The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.
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Leading Off
● Primary Night: Tuesday, to the relief of untold Republicans in Ohio and across the country, will mark the end to the GOP's ugly and bizarre primary to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, but it's not the only big contest we're be watching. Jeff Singer has put together an in-depth guide to the major primaries in both the Buckeye State and Illinois.
While every member of the House in both states is favored to win renomination, a few incumbents face credible opponents in the Land of Lincoln. Republicans will also be choosing their nominees in a few safely red open districts, including in a southern Ohio contest where one Dayton-area officeholder is hoping a flamethrower has helped him make a quick impression. You can find more on these races, and many others, in our preview.
We'll be liveblogging all of these races at Daily Kos Elections on Tuesday night, starting when the first polls close at 7:30 PM ET. Join us for our complete coverage!
Senate
● Idaho, Iowa, Maine, and Nevada: Candidate filing closed Friday on major parties in four different states on Friday. Idaho will hold its primary first on May 21, with Iowa to follow on June 4; Maine and Nevada are both on tap on June 11. You can find a list of who filed in each state at their respective links, though note that Nevada candidates who are seeking office in constituencies based entirely in Clark County, which is home to the entirety of the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts, file there rather than with the state.
Every incumbent member of Congress in these four states who is up for reelection this cycle is running for reelection, and no major candidates in any of those contests either jumped in or dropped out just before filing closed. One Nevada hopeful we'd previously mentioned, businessman Ron Quince, filed to campaign against Democratic Rep. Dina Titus as an independent rather than continue his bid for the 1st District as a Republican, but Quince's minimal fundraising means his switch probably won't matter much.
Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen, however, did get some potentially good news when far-right candidate Janine Hansen filed to run under the Independent American Party banner. The Nevada Independent's Jon Ralston notes that Hansen has run for office both statewide and in northern Nevada numerous times, and while she's never come close to winning, "she can reliably be counted on to get about 2 percent of the vote." Rosen would be just fine with that as long as Hansen disproportionately takes support from her eventual Republican foe, who is most likely to be Army veteran Sam Brown.
● NJ-Sen: Andy Kim enjoyed a double dose of good news on Monday: first, when he was unveiled as the landslide winner of the last major county convention ahead of the June 4 Democratic primary, then when the leader of New Jersey's second-largest city announced that he was switching his endorsement from former financier Tammy Murphy to the congressman.
Separately that same day, a federal judge in Trenton heard oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by Kim challenging the widespread practice of county parties awarding favorable placement on primary ballots to their preferred candidates.
Though Democrats in North Jersey's Morris County held their convention on Saturday, a victor was not announced until Monday morning because participants were able to vote online throughout the weekend. The final result was a rout that saw Kim trounce Murphy 85-11. As in other counties where Kim has performed well, Morris used a secret ballot, and the party chair openly mocked other counties that have not allowed a private vote.
Shortly after the Morris outcome was made public, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop issued a statement saying that Kim had "proven that he's the better candidate" during the state's convention season and called on Murphy to end her bid. “It’s never easy to admit when mistakes are made, but I should have waited longer before endorsing,” said Fulop, who originally gave his backing to Murphy the day she kicked off her campaign in November.
Fulop is one of three notable Democrats who've already announced plans to seek the governorship next year, when Murphy's husband, Gov. Phil Murphy, is term-limited. So far, he's the only one to get behind Kim. (Former state Senate President Steve Sweeney has endorsed Murphy while Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has not taken sides.)
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi signaled that he would not issue a ruling in Kim's lawsuit before Friday, which he set as a deadline for the parties to submit further briefing on whether he should weigh a letter sent to him by state Attorney General Matt Platkin on Sunday as he deliberates the case.
In that letter, Platkin, an appointee of Phil Murphy's and previously his general counsel, said his office would not defend the county line system in court because he believes it to be unconstitutional. New Jersey's filing deadline is Monday, so unless Quraishi extends that cutoff, would-be candidates may have to decide whether to run for office without knowing how the judge will rule.
● OH-Sen: State Sen. Matt Dolan's allies at Buckeye Leadership Fund launched a late attack on wealthy businessman Bernie Moreno days before Tuesday's GOP primary with a TV spot declaring, "Breaking news: A new AP report suggests that Bernie Moreno, a married man, trawled the internet ‘seeking men for one-on-one sex,’ ‘looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling.'"
The conservative National Review, though, relays that "multiple" stations refused to run the spot or a similar radio ad about the 2008 Adult Friend Finder account after Moreno's team threatened legal action.
The founder of Adult Friend Finder, Andrew Conru, also weighed in on social media over the weekend. "I reviewed all the available information and it showed that the account had only a single visit, no activity, no profile photo, consistent with a prank or someone just checking out the site," he wrote. A former Moreno intern has claimed that he set up the AFF account as "part of a juvenile prank."
The third once-notable Republican competing in Tuesday's GOP primary to face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, Secretary of State Frank LaRose, has largely been reduced to an afterthought in the ugly battle between Moreno and Dolan, and he did nothing to change that Monday when asked about his unfavorable poll numbers.
