Morning Digest: One other surge within the suburbs precipitated Biden to flip the Michigan district, which Romney received in 2012

Since it's the lone flip, let's start with the 11th district, which has been moved from 50-45 Trump to 52-47 Biden. This seat was also awarded by Mitt Romney 52-47 in 2012. This makes it the first Romney / Trump / Biden district that we have found in the entire country. Large outside groups on both sides were spending a lot of money late in the campaign between Stevens and Republican Eric Esshaki, but Biden's win helped Stevens prevail 50-48.

Campaign action

While the Democrats had no problem holding the other five Biden seats, Rep. Dan Kildee's 5th District was once again competitive at the presidential level. This constituency, which is home to Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City, shrank from 61-38 Obama to 49.8 to 45.5 Clinton. While the Democrats were hoping he would snap back in 2020, Biden won by a nearly identical lead of 4.3 points (this time 51.4 to 47.1). The Republicans of Congress, however, were unable to take advantage of the area's legal drift. Former MP Tim Kelly picked up very little, and Kildee beat him 54:42.

However, another district that went down the wrong path for Democrats between 2012 and 2016 returned this year. The 9th district in the northern suburbs of Detroit had narrowed from 57-42 Obama to 51-44 Clinton, but Biden carried it with an Obama-like 56-43 lead; MP Andy Levin, meanwhile, won his second term 58-38. Biden also won Rep. Debbie Dingell's 12th Ward in the 64-34 Ann Arbor area, while winning nearly 80% in both the 13th and 14th Detroit Area, held by Rep. Brenda Lawrence received the vote.

We'll move on to the eight Trump seats, starting with the only one to elect a Democrat to the House this year. The 8th district in the Lansing area backed Trump again, but his narrow 50:49 win was a sharp drop from his 51:44 win in 2016. Democrat Elissa Slotkin turned that seat two years ago after a very expensive race between 51 and 47 µm. and she won by the same margin this year, albeit in a competition that attracted far less outside money.

Biden narrowed the gap in a few other districts, but his improved performance wasn't enough to cost Team Red control of one of their seats. The 3rd district in the Grand Rapids area picked Trump 51-47 after backing him by a larger margin of 52-42. However, Republican Peter Meijer won the race to resign Republican libertarian MP Justin Amash by beating Democrat Hillary Scholten 53-47 after a costly race.

Southwest Michigan District 6, meanwhile, backed Trump 51-47, which was also a drop from its 51-43 win in 2016. However, veteran Republican MP Fred Upton ran well ahead of the ticket again, winning his 18th term 56-40.

Trump carried the remaining five seats held by the GOP in double digits, although his profit margin in particular was weaker than 2016 in all of them. The 1st District of Rep. Jack Bergman in the northern part of the state voted for Trump 58-41 four years after he supported him 58 -37. Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Huizenga's 2nd Ward on the west coast of Michigan endorsed the top of Ticket 55-43 versus Trump's 56-38 last time. Things were more stable in the 4th, 7th and 10th districts, but Biden's improved vote share across the board was key to his victory.

The Republicans had complete control of the Michigan restructuring process for the last three rounds, but this time it will be different. In 2018, voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that creates an independent commission to create new borders for Congress and legislation.

Georgia Runoffs

● GA-Sen-A, GA-Sen-B: Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times released some new data that vividly illustrates the gap in the price paid for advertising through federal campaigns compared to outside groups.

While the details are a bit technical, federal law guarantees candidates what is known as the "lowest piece fee" to ensure they pay the lowest possible fees for television commercials on television and radio. However, these rules do not apply to third parties, so Super PACs and the like have to pay the full freight.

Goldmacher's data shows Jon Ossoff's campaign pays just $ 6,000 to get a spot on Jeopardy! at the Atlanta-based station WXIA. However, for the same program over the same period, a Democratic super PAC called Georgia Honor (operated by the Senate Majority PAC) has to pay $ 25,000 per ad. As Goldmacher notes, such a 4-to-1 divide is not necessarily the norm, but this example clearly shows that not all advertising dollars are created equal.

For this reason, advertisers prefer a metric called "Gross Score" instead. Again, these are technical, but generally describe how often an advertiser can expect a particular ad to be seen by the intended audience. Another useful concept is "voice percentage" which refers to the percentage of the total advertisement that is served by one side or the other.

