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
● Louisiana: Members of the Long family have continuously held elected office in Louisiana for just over a century, but that era comes to an end on Monday when Republican Gerald Long's term in the state Senate expires. Long, who is a third cousin of the legendary and controversial Gov. and Sen. Huey Long, acknowledged that he may be the last member of the political dynasty for a while, telling the Monroe News Star, "I don't have a child or a grandchild or a cousin who is even talking about running for elective office."
Campaign Action
The Long clan first won in 1912 when one of Huey's brothers, Julius, was elected district attorney in a constituency that included their native Winn Parish, but he never sought higher office. In 1918, though, Huey unseated an incumbent in the Democratic primary, which was the only contest that mattered in Louisiana at the time and for decades to come, to win a spot on the three-person Louisiana Railroad Commission. Huey served there until he was elected governor in 1928 on his second try, and he won a seat in the U.S. Senate two years later. Huey, who remained governor in all but name even when he was in Washington, was fatally wounded by gunfire in the state capitol in 1935 in what may or may not have been an assassination attempt.
Plenty of other members of the Long family would go on to hold state and national office over the next 85 years, though none of them would ever achieve Huey's fame or infamy. Among the notables were Huey's wife and Senate successor, Rose, who was the third woman to ever serve in the upper chamber; his brother, Earl, who served three stints as governor; their brother, Rep. George Long; and Huey and Rose's son, Russell, who was in the Senate from 1948 until he retired in 1987.
A number of more distant relations have also held various offices including two of Huey's cousins, Reps. Gillis Long and Speedy Long, as well as several who served in the state legislature. This includes Gerald, whose brother previously spent decades in the state House. Gerald was also the first, and for now the only, Republican office holder in the traditionally Democratic family.
While Louisiana politics was divided into pro-Long and anti-Long factions during Huey's tenure and for decades after his death, members of the family have often feuded amongst one another. In 1932, for instance, Earl insisted on running for lieutenant governor against Huey's chosen candidate, a campaign he lost. Huey himself would say of his younger brother, "If you live long enough, he'll double-cross you. He'd double-cross Jesus Christ if he was down here on Earth."
Rep. Gillis Long also lost renomination in 1964 to none other than his considerably more conservative cousin, Speedy Long. The two would later both run for governor in 1971 and lose the Democratic primary to Edwin Edwards, who would leave his own mark on Louisiana politics.
4Q Fundraising
● ME-Sen: Ross LaJeunesse (D): $240,000 raised, additional $360,000 self-funded
● MN-Sen: Jason Lewis (R): $310,000 raised
● CO-06: Jason Crow (D-inc): $440,000 raised, $1.4 million cash-on-hand
● OH-01: Steve Chabot (R-inc): $450,000 raised
● OR-02: Knute Buehler (R): $360,000 raised (in one month)
● TX-32: Floyd McLendon (R): $238,000 raised, $100,000 cash-on-hand
Senate
● GA-Sen-B: Former U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver, a Democrat who has been eyeing this special election for a while, recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "I am ready. Planning to launch soon."
The paper says that Tarver is getting ready to run even though there's "buzz" that national Democrats and notable local politicians want the Rev. Raphael Warnock to get in. The only notable Democrat who has announced a bid against appointed GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler so far is businessman Matt Lieberman. All the candidates will compete in the November all-party primary, and there would be a runoff next January if no one took a majority of the vote.
Tarver, who spent seven years in the Army, represented a state Senate seat in the Augusta area until he became the first black U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia in 2009. Tarver considered running for this seat in 2016 against GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson, but he decided to stay put. Tarver remained at his post until early March of 2017, when Donald Trump ordered him and another 45 Obama-appointed U.S. attorneys to resign.
● ME-Sen: Politico reports that the conservative group One Nation is spending $536,000 on a TV, radio, and digital buy praising GOP Sen. Susan Collins. The commercial stars the mother of a young girl with diabetes praising the senator for "leading the charge to bring the cost of insulin down."
House
● FL-03: Physician James St. George, who has run several local medical clinics, has joined the August GOP primary for this reliably red open seat.
● FL-26: The Miami Herald reported Thursday night that Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez had told his allies that he had decided to seek the GOP nod to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and would announce his plans during the week of Jan. 13. Gimenez himself told the paper, "Sometime next week I'll make an announcement," and responded to questions about the issues facing Congress by adding, "I'll have a lot more to say if I run for Congress, OK."
National Republicans have reportedly been trying to recruit Gimenez, who has a reputation as a moderate, for months for this competitive seat. While Hillary Clinton won Florida's 26th District by a wide 57-41 margin, Republicans still do well here down ballot. Last cycle, Mucarsel-Powell won a very expensive race here by unseating GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo 51-49.
● NJ-02: Cumberland County GOP chair Michael Testa, whose county makes up about 20% of the 2nd District, endorsed party-switching Rep. Jeff Van Drew on Thursday.
● WI-07: GOP state Sen. Tom Tiffany is up with his first TV spot ahead of his Feb. 18 special primary against veteran Jason Church. Tiffany, who is surrounded by cows, tells the audience he grew up on a dairy farm and that "getting up at 5 and shoveling manure is great training for helping President Trump clean out the three-ring circus in Washington."
As the on-screen text reminds viewers that Tiffany has the support of former Rep. Sean Duffy and ex-Gov. Scott Walker, the senator lays out his conservative views and adds he "knows how to use a shovel." (Note to candidates: Comparing politics to shoveling cow manure isn't an original idea.)
