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
● UT-Gov: While GOP Rep. Rob Bishop said a few weeks ago that he was looking at returning to teaching after he retires from Congress in 15 months, he recently reaffirmed that he was still considering running for governor of Utah next year. However, in a strange interview with E&E News, Bishop added that he has been encouraging other people to get into the race and would "have to talk myself into running for governor," partially because he's a "horrible" candidate. The man really knows how to inspire supporters, doesn't he?
Campaign Action
Bishop also said that he'd be deciding whether to run for this open seat this fall, but he wouldn't be announcing his plans until next year. The congressman declared, "I don't think anybody should be running for anything before January," adding, "I find it offensive people running so long for offices." Bishop continued, "I'm not going to say anything until January because I have a job." However, Bishop's term lasts until January of 2021, so he'll still have that job three months from now unless he's interested in quitting early.
GOP Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox announced that he would run for governor back in May, and Utah Policy interprets Bishop's comments about politicians spending so long running for office as a "thinly veiled swipe" at him. Then again, a self-described horrible campaigner probably should be the last person to lecture anyone else on when they should be starting their own campaigns. Businessman Jeff Burningham is also running in the June GOP primary.
Senate
● AZ-Sen: Skincare company executive Daniel McCarthy has generated two very strange headlines in the month since he launched his GOP primary bid against appointed Sen. Martha McSally. Over the last week McCarthy embraced the idea that the United States should annex Mexico, compared himself to Jesus, denied he compared himself to Jesus, then pretty much compared himself to Jesus again.
● GA-Sen-A: This week, former Sen. Max Cleland endorsed former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson in the Democratic primary to take on GOP Sen. David Perdue.
● IA-Sen: On Tuesday, Rep. Abby Finkenauer endorsed businesswoman Theresa Greenfield, who is the favored candidate of national Democrats. Finkenauer was occasionally mentioned as a possible Senate candidate herself at the start of the cycle, but she never showed any obvious interest in running.
● ME-Sen: Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Jon Treacy announced Tuesday that he would seek the Democratic nod to take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins. Treacy joins state House Speaker Sara Gideon, who has the support of the DSCC and EMILY's List, and 2018 gubernatorial candidate Betsy Sweet in the primary.
Treacy spent 34 years in the Air Force, and he served as a flight supervisor at an Air National Guard base on Sept. 11. Treacy recounted that early in the day, when it was unclear just how many planes were being flown by terrorists, he addressed a group of pilots who were preparing to intercept what they feared was another hijacked craft. Treacy said he asked for volunteers who were willing to, "if necessary, shoot that airliner down," and, "Not one of them declined."
Treacy, who does not appear to have sought office before, said in June that he used to admire Collins, but all of that changed during the Trump administration. Treacy declared that Collins' vote for the GOP's 2017 tax bill was "absolutely staggering irresponsibility," and that her support for Brett Kavanaugh laid bare her "rationalization and empty gestures and abdication."
Gubernatorial
● KY-Gov: The DGA affiliate Bluegrass Values went up with a new TV ad on Tuesday, and the GOP firm Medium Buying says this the first time they've been on the air since early August. The spot stars Hoppy Henton, a former Kentucky Farm Service Agency state director who operates a farm in central Kentucky. Henton tells the audience that his family has run the farm for nine generations, and it "really hurts" when GOP Gov. Matt Bevin goes after people like him by trying to take away their healthcare. Henton declares, "Matt Bevin is not from around here, but I am. That's why I'm against Bevin."
Bevin and the RGA have recently been airing spots, including this racist offering from the governor's campaign, that try to portray Democrat Andy Beshear as weak on immigration, and Beshear is out with a response ad. The narrator declares, "Attorney General Andy Beshear certified that Kentucky has no sanctuary cities, guaranteeing federal law enforcement funding," and reminds the audience that he's backed by the Fraternal Order of Police.
● LA-Gov: GOP Rep. Ralph Abraham's latest ad features the candidate proclaiming that Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and his Department of Health "wasted $85 million taxpayer dollars by enrolling tens of thousands of people in Medicaid who didn't even qualify." However, as we pointed out when looking at a similar RGA spot last week, individuals not eligible for Medicaid received benefits largely because of an outdated system that allowed recipients to self-report employment status—a system that was upgraded last year.
That scary $85 million figure that Abraham cites also comes from a questionable study by the state's auditor that involved taking a random sample of 100 recipients who joined Medicaid after the state expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act to see if their income was higher than the maximum allowed. That sample was then extrapolated across the entire universe of Medicaid expansion beneficiaries, leading the auditor to conclude Louisiana had spent between $61.6 million and $85.5 million over a two-year period on those not eligible for coverage.
For context, the state's Medicaid spending in the last year was $12 billion, most of which was paid for by the federal government.
House
● MA-04: On Tuesday, both Newton City Councilor Becky Walker Grossman and City Year co-founder Alan Khazei announced that they'd seek the Democratic nod to succeed Senate candidate Joe Kennedy III. Meanwhile, two other possible Democratic candidates, state Rep. Tommy Vitolo and Transportation for Massachusetts director Chris Dempsey, said they would not run.
Grossman is a former Middlesex County prosecutor who first won local office in 2017 in Newton, an affluent Boston suburb located in the northern part of the seat. Grossman is also the daughter-in-law of former state Treasurer Steve Grossman, who took second place in the 2014 primary for governor. The elder Grossman previously served as national chair of the Democratic National Committee in the late 1990s, and the Boston Globe notes that his connections could help Becky Walker Grossman raise money. The former treasurer says he doesn't plan to have a formal role in the congressional campaign, though.
Khazei is the founder of a number of service organizations including City Year, a non-profit focused on education. Khazei ran in the 2009 Senate special election to succeed the late Ted Kennedy and raised a total of $2.8 million from donors, but he took a distant third in the primary with 13% of the vote. The nomination went to state Attorney General Martha Coakley, who earned 47% of the vote, but she lost the general election to Republican Scott Brown. (Coakley would beat Steve Grossman in the 2014 contest for governor, only to lose to Republican Charlie Baker.)
Khazei announced in April 2011 that he would challenge Brown, and he went on to raise a total of $1.3 million during his six months in the race. However, Elizabeth Warren entered the primary that September, and she very quickly overshadowed Khazei and the rest of the field. Khazei stayed in the contest for a few months, but he dropped out in October and acknowledged Warren's campaign had completely changed the race for him.
● MN-02: This week, GOP state Sen. Eric Pratt said that he'd run for re-election rather than challenge freshman Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.
● WI-07: On Tuesday, Army veteran Jason Church announced that he'd run in the Dec. 30 GOP special election primary. Church lost both of his legs in an IED explosion while serving in Afghanistan in 2012, and he recounted in his campaign launch how his recovery included a total of 21 surgeries. Church, who recently worked as an aide to Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, will face state Sen. Tom Tiffany in the primary.
No Democrats have entered the race yet, but 2018 nominee Margaret Engebretson said this week that she was considering another bid. Engebretson, who is an attorney and Navy veteran, challenged GOP Rep. Sean Duffy last cycle, but her campaign attracted little outside attention and she lost 60-39. The filing deadline in the race to succeed Duffy, whose resignation took effect on Monday, is Dec. 2.