All of this is, of course, a prelude to … more ads! Here are the latest:

An NRSC spot says a win for Ossoff and Raphael Warnock would enable "Nancy Pelosi, AOC and Bernie Sanders". The focus on both candidates is a bit unusual as most attack ads from either side have so far focused on only hitting one target.
Warnock denotes a man who lost his wife to COVID. Heartbreakingly, he says: "It should have been me instead of her. I took care of her so much." He beats Senator Kelly Loeffler: "Kelly Loeffler sold her shares and told us not to worry."
A woman praises Loeffler for helping them extend their unemployment benefit. Loeffler has spoken out in Congress against laws to expand unemployment benefits for all Americans during the pandemic.
Another woman identified as a small business owner thank you Loeffler for offering unspecified help to keep their business open.
A Spanish language advertisement von Ossoff attacks Senator David Perdue for supporting Trump's policy of separating migrant children from their parents.
A Spanish advertisement from Warnock emphasizes his religious beliefs, including the fact that he is now a pastor in the same church that MLK once presided over.

senate

● AZ Sen: If you had a huge high school full of belligerent cliques who all hated each other, just instead of students filled with GOP politicians and real life at stake instead of supremacy in the canteen, it would go a long way towards promoting the Declaration of embarrassment make explosion of fighting among Republicans in Arizona. Furthermore, we dare not recap the Arizona Republic's masterful declaration of this absurd food struggle, but there are a few trifles about potential 2022 candidates who could take on Democratic Senator Mark Kelly that we are ripping out of the mess can.

Notably, reporters Ronald Hansen and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez say GOP chairman Kelli Ward, an extreme lunatic who has already lost two Senate bids, could potentially run again. Ward, a former US state senator who shamed in 2014 for hosting a town hall to spread conspiracy theories via so-called "chemtrails," ran into Senator John McCain in 2016 in Republican elementary school and held him on a surprisingly soft 51- 40 span.

Shortly thereafter, she challenged fellow Arizona Senator Jeff Flake before halftime in 2018. But, under constant attack from Donald Trump, Flake decided to retire after just one term, and Republicans rallied around the then-rep. Martha McSally who beat Ward 55-28 (Ward may have shared the insane vote with the infamous Joe Arpaio who won 18%).

It turns out, however, that losing two Senate races for an Arizona Republican isn't the end of the line (McSally, be brave!). The following year, Ward was chosen to head the state Republican Party and quickly discredited the organization. Fundraising stalled as Ward made headlines to fuel resistance to pandemic security measures and even encouraged protesters to pose as frontline health workers by putting on medical scrubs. 2020, of course, ended with Arizona going blue at the presidential level for the first time since 1996 – and sending two Democrats to the Senate for the first time since 1953.

Hansen and Wingett Sanchez also mention another, newer Senate loser as a potential GOP candidate, businessman Daniel McCarthy, who was treated 75-25 strokes in this year's McSally primary. McCarthy, then 34, compared himself to Jesus on the campaign ("I qualify for the job. Jesus was 33 when he saved the world") and called Maricopa County's masked mandate "a communist uprising." Like Ward, McCarthy was involved in the recent antics at the Arizona GOP cafeteria – but that too requires reading the Republic.

● FL-Sen, FL-Gov: Former MP David Jolly, a Republican who became independent and has been a vocal Trump critic for years, says he is considering an offer for the Senate or the governor as an independent. Jolly seems at least a little realistic about his chances and says, "I think we could start a viable campaign. But viable and winning look very different and require a lot of money."

At the same time, he seems to believe that the recent Florida election, which was attended by a strong third-party candidate, somehow strengthens his case. Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Jolly "points to the 2010 Senate race as proof of his way", an open seat competition in which Republican Marco Rubio defeated another Republican independent governor. Charlie Crist, 49-30, with Democratic MP Kendrick Meek, who only owns 20%. Given that the Democrats are sure to have their own credible challenger in 2022, it's hard to see why Jolly thinks he can do better than Crist against Rubio.

● GA-Sen-A, GA-Sen-B: Republican pollster Trafalgar Group has released a new poll on Georgia's drains, but after much deliberation, we decided that we won't write about it or add it to our database as the founder publicly accepts conspiracy theories. We will maintain this policy for all future Trafalgar surveys, subject to further developments.

