So. Much. Action.
To say it’s hard to keep up with is … something of an understatement.
But, of course, a lot of the current action is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overdue.
Holding police departments to account and addressing the systemic racism that leads to law enforcement—and oh so many other—inequities is just the beginning, and here’s hoping this sort of action continues for a long time to come.
Of course, as an erudite reader of this missive, you understand that the goings-on in statehouses have an outsized impact on things like police policy and practices … and, of course, shoring up or dismantling the systems of white supremacy that led us to this moment.
In Colorado, for instance, a sweeping police accountability bill has been moving swiftly towards passage in the state legislature.
… but not so swiftly that lawmakers haven’t tacked on multiple additional regulations and oversight measures as it barrels toward final votes.
Campaign Action
- This broad law enforcement reform bill includes:
- Prohibiting the use of deadly force unless an officer faces an imminent threat
- Allowing police officers to be sued in their individual capacities
- Banning chokeholds
- Requiring vast data collection and reporting on race and use of force
- Documenting and reporting every time officers unholster their weapons or fire them
- … and more.
- But honestly, there’s no real suspense over this this measure’s passage.
- Votes on the components of this bill have either been bipartisan or along party lines, and Democrats have no reasonable fear of losing any of their members on the vote largely because they have no reasonable fear of losing their majorities in this fall’s elections.
- If feels like 20 or so lifetimes ago now, but way back in the Before Time of 2018, Colorado Democrats took back the state Senate after four years of GOP control (they increased their lead in the state House, too).
- And Daily Kos Elections has some sweet new data demonstrating that Republicans will have an extremely difficult time flipping either chamber this fall.
- By the numbers:
- Democrat Jared Polis was elected governor in 2018 by defeating Republican Walker Stapleton 53-43.
- Half of the Senate is up in 2020, and Republicans are going to have a very tough time netting the two seats they’d need to retake control.
- Team Red’s best target this fall is SD-19, where Democrat Rachel Zenzinger unseated a GOP incumbent 48-46 as Clinton was prevailing 48-43 here.
- But! This suburban Denver seat backed Polis by a stronger 54-41 two years later.
- And after that, Republicans don’t have any good pickup opportunities on the ballot in November.
- Democrats, on the other hand, do.
- There are two GOP-held Clinton seats.
- State Sen. Kevin Priola’s SD-25 shifted from 47-45 Clinton to 50-45 Polis, while the open SD-27 moved from 49-42 Clinton to 53-44 Polis.
- Also, there’s SD-08, where Republican incumbent Robert Rankin is defending a western Colorado district that went from 48-44 Trump to 51-46 Polis.
- But … what about the state House?
Glad you asked!
- Democrats hold a wide 41-24 lead in Colorado’s lower chamber.
- Team Blue has won a majority in the chamber ever since the current legislative map went into effect in 2012 (including during the 2014 GOP wave), so it’s pretty doggone unlikely that Republicans will be able to flip the House this time around.
- One Republican represents a Clinton/Polis seat, while Democrats also hold a single Trump/Stapleton district.
- The one Trump/Polis seat is held by Democratic incumbent Daneya Esgar, whose HD-46 shifted from 46.1-45.8 Trump to 51-44 Polis.
Nearby Nevada made news this week with its extremely long wait times as voters lined up to cast ballots in the state’s primary elections.
- In Clark County, the final voter cast his ballot at 3:09 a.m.
- While mail-in ballots mean election results are far from final at this point, we do have some information about which party is looking good to win majorities in the Nevada legislature this fall—again, thanks to some excellent Daily Kos Elections analysis.
- Nevada was a huge success story for Democrats in 2018, with the party making big gains in both chambers of the legislature at the same time that the party was flipping a U.S. Senate seat and the governorship.
- And the data suggests Democrats have opportunities to pick up more legislative seats this fall.
- In the Senate, half the chamber was up in 2018, and the rest of the seats will be on the ballot this fall.
- Democrat Jacky Rosen carried 15 of the 21 seats while she was unseating GOP Sen. Dean Heller 50-45; Democrat Steve Sisolak took those very same districts as he was defeating Adam Laxalt 49-45 for the governorship.
- Two Republicans sit in Rosen/Sisolak seats, and the only one of that pair of Republicans up this year is Heidi Gansert, who holds Senate District 15 in the Reno area.
- This district supported Rosen 51-45, while Sisolak took it 50-45; four years ago, the district also backed Hillary Clinton 47-44 while Gansert was winning by a convincing 53-42.
- This cycle, the Democrats are fielding Wendy Jauregui-Jackins.
- No Democrats hold Heller/Laxalt districts.
- In the 42-person Assembly, where members are elected to 2-year terms, Both Rosen and Sisolak carried the same 29 districts, while Heller and Laxalt took the remaining 13 districts.
- One assemblymember from each party holds a seat that was carried by the other side's statewide nominee.
- On the Democratic side, incumbent Skip Daly won 52-48 in a seat Heller and Laxalt took 49-47 and 49-45; Trump won by a larger 49-43 margin here in 2016.
- Republican Assemblyman John Hambrick is termed-out of a seat that backed both Rosen and Sisolak 49-48 but where Trump prevailed 49-46.
Hungry for more of this kind of district-by-district data? You can find the master list of statewide election results by congressional and legislative district here, which we'll be updating as we add new states.
As the nation grapples with multiple crises at once, a Republican lawmaker in Ohio managed to combine two of them this week.
- In a Tuesday hearing on declaring racism a public health crisis, GOP state Sen. Steve Huffman actually asked if “the colored population” has been hit harder by the coronavirus because they “do not wash their hands as well as other groups.”
- Obviously the systemic racism represented by Huffman’s outrageous question is a massive problem.
- But if anything could make that worse, maybe it’s the fact that Huffman is actually a goddamned doctor.
- … as of Thursday afternoon, though, Huffman is an unemployed doctor.
- The ER physician was fired because of his super racist line of questioning.
Pennsylvania, where tensions are still raw from a couple of weeks ago when Democrats discovered their GOP colleagues had concealed a fellow Republican’s COVID-19 diagnosis from them, continues to be kind of a shitshow.
- GOP House Speaker Mike Turzai suddenly announced his resignation this week—not just from the speakership, but from the whole dang legislature.
- His departure is effective June 15.
- I mean, we already knew he wasn’t running for reelection. Dude wanted to get paid.
- No, really. He’d already made clear he was resigning to “pursue a job in the private sector.”
He found it.
New Mexico doesn’t typically get a ton of oxygen in this missive.
- As a Dem-trifecta state, things are usually pretty drama-free there.
Usually.
- The thing is, some of the Democrats making up the majorities in the legislature—specifically, the state Senate—aren’t really all that progressive.
- Their numbers began to thin a little in recent years, though.
- … and last week, their numbers suddenly thinned a lot.
- Conservative Senate Dems used their power and seniority in recent years to block several key pieces progressive legislation.
- Well, I’m pleased to report that five Democratic senators who opposed these efforts lost to more progressive challengers in last Tuesday’s primaries.
Welp, that’s a wrap for this week. Thanks for tuning in! I know a lot is going on, and I always appreciate your valuable time.
Until the next edition, take care of yourself, okay? And if you can, check in on someone around you?
But it’s okay if you can’t. All we can do is the best we can.
And you are the best.
Your can situation, however, is your own business and no one else’s.