The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Daniel Donner, and Cara Zelaya, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
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Leading Off
● GA-Sen: Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock won a full six-year term by defeating Republican Herschel Walker in Tuesday’s runoff in Georgia, a victory that gives his party an outright 51-49 majority in the upper chamber. Warnock leads 51.4-48.6 with the Associated Press estimating that 99% of the vote is tailed.
While Democratic control of the Senate was assured once it became clear that Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto had secured a second term last month, the stakes were still high in Georgia. Warnock’s win leaves his caucus far less reliant on its least reliable members, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and gives the party some welcome breathing room ahead of a tough 2024 map. Democrats will also hold majorities on previously tied committees, which will allow them to issue subpoenas without any Republican support and speed up procedures for bringing judicial nominations to the floor.
Warnock, who became Georgia’s first African American senator after he won a special election runoff in January of last year, edged out Walker 49-48 on Nov. 8, which was just below the majority that the Peach State requires to avert a runoff because of a 1964 law originally designed to undermine Black voters. The following four weeks saw the incumbent and his allies massively outspend Walker’s side in a contest that took place as two of the most prominent GOP groups, the NRSC and the Senate Leadership Fund, were openly feuding with one another.
Democratic ads emphasized the many scandals surrounding Walker, including allegations that the former University of Georgia football legend had threatened to kill both his ex-wife and son and had pressured two former girlfriends to have abortions. Other spots focused on Walker’s own embarrassing behavior during the campaign, including a rambling speech in which he declared, “I don’t want to be a vampire anymore. I want to be a werewolf.”
Warnock also worked to tie Walker to Donald Trump, who helped saddle his party with its disastrous nominee in the first place when he convinced the longtime Texas resident to return to Georgia to run for office. Conservative commentator Erick Erickson told Politico in the days leading up to the runoff, “There is a palpable sense of frustration with Georgia Republicans who saw their entire statewide slate win except the guy Trump convinced to get into the race, and there is a lingering sense of frustration that anyone else would have won, and Herschel’s baggage weighed him down.”
Walker’s side, in addition to running its own ads trying to call Warnock’s character into question, pushed back with several ads starring Gov. Brian Kemp, who decisively won re-election last month. Kemp, though, didn’t seem to want to associate himself with Walker’s chaotic effort any more than he actually had to, as he didn’t campaign with his party’s nominee during the final week of the runoff.
Warnock’s win makes this the first midterm since 1962 where Democrats netted Senate seats while controlling the White House; that previous election took place just days after John F. Kennedy successfully resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis. And until now, the last midterm where the president’s party didn’t lose a single Senate seat was 1934, when Franklin Roosevelt was in charge. This was also the first time since FDR's first midterm that the president’s party netted both Senate and gubernatorial seats.
Senate
● NE-Sen-B: Outgoing Gov. Pete Ricketts confirmed Tuesday that he wants Gov.-elect Jim Pillin to appoint him to succeed their fellow Republican, outgoing Sen. Ben Sasse. Sasse will resign Jan. 8, which is three days after Pillin takes office, and everyone in Nebraska politics seems sure that the new chief executive will select Ricketts: Rep. Don Bacon even responded to Ricketts' announcement by tweeting, "We look forward to hazing the junior member of the delegation."
Pillen, who benefited from $1 million in support from Ricketts during his competitive primary, has set a Dec. 23 application deadline for anyone interested in being appointed. Whoever gets the gig will be up in 2024 for a special election for the remaining two years of Sasse's term at the same time that GOP Sen. Deb Fischer's seat will be on the ballot for the regularly scheduled contest. We'll be referring to this special election as NE-Sen-B, while Fischer's race will be NE-Sen-A.
House
● NJ-07: Democratic Assemblyman Roy Freiman has not ruled out challenging Republican Rep.-elect Tom Kean Jr., telling the New Jersey Globe, "It is very early. It's always an honor to be thought of in that regard." When asked if he was dismissing the idea of seeking the 7th Congressional District, the assemblyman responded, "I am not commenting on it."
New Jersey holds elections for state office in odd-numbered years, so it’s not uncommon for would-be congressional candidates in the legislature to seek re-election before committing to a new race. Freiman’s 16th District should give him little trouble, however: It would have voted 60-39 for Joe Biden, according to Dave’s Redistricting App, and has moved to the left in recent years.
Mayors and County Leaders
● Chicago, IL Mayor: Monday was the deadline for Chicago residents to file objections in order to try to get candidates disqualified from the Feb. 28 nonpartisan primary ballot, and complaints were leveled at five of the 11 mayoral candidates who turned in petitions last week:
- Perennial candidate Frederick Collins
- Activist Ja'Mal Green
- Freelance counselor Johnny Logalbo
- Alderman Roderick Sawyer
- Wealthy perennial candidate Willie Wilson
Mayoral contenders need 12,500 valid signatures in order to make the ballot, and it's common in Illinois politics for their opponents to try to find problems with the petitions they submitted in order to get them disqualified.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, though, will not need to defend her place on the ballot. While Alderman Brian Hopkins, who is not running for mayor and hasn't endorsed anyone, said last week that he'd assembled a team to undertake a preliminary review of the incumbent's petitions, he said days later that he "ran out of time" and would not be filing a challenge.
● Dallas, TX Mayor: Developer Mike Ablon, who took fourth in the 2019 nonpartisan primary, tells CBS DFW that he's considering seeking a rematch in May against incumbent Eric Johnson. The filing deadline is Feb. 17.
Grab Bag
● Where Are They Now?: Federal authorities indicted former Florida Rep. David Rivera, a Republican who was elected to his only term in 2010, on Monday for allegedly failing to register as a foreign agent for Venezuela's socialist government and laundering his payments. Prosecutors say Rivera, who once tried to get a Venezuelan consul expelled from Miami, received at least $23.75 million of his $50 million contract.
Rivera has faced numerous investigations during his time in politics, and he was ordered in April to pay $465,000 in fines for his part in an unrelated straw candidate scheme during his failed 2012 re-election effort. However, this is the first time that Rivera has ever been indicted for anything.