Trafalgar has made headlines in recent years for its unorthodox methodology of attempting to offset what the company's director Robert Cahaly has termed a "bias against social desires" – the alleged inclination of so-called "shy Trump voters," you say pollsters who they really support. While Trafalgar's approach made it one of the few companies to predict a Trump victory in 2016, it fared poorly in 2018, and its latest polls also predicted a Trump victory this year (with Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona).

Other pollsters have sharply questioned Trafalgar's methods. A political science professor told the New York Times, "If someone is not transparent, there is a general assumption that they are crap." The same article reported that Trafalgar "is viewed by other survey participants as too shady to be taken seriously," and that Cahaly's bare-bones method page "reads like a vague advertisement for its services, stating that its surveys are active are faced with social desirability bias without giving details on how. "

These issues have preoccupied us for some time, but ultimately our decision is motivated by Cahaly's acceptance and reinforcement of electoral conspiracy theories. Before the election, Cahaly made an unfounded claim to Sean Hannity that Trump would have to win Pennsylvania "by a 4 or 5 to overtake the electoral fraud taking place there".

More recently, he tweeted that his new Georgia poll was "based on any votes we expect to count in the GA Senate runoff election (both above and below the table)". This suggests a well-debunked conspiracy theory that Fulton County poll workers somehow rigged the election by counting forged ballot papers taken from "suitcases" placed under a table – one that Republican officials use the State Secretary as "blown up". ridiculous."

We take a heterodox approach to voting – there are many ways to get this right and no one has a monopoly on the truth. But the truth is what we must all be looking for. Ruling out polls is not frivolous, but if a pollster holds beliefs about elections that are proven to be wrong, we cannot conclude that such a person actually believes in seeking the truth.

● IL-Sen, IL-Gov: Regarding possible bids against one of Illinois' top two Democrats running in 2022, Senator Tammy Duckworth and Governor J. B. Pritzker, Republican MP Adam Kinzinger, told Politico, "I'm never ruling anything out." Not only would Kinzinger be an outsider of either race, but he would likely face a difficult primary, given the state's strong democratic stance, as he has outright criticized Donald Trump's efforts to overthrow the elections – criticism that has already been shooting other Republicans on him.

Gubernatorial

● GA Gov: In a Saturday run-off rally in Georgia, which predictably focused almost entirely on his complaints about his own elections, Donald Trump managed to push himself into another unrelated race when he named outgoing MP Doug Collins in 2022 Announced candidates for governor. "Doug, you want to run for governor in two years?" Asked Trump after realizing Collins was there. "He would be a handsome governor."

The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently eclipsed Collins as a potential main antagonist for Governor Brian Kemp, who angered Trump for not trying to dismiss the Georgian presidential contest results. That line of scrimmage continued on Saturday, with Trump repeatedly attacking Kemp during a 100-minute speech. "Your governor should be ashamed," Trump said at one point, and at another point he claimed that Kemp was "afraid of Stacey Abrams".

● IL-Gov: Politico's Shia Kapos reports that the ultra-wealthy Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts is not "ruling out" a run for the governor, according to a "source close to" Ricketts. It's not clear how rich Ricketts himself is, but Forbes estimates the Ricketts family's net worth at $ 3 billion. That fortune was built by Patriarch Joe Ricketts, Todd & # 39; s father, who built the online trading powerhouse now known as TD Ameritrade.

Most of the family was deeply involved in Republican politics. The elder Ricketts was a major GOP donor and conservative activist for a long time, especially through his super-PAC, the Anti-Earmarks Ending Spending Fund. Todd Ricketts became the RNC's Chief Financial Officer in 2018 and his eldest brother Pete is the Governor of Nebraska. However, his sister Laura is a LGBTQ rights activist and one of the best donors of democratic campaigns.

● KS-Gov: Soon-to-be former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refuses to rule out an offer against the Democratic government of Laura Kelly in 2022, telling the Wall Street Journal, "I didn't think for half a second about the political races in the state of Kansas." Cycle, Pompeo played a long, drawn-out game: "Will he or won't he?" When Mitch McConnell tried to get him to the Senate, a race that Pompeo now claims claims he "never really thought about it".

Pompeo's unprecedented position in Kansas GOP politics would likely clear the field for him should he elect to run: State Party chairman Mike Kuckelman told the Journal: "From the perspective of what I hear within the party, he can do anything. " he wants to. "But that cuts both ways. As in 2020, a protracted but incomplete alliance could undermine other potential candidates. Ultimately, Pompeo's dithering didn't stop Republicans from holding the state's open Senate seat last month, but they would probably prefer not to go through the same rig marole again.

● MA-Gov: Joe Battenfeld of the conservative Boston Herald reports that Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone is considering moving towards Democratic governor in 2022. Curtatone has harshly criticized Republican Governor Charlie Baker for not taking enough action to tackle the coronavirus pandemic in Massachusetts, and the mayor was excited as he spoke about his own election plans. He didn't rule anything out. "That didn't cross my mind at all," Curtatone told Battenfeld about a possible gubernatorial run, adding, "This is not the time to throw political shots at anyone."

Curtatone was first elected Mayor of Somerville in 2003, which is located north of Boston and includes part of Tufts University. He has been mentioned as a potential candidate for higher office for years. Curtatone himself spent months thinking about running a gubernatorial run in 2013, but chose to stay there while Baker won the office the following year. Curtatone is up for re-election next year, and while he might run for governor later, Battenfeld writes that the mayor would likely not seek a sixth term if he decides to take over Baker.

Baker himself has not yet announced whether he will run for a third term, although he started preparations as early as 2019. A recent MassInc survey for the nonprofit The Barr Foundation found that Baker has a strong positive rating of 68-22, which is usually a very blue state, but there was a potential warning sign for the governor just below the surface: While Baker of the Democrats received an 81-13 score, Republicans only gave Baker the thumbs up by a margin of 54-40.

● NM-Gov: Steve Pearce, New Mexico GOP chairman, is reportedly considering a rematch against Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in 2022, who knocked him down by 57:43 when they first met two years ago.

Pearce represented the conservative 2nd Congressional District in southern New Mexico for many years, but his two stays were backed by national failures: he lost a Senate primary in 2000 after serving four years in the legislature, and won a seat in Congress in 2002 and then shattered a 2008 Senate bid before returning to the House of Representatives in the 2010 GOP wave to give up everything for its hopeless 2018 gubernatorial run.

As for Grisham, she had reportedly been considered for a position in Joe Biden's cabinet, but both she and the Biden transition team announced on Sunday that she would not be joining the next administration.

● PA Gov: Republican Senator Doug Mastriano, who has recently gained prominence thanks to his bellicose support for Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the Pennsylvania presidential election results, will be mentioned as a possible candidate for governor in a new profile from Philadelphia in 2022 Andrew Seidman the investigator.

While Mastriano wouldn't speak to Seidman, when asked by conservative radio host Charlie Kirk recently if he would run, Mastriano said, "If we get the call from God, we won't stay away from our Esther moment" – exploiting biblical story by Queen Esther, credited with putting her life in danger in order to save the Jews of Persia from destruction, to describe his own interest in political promotion.

Mastriano's arrival as the Latter-day Jewish heroine is relatively new: As a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, he ran for the 13th Congressional District of Pennsylvania for the first time in 2018 shortly after retiring as a colonel from the army. He lost elementary school hard to now-Rep. David Joyce, but he did better the following year when he won a special election to legislature.

He also made bizarre news late last month when he was forced to bail out of an Oval Office meeting with Trump after learning that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. (There are so many strange things about this story.)

While his loving hug from Trump should be a blessing in an elementary school, Mastriano could pose a threat to the GOP in the general election. "We had a super Trumpy senior white Senator from central Pennsylvania as our 2018 gubernatorial candidate," a local GOP agent told Seidman, referring to former Senator Scott Wagner, who ran against temporary Democratic Governor Tom Wolf two years earlier . "And he got 40% of the vote." In fairness, Wagner won 40.7% which makes 41.

● RI-Gov: WPRI's Ted Nesi reports that outgoing Cranston Mayor Alan Fung, who was the GOP's candidate for governor in 2014 and 2018, is considering a third attempt, though there is no quote from Fung or anyone with him communicates. Fung lost a three-way open seat race to Democrat Gina Raimondo 41-36 in 2014 (a third-party candidate took 21%) and was smoked in a more traditional rematch at 53-37 four years later. Raimondo is temporary in 2022 (as was Fung himself that year), and a slew of high-profile Democrats could try to follow suit.

● SC-Gov: Outgoing Democratic MP Joe Cunningham, who unexpectedly lost a difficult re-election offer for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District last month, declined to ruled out an offer for governor in 2022, telling the Post & Courier his plans for the future : "It is good to take some time and evaluate things. This is not a decision I can make now." Republican Governor Henry McMaster has announced that he will seek a second full term.

● VA Gov: Despite the pandemic, Virginia Republicans opted over the weekend to vote candidates for statewide office through a convention rather than a state elementary school, prompting a GOP candidate to face a threat to lock down the party and make an offer for the governor as independent.

State Senator Amanda Chase, known for her far-right views, had long spoken out against a convention and attacked the "elite of the Republican establishment" for favoring one, apparently believing it would be the only other declared candidate, the former spokesman for the State House, Kirk, would benefit Cox. If that sounds surprising to some extent, it is: As Virginia Mercury's Ned Oliver put it, the decision "turned conventional wisdom about the advantages of primaries over convention on its head," as GOP conventions are typically the most extreme Prefer candidates.

But, as Oliver alludes to, Chase is so closely connected with other Republicans that her ability to raise the necessary support among congressional delegates, with whom personal relationships are often critical, is extremely weak. Chase got booted from her county GOP organization last year after supporting an independent sheriff candidate who ran against the incumbent Republican, and a few months later she actually stepped out of the GOP caucus in the Senate.

It is not clear whether Republicans will attempt to hold a face-to-face meeting, despite the grave danger – it is possible that they will choose an "unassembled" convention instead, more like a so-called "fire department" (or one led by a party) Elementary school resembles. But whatever unfolds, the electorate will be far smaller than if they had chosen a traditional elementary school, where Chase could have won with a multitude, as opposed to the majority called for at a congress.

The decision to forego a primary sparked offensive words from a potential candidate, outgoing Republican Denver Riggleman, who lost a renomination at a convention earlier this year. The Virginia GOP "is a raging dumpster fire," tweeted Riggleman, who said late last month his interest in an offer had "declined". Presumably, his desire to seek the Republican nod is even less now, although he has also considered the possibility of running for an Independent.

House

● CA-08: Republican MP Paul Cook resigned Monday to take his seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Directors. Cook's congressional seat will remain vacant until January, when fellow Republican compatriot Jay Obernolte is sworn in along with the rest of the new congress.

And while it may seem strange that Cook decided to give up his DC headquarters to run for a local office, it's not a step backwards for him. San Bernardino County's regulators earn a salary on par with members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and they enjoy a much shorter walk too. Regulators are limited to four terms of four years, although that may not be a disadvantage for the 77-year-old Cook. And perhaps most importantly, while Obernolte will be in the minority, Cook and his Republicans will have a 4-1 lead on the Board of Supervisors, even though San Bernardino County preferred Joe Biden 54-44.

● CA-25: Outgoing MP Christy Smith, who recently lost a very close rematch with Republican MP Mike Garcia, says she could run for a third time for California's 25th Congressional District. In a new statement, Smith said, "This was such a close election, and having received more than 36,000 more votes than any other Democrat in CA-25, I'm keeping all options open."

Last month, Smith submitted materials to the FEC that would enable it to raise funds for another offering. However, as we always warn, many candidates submit FEC documents but never run. And in this cycle, the whims of redistribution add another element of uncertainty. So expect lots of people to float their names early on which will stay tuned after the cards are finished.

mayor

● Mayor of Seattle, WA: The incumbent Jenny Durkan announced on Monday that she would not seek a second term. Durkan, whose year was marked by the coronavirus pandemic, widespread protests against police violence, and conflict with several members of the Seattle city council, said she believes she must spend the remainder of her tenure focusing on the city's challenges, instead of applying for a new candidacy – election.

Durkan, whose 2017 victory made her the first lesbian to be elected mayor, is the youngest city guide to leave after serving in office. Greg Nickels 'win in 2005 was the last time a Seattle mayor was re-elected, though Nickels' search for a third term ended four years later when he failed to overtake the top 2 primary.

