpayers to fund a $2 million road that would have been built between the gated community where he lives in the Jackson suburb of Flowood and a nearby shopping mall. Reeves is now up with a response ad, which, along with two others (available here and here), also portray Hood as in the pocket of trial lawyers.
Campaign Action
Reeves' road ad begins with a clip of Hood saying, "Tate Reeves tried to build a road with your tax dollars." Reeves' narrator quickly denounces this as a lie, claiming that both the mayor of Flowood and the state transportation commissioner "proved it's a lie, and Jim Hood knows it." The narrator then goes on the offensive and quotes a local paper calling Hood "guilty of abuse of power for personal gain," though he doesn't offer any actual details. The spot then argues, "Hood's largest campaign donors are the very firms he's awarded the most lucrative contracts."
The Reeves ad doesn't actually say much about the $2 million road controversy, but we will. Reeves has been a major supporter of a $43 million project to add lanes to Lakeland Drive, a major road near his subdivision in Flowood. While Mississippi Department of Transportation officials said they believed the expansion was necessary, they placed it on hold because there were greater needs elsewhere, given the state's limited resources. But despite this decision, MDOT officials say Reeves and the legislature added an earmark to the budget to require them to prioritize work on Lakeland Drive.
In July of last year, the Clarion Ledger reported that Reeves staffers kept particularly close tabs on a part of the Lakeland project that would have built a frontage road from the lieutenant governor's gated community to a shopping center. While the $2 million road was officially to be built for safety reasons, a 2014 report prepared for the MDOT said there were in fact few safety concerns, and that they could in any event be alleviated by building a directional median for just $200,000 instead. However, MDOT records say that Reeves' neighborhood property owners' association protested this cheaper plan.
MDOT Director Melinda McGrath was asked by the paper why the frontage road was being built and responded bluntly: "Political pressure. From the Legislature. We would not have done this otherwise." McGrath also specified the pressure was coming from "the Senate side," which Reeves leads.
Later that month, MDOT Commissioner Dick Hall announced he'd halted the frontage road project pending further evaluation. Hall claimed he'd been responsible for the project and insisted that Reeves had not pressured him about it. However, when Hall was asked about McGrath's comments, he responded, "I have no reason to doubt Melinda McGrath on anything." Reeves has claimed he knew little about the project's details and had nothing to do with it getting the green light.
Last year, before either candidate joined the race for governor, Hood's office began investigating Reeves in connection with the Lakeland project. Last month, after both men had won their respective primaries, Hood released a report concluding that Reeves might have "applied political pressure" to get the road built, which may in turn have violated a section of the state constitution intended to prevent corruption. However, Hood said he wouldn't take any further action, explaining that it would be up to the next attorney general to decide what to do about this matter.
Hood has denied that politics motivated his investigation and had two former Mississippi Supreme Court justices, including one appointed by GOP Gov. Phil Bryant, review the report prior to publication. However, Reeves' team argued that the report, which Hood wrote, was a "43-page political dirty trick," and insisted that the attorney general failed to interview Reeves and other key officials. Hood's report, though, said that the investigation "was hampered by misleading public statements and the refusal to produce documents which should have been available."
3Q Fundraising
● AL-Sen: Doug Jones (D-inc): $2 million raised, $5 million cash-on-hand
● CO-Sen: Cory Gardner (R-inc): $2.45 million raised, $6.7 million cash-on-hand; John Hickenlooper (D): $2.1 million raised (in five weeks), $1.7 million cash-on-hand
● NM-Sen: Ben Ray Luján (D): $1 million raised
● TX-Sen: Royce West (D): $545,000 raised; $365,000 cash-on-hand
● CA-45: Katie Porter (D): $1 million raised, $2 million cash-on-hand
● FL-27: Maria Elvira Salazar (R): $500,000 raised
● IA-01: Ashley Hinson (R): $315,000 raised, $492,000 cash-on-hand
● MI-11: Haley Stevens (D-inc): $650,000 raised, $1.6 million cash-on-hand
● NY-11: Nicole Malliotakis (R): $206,000 raised, $600,000 cash-on-hand
● NY-16: Jamaal Bowman (D): $112,000 raised
● NY-21: Elise Stefanik (R-inc): $450,000 raised, $1.3 million cash-on-hand
● TX-07: Wesley Hunt (R): $450,000 raised
● TX-10: Michael McCaul (R-inc): $400,000 raised, $850,000 cash-on-hand; Shannon Hutcheson (D): $200,000 raised
Gubernatorial
● IN-Gov: Democratic state Sen. Eddie Melton kicked off his campaign for governor on Tuesday, joining former state Health Commissioner Woody Myers in the Democratic primary. If elected, Melton would be Indiana's first black governor.
Melton's campaign could also soon be joined by an unusual ally: Republican state Superintendent of Education Jennifer McCormick, whose office will go from separately elected to appointed by the governor after 2020. McCormick has a terrible relationship with her own party, and she introduced Melton at his kickoff and also joined him on his earlier tour of the state. McCormick didn't quite rule out a bid of her own earlier this year, but Melton is now refusing to rule out having her as his ticketmate.
● LA-Gov: While Rep. Ralph Abraham responded to a negative ad from wealthy businessman and fellow Republican Eddie Rispone by going negative himself, the congressman is trying to ignore that fact in his latest spot. However, Abraham's newest offering is some truly unengaging stuff.
The commercial begins with white text in front of a black backdrop that reads, "Through all the noise and negative campaigning .... One candidate rose above it all," and it never shows any actual images until the very last seconds when a picture of Abraham fills the screen. It's hard enough to get viewers to pay attention to most political TV ads, and asking them to read the spot is a pretty bad way to hook them in. Also, if they get up for a bathroom break or to grab a snack from the kitchen, there's nothing for the audience to hear other than soft, nondescript music.
While Abraham and Rispone are focused on trying to win a spot in a November runoff with Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, other Republicans are focused on making sure that runoff happens in the first place. The Advocate reports that last month, wealthy conservative businessman Lane Grigsby donated $100,000 to a group that's running ads on radio stations with heavily black audiences in support of little known Democrat Omar Dantzler. The all-party primary is Saturday, and Dantzler may be able to take enough support from Democratic voters to keep Edwards from taking a majority of the vote.
● MT-Gov: EMILY’s List has endorsed businesswoman Whitney Williams in the Democratic primary for this open seat.
● WV-Gov: Third quarter fundraising reports are now available in West Virginia, and Republican Gov. Jim Justice continues to do very little fundraising. Justice brought in just $13,000 from donors and self-funded an additional $194,000, leaving him with only $4,000 in cash-on-hand, and we didn't leave off any zeroes. Justice is wealthy enough that he can afford to self-fund as much as he needs, but he so far doesn't appear to be doing that.
Consequently, Justice has less in the bank than both of his primary challengers. Former state Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher raised $254,000, self-funded $285,000, and had a small $12,000 left over. Meanwhile, former state Del. Mike Folk raised only $8,000, self-funded another $90,000, and had $104,000 in cash-on-hand.
On the Democratic side, community organizer Stephen Smith raised $150,000 and had $167,000 on-hand at the start of October.
House
● IA-04: White supremacist Rep. Steve King has released a poll from G1 Survey Research showing his abandonment by national Republicans may not be an impediment to winning renomination. King holds a 59-12 lead over state Sen. Randy Feenstra, with Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor taking 6% and Army veteran Bret Richards at just 2%. While King undoubtedly is starting with higher name recognition than his primary challengers, the survey finds him sporting a 72-18 approval rating among primary voters, which if accurate could be tough to overcome even once his foes increase their name recognition.
● IN-05: Kent Abernathy, who was the commissioner of Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles from 2015 to 2017, is the latest Republican to join the race for this open Republican seat. Abernathy, who is also an Iraq War veteran and retired from the Army with the rank of colonel, joins a GOP field that includes state Treasurer Kelly Mitchell and physician Chuck Dietzen. Meanwhile, Howey Politics relays that former state Sen. Mike Delph is "expected" to launch a bid for the GOP nomination after November's local elections.
● KS-03: Adrienne Foster, who was previously a U.S. Small Business Administration official and a former mayor of the small Kansas City suburb of Roeland Park, has jumped into the Republican primary to challenge first-term Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids. Foster joins former state GOP chair Amanda Adkins and disability advocate Sara Hart Weir in the primary.
● MA-04: Democrat Dave Cavell, who recently stepped down as a senior advisor to state Attorney General Maura Healey, filed paperwork with the FEC on Tuesday for a possible bid for this open seat.
● ME-02: Real estate agent Adrienne Bennett, who previously was the spokesperson for former Gov. Paul LePage, has kicked off her campaign for the Republican nomination against freshman Democratic Rep. Jared Golden. Bennett joins 2018 Senate nominee Eric Brakey and former state Rep. Dale Crafts in the primary.
● OH-01: Republican Rep. Steve Chabot insists he is running for re-election despite the ongoing mystery of how $124,000 suddenly appeared in his campaign account and what role his campaign treasurer played in the matter. Chabot has previously claimed he was the victim of "financial crime" but has refused to disclose further details.
● VA-05: On Tuesday, Marine veteran Claire Russo, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, joined the Democratic primary to take on freshman GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman. Russo was the subject of a 2012 Business Insider article that described her long legal battle after a superior officer raped her in 2004 and the military declined to prosecute him. Russo's attacker eventually accepted a plea deal in civilian court.
Mayoral
● Salt Lake City, UT Mayor: On Monday, outgoing Mayor Jackie Biskupski endorsed state Sen. Luz Escamilla, a fellow Democrat, in the Nov. 5 general election. Biskupski, who is Salt Lake City's first gay mayor, touted Escamilla's long support for LGBTQ rights. The mayor, who is not running for re-election, also praised Escamilla for opposing the creation of the state-created Utah Inland Port Authority, a state-formed agency that has attracted a great deal of controversy. The project's proponents argue it will give the area an economic lift by establishing a global trade hub, while environmental groups have condemned its potential impact on the Salt Lake City area's air quality and wildlife.
Biskupski has often come into conflict with City Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall, another Democrat who is also Escamilla's opponent next month, over the inland port. Biskupski ended negotiations with the GOP legislature last year, arguing that the bill was "designed to incrementally force Salt Lake City to bend to the Legislature's will." Mendenhall, who was the City Council chairwoman at the time, continued to talk to legislative leaders, though, and she got some concessions for the city in the bill that ended up passing.
Biskupski was furious, and in June she said of Mendenhall, "She has never stood with me." The mayor continued, "In fact, she brokered the first deal in the summer of 2018. ... She led the charge on the legislation to prohibit me from suing. So there's no wishy-washy there." Mendenhall, who like Escamilla says she would continue Biskupski's lawsuit over the inland port's creation and taxing authority if elected, responded by calling her a "failed mayor."
On Monday, Biskupski praised Escamilla for being one of the few state legislators to oppose creating the Utah Inland Port Authority and for voting against the City Council's compromise with the Legislature.