"There's one poll that really matters, and that's the one that we conduct as Ohio's elections officials," LaRose told reporters in a new spin on the old line that politicians often are reduced to uttering when they have no optimistic data to point to.
● UT-Sen: Inside Elections' Jacob Rubashkin reports that Conservative Outsider PAC, which he says has ties to both the Club for Growth and conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein, has launched an opening $1.8 million buy to promote attorney Brent Orrin Hatch ahead of the June 25 GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney. The first ad shows a photo of the candidate with his late father, seven-term Sen. Orrin Hatch, before the narrator pledges that he'll "take on power brokers in both parties."
This is far from the first major outside spending of the primary, however. Conservative Values for Utah, a super PAC almost entirely funded by wealthy North Carolina businessman Jay Faison, has already deployed at least $1.3 million to support Rep. John Curtis since November. It recently rolled out a new spot, which touts the congressman as someone who will stand up to Joe Biden to fight inflation.
There has been no notable outside spending in support of the third major GOP candidate, former state House Speaker Brad Wilson.
House
● AZ-03: Phoenix City Councilmember Yassamin Ansari, who is required to step down to run for Congress under Arizona's resign-to-run law, announced Monday that her last day in office will be March 28. Ansari and former state Sen. Raquel Terán are the main candidates competing in the July 30 primary in the 3rd District to replace Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running for Senate.
● CA-12: The Associated Press has projected that California State University East Bay professor Jennifer Tran has secured the second spot in the March 5 top-two primary. She'll face fellow Democrat Lateefah Simon, a member of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board, in the general election to replace Rep. Barbara Lee, who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate.
With an estimated 92% of the vote tabulated as of Monday afternoon, Simon is firmly in first place with 56% as Tran holds a 15-12 edge over another Democrat, Alameda Vice Mayor Tony Daysog. Simon, who has the support of Lee and other prominent party members, already looked like the frontrunner for this dark blue East Bay constituency even before her dominant showing earlier this month.
● MN-03: State Sen. Kelly Morrison has publicized an endorsement from Rep. Angie Craig, who represents the neighboring 2nd District, ahead of the August Democratic primary. Morrison is the only serious Democratic candidate campaigning in the 3rd District to replace Rep. Dean Phillips, who decided not to seek reelection in order to wage a presidential bid that predictably crashed and burned.
● NJ-03: VoteVets has endorsed Assemblyman Herb Conaway, who served in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps, ahead of the June primary to succeed fellow Democrat Andy Kim, who is running for Senate.
● OH-09: State Rep. Derek Merrin earned Donald Trump's endorsement just a day ahead of the Republican primary to take on Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
Trump also used his Truth Social post to savage Merrin's main intra-party opponent, former state Rep. Craig Riedel, as "no friend of MAGA." In December, Riedel blasted Trump as "arrogant" and called for the party to go "in a different direction," and though he quickly tried to repair the damage by endorsing his party's master, it didn't stop Trump allies from abandoning him. Trump himself, though, waited until Monday to retaliate.
● WA-06: Democratic state Sen. Emily Randall publicized an endorsement from Sen. Patty Murray on Monday for the August top-two primary for this open seat held by retiring Rep. Derek Kilmer. Randall's top rival for the nomination is Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, who has Kilmer's backing.
Attorneys General
● PA-AG: State Rep. Jared Solomon enjoys a wide financial advantage over the other four Democrats campaigning in the April 23 primary for attorney general, according to recently filed campaign finance reports, though it's largely because of strong fundraising from the previous year. The Pennsylvania Capital-Star compiled the new fundraising numbers, which cover the period of Jan. 1 to March 4:
- Former Philadelphia Chief Public Defender Keir Bradford-Grey: $51,000 raised, $114,000 cash on hand
- Former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale: $321,000 raised, $180,000 cash on hand
- Former Bucks County Solicitor Joe Khan: $109,000 raised, $342,000 cash on hand
- State Rep. Jared Solomon: $170,000 raised, $1.06 million cash on hand
- Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer: $233,000 raised, $519,000 cash on hand
On the Republican side, York County District Attorney Dave Sunday outraised state Rep. Craig Williams by $162,000 to $113,000 during the same timeframe and ended the period with a $177,000 to $114,000 cash edge. Sunday has the support of the deep-pocketed Republican Attorneys General Association and the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, which is aligned with megadonor Jeff Yass, so he's likely to have major resources at his disposal if he makes it to the general election.
Ballot Measures
● ND Ballot: GOP Secretary of State Michael Howe announced Friday that backers of a proposed state constitutional amendment to bar anyone older than 80 from representing North Dakota in Congress have collected enough signatures to place their measure on the June 11 primary ballot. This plan could have a tough time surviving a court challenge, however.
The problem for proponents, as we wrote last year, is a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision that concluded that the only restrictions states could impose on congressional candidates were those spelled out in the nation's governing document: namely, a minimum (but not maximum) age, a minimum period of U.S. citizenship, and residency in the state (but not congressional district) they're seeking to represent at the time of election. That decision specifically prevented states from imposing any sort of term limits on members of Congress.
Some conservatives, however, are hoping that the Supreme Court's hard shift to the right over the ensuing three decades will give them the chance to at least partly overturn that earlier decision and allow state governments to change the rules dictating just who can serve. Indeed, the one remaining member of the 1995 court is Clarence Thomas, who joined three fellow conservatives in a 5-4 dissent.
The North Dakota plan, however, does include one feature designed to go into effect in case the courts aren't so accommodating. The text of the amendment says that if the courts block its proposed maximum age limit, a "ballot advisory" would appear on the ballot next to the names of congressional candidates informing voters how old they'd be when their term would end.
Judges
● MI Supreme Court: Republican Justice David Viviano announced Friday that he would not seek another eight-year term this fall, a move that, because of the unusual rules governing elections to the Michigan Supreme Court, deprives his party of a key asset in its quest to retake the Democratic-led body.
While each party picks two candidates at fall conventions, none of the nominees are affixed with party labels in the November statewide contest. Incumbent judges, however, are identified as "Justice of Supreme Court", which gives them a big advantage in a race where most voters know little about any of the candidates.
Viviano's departure means that advantage this year will only benefit Democratic Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, whom Gov. Gretchen Whitmire appointed in 2022 after Chief Justice Bridget McCormack stepped down midway through her term. Democrats currently hold a 4-3 edge, so Republicans need to both unseat Bolden and defend Viviano's seat in order to retake the majority they lost in 2020.
Because Bolden is campaigning for the remaining four years of McCormack's term, Republicans need to decide whether to run against her or compete in a separate statewide election for Viviano's full eight-year term. GOP state Rep. Andrew Fink had originally planned to take on the Democratic justice, but he now says he'll campaign to succeed Viviano. Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Mark Boonstra also announced Monday that he's seeking the full term.
The Michigan Advance's Jon King writes that both Republicans have a record opposing LGBTQ+ rights. Boonstra authored an opinion 2021 where he deliberately misgendered a trans defendant. King says that Boonstra's actions led the state Supreme Court to make Michigan the first state to use the preferred pronouns of anyone who appears before the bench. Fink, meanwhile, unsuccessfully tried to weaken an expanded civil rights law approved by the legislature's Democratic majority.
On the Democratic side, the sole notable candidate already running against Viviano was Kimberly Thomas, who leads the University of Michigan Law School's Juvenile Justice Clinic.
Mayors & County Leaders
● Las Vegas, NV Mayor: A grand total of 15 candidates filed for the June 11 nonpartisan primary to replace Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, but only three of them appear to have a shot to advance to the November general election.
The most familiar name to national observers likely belongs to former Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, who was elected to the House in 1998 and lost a tight 2012 campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Dean Heller. Ahead of launching her campaign last year, Berkley stepped down as an executive at Touro University Nevada, which touts itself as the home of the state's largest medical school.
The former congresswoman launched her effort nearly two years after another Democrat, City Councilman Cedric Crear, entered the race; Crear would be the first Black mayor of Nevada's largest city. Republican City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, a hardliner who had a bad relationship with party leaders during her brief tenure in the legislature, also announced her own campaign in February of last year.
This will be the first race in which a member of the Goodman family isn't on the ballot since the mayor's husband, Oscar Goodman, was elected mayor in 1999. Oscar Goodman identified as a Democrat until he abandoned his party affiliation a decade later as he mulled an independent campaign for governor that he didn't end up pursuing; Carolyn Goodman, for her part, has always identified as an independent during her 13 years in office.
The last mayoral contest, which Goodman won easily, took place in 2019. However, the state's Democratic-run legislature later passed a law requiring all Nevada municipalities hold local elections in even-numbered years starting in 2022.
Prosecutors & Sheriffs
● Cook County, IL State's Attorney: Retiring incumbent Kim Foxx announced over the weekend that she was supporting attorney Clayton Harris in Tuesday's Democratic primary to succeed her as the top prosecutor for America's second-most populous county. Foxx's declaration was no surprise, as Harris' intra-party rival, former Illinois Appellate Court Justice Eileen O'Neill Burke, recently delivered a speech attacking Foxx's performance in office. Harris, by contrast, recently told Bolts he would give Foxx's record an "A" grade.
Other Races
● Los Angeles, CA City Council: The Los Angeles Times says that tenants rights attorney Ysabel Jurado will face City Councilmember Kevin de León, a once-influential California Democrat who was at the center of a national scandal, in the nonpartisan November general election.
Jurado leads with 25% with almost all of the vote counted in the March 5 primary, while De León beat out Assemblyman Miguel Santiago 23-21 for second. On election night, the incumbent and Santiago initially took first and second, respectively, but ballots tabulated over the ensuing weeks broke hard for Jurado.
Campaign Action