Alle Kandidaten des Wettbewerbs im nächsten Jahr werden in einem unparteiischen Wahlgang antreten, und die beiden besten Wähler werden sich für die Parlamentswahlen im November qualifizieren. Durkans Nachfolger in dieser sehr blauen Stadt wird mit ziemlicher Sicherheit ein Mitdemokrat sein, obwohl es viel zu früh ist, um zu wissen, wer der Spitzenreiter sein würde. Wir werden uns das potenzielle Feld ansehen, um Durkan in einem zukünftigen Digest zu folgen.

Andere Rennen

● CA-AG: Joe Biden gab am Montag bekannt, dass er den kalifornischen Generalstaatsanwalt Xavier Becerra zum Leiter des US-amerikanischen Ministeriums für Gesundheit und menschliche Dienste ernennt. Becerra, ein ehemaliger demokratischer Kongressabgeordneter aus Los Angeles, wäre der erste Latino, der diesen Posten innehat.

Wenn der Senat Becerra bestätigt, wäre es an Gouverneur Gavin Newsom, einem demokratischen Kollegen, seinen Nachfolger als Generalstaatsanwalt für den größten Staat des Landes zu wählen. Newsom ist bereits damit beauftragt, den bald vakanten Senatssitz der gewählten Vizepräsidentin Kamala Harris zu besetzen, und Becerra wurde als Interessent erwähnt. Der neue Generalstaatsanwalt müsste von beiden Kammern des Landtags bestätigt werden, obwohl es eine Überraschung wäre, wenn das überwiegend demokratische Gremium die Wahl von Newsom ablehnen würde.

Erst vor vier Jahren wurde Becerra selbst zum Generalstaatsanwalt ernannt. Im Jahr 2016 wurde dann-Gov. Jerry Brown schockierte staatliche und nationale Politiker, als er Becerra, die vierthöchste Demokratin des Hauses, als Nachfolgerin von Harris nach ihrer Wahl in den Senat auswählte. Ein Demokrat, der nicht ausgewählt wurde, der staatliche Versicherungskommissar Dave Jones, beschloss, Becerra im Jahr 2018 herauszufordern, doch Jones belegte in den Top-2-Vorwahlen einen entfernten dritten Platz. Becerra selbst hatte keine Probleme, seinen republikanischen Feind im November zurückzudrehen.

Genannte Rennen

● CO 18. Bezirk DA: Die Demokratin Amy Padden räumte am Samstag ein, nachdem eine automatische Nachzählung bestätigt hatte, dass sich der Republikaner John Kellner bei diesem Open-Seat-Rennen zwischen 50,1 und 49,9 durchgesetzt hatte. Kellners Sieg bedeutet, dass seine Partei das Büro dieses Bezirksstaatsanwalts innehat, das für die Grafschaften Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert und Lincoln zuständig ist.

Zusammenfassung der Wahlergebnisse

● LA-05: Luke Letlow besiegte den Abgeordneten Lance Harris 62-38 in der All-GOP-Stichwahl am Samstag entscheidend, um seinem alten Chef, dem pensionierten Abgeordneten Ralph Abraham, auf diesem konservativen Sitz im Nordosten von Louisiana zu folgen. Letlow, der vor dem Start als Abrahams Stabschef fungierte, hatte die Zustimmung des Kongressabgeordneten sowie einen großen finanziellen Vorteil gegenüber Harris.

● East Baton Rouge Parish, Bürgermeister von LA: Der demokratische Amtsinhaber Sharon Weston Broome gewann eine zweite Amtszeit als Vorsitzender dieser bevölkerungsreichen Gemeinde, in der Baton Rouge und einige seiner Vororte beheimatet sind, indem er den ehemaligen republikanischen Abgeordneten Steve Carter 57-43 besiegte.

● Orleans Parish, LA Bezirksstaatsanwalt: Die Reformer der Strafjustiz erzielten am Samstag in New Orleans einen großen Erfolg, als Stadtrat Jason Williams eine sechsjährige Amtszeit gewann, indem er die frühere Richterin Keva Landrum mit 57: 43 in der rein demokratischen Stichwahl besiegte. (Orleans Parish ist eng mit der Stadt New Orleans verbunden). Williams wird es schaffen, den amtierenden Leon Cannizzaro in den Ruhestand zu versetzen, der sein Amt als einer der strafbarsten Staatsanwälte des ganzen Landes niederlegt.

Sowohl Williams als auch Landrum, die 2007 und 2008 als vorläufiger Bezirksstaatsanwalt fungierten, versprachen, niemals die Todesstrafe zu beantragen, und versprachen, weitere Änderungen im Amt vorzunehmen, aber Williams vertrat konsequent weitaus fortschrittlichere Positionen als sein Gegner. Insbesondere schloss Williams allein aus, Angeklagte als Gewohnheitstäter anzuklagen, eine Taktik, mit der Staatsanwälte in Louisiana wie Cannizzaro häufig längere Strafen verhängt haben. Williams sagte insbesondere auch, er werde nicht versuchen, minderjährige Verdächtige – von denen 97% schwarz sind – vor erwachsenen Gerichten vor Gericht zu stellen, und er hat sich außerdem verpflichtet, alle Anklagen wegen Marihuana-Besitzes fallen zu lassen.

Williams sah jedoch zumindest so aus, als wäre er ein kleiner Außenseiter, der am Samstag in den Wettbewerb ging. Am schlimmsten ist vielleicht, dass er im Juni von der Bundesanwaltschaft wegen Steuerbetrugs angeklagt wurde. Die von ihm behaupteten Anschuldigungen ergaben sich aus einer "politischen Taktik der alten Schule", um seine Chancen zu beeinträchtigen. Der Stadtrat hat sich nicht schuldig bekannt und behauptet, sein Steuerberater habe seine Ausweise falsch dargestellt und fehlerfreie Formulare ohne Williams Wissen beim IRS eingereicht. Sein Prozess ist derzeit für Januar angesetzt.

Landrum, der Williams 34-29 in der ersten Wahlrunde im vergangenen Monat führte, hatte auch die Unterstützung von Bürgermeister Latoya Cantrell und Rep. Cedric Richmond sowie fünf von Williams 'sechs Kollegen im Stadtrat. Nichts davon war jedoch genug, um Williams davon abzuhalten, diesen mächtigen Posten entscheidend zu gewinnen.

Wundertüte

● Todesfälle: Der Maryland-Demokrat Paul Sarbanes, der im Repräsentantenhaus und im Senat diente, starb am Sonntag im Alter von 87 Jahren. Sarbanes, der als erster griechischer Amerikaner in die obere Kammer gewählt wurde, war ein allgemein zurückhaltender Senator, der am besten für seine Zusammenarbeit bekannt ist – Unterstützung des Sarbanes-Oxley-Gesetzes von 2002 nach den Skandalen von Enron und WorldCom, ein Gesetz, das die New York Times schreibt: "Stärkung der Unternehmensführung und Schaffung eines Bundesaufsichtsrats für die Buchhaltungsbranche." Sarbanes is also the father of Rep. John Sarbanes, who has represented part of the Baltimore region since 2007, the same year that the elder Sarbanes retired from the Senate.

Sarbanes got his start in politics in 1966 when he was elected to the state House, and he launched a primary challenge against Rep. George Fallon four years later. Fallon, who was chair of the powerful House Committee on Public Works, initially looked secure in this Baltimore-area seat.

However, as Theo Lippman would write in the Baltimore Sun in 1991, "Some of Paul's best arguments against the chairman were that he was too old (he was 68) and too ailing and too remote to represent the district anymore. And too close to big, rich campaign contributors who depended on pork from the committee chairman's big barrel." Sarbanes won 51-46, and he easily prevailed in the general. Sarbanes seemed to be in for another tough primary in 1972 when redistricting put him in the same seat as fellow Rep. Edward Garmatz, but Garmatz decided to retire.

Sarbanes attracted national attention in 1974 when, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, he introduced and defended the first article of impeachment against Richard Nixon. Sarbanes then set his sights on a promotion in 1976 when he sought the nomination to take on Republican Sen. Glenn Beall. Sarbanes' main opponent in the primary was former Sen. Joseph Tydings, who had lost the seat to Beall in 1970, thanks to an effort by the NRA and its allies. The well-funded Sarbanes, who benefited from support from Greek American donors and labor groups, won the nomination 55-35.

Sarbanes then went after Beall for his connections to the disgraced Nixon, including the $250,000 in campaign funds he'd received six years ago from a White House-controlled account known as the "Townhouse Operation." Beall insisted that, while he'd made a "mistake" by accepting the donations, he was being unfairly judged by post-Watergate standards of morality. That argument didn’t go over well with voters, and Sarbanes unseated Beall 57-39 as Jimmy Carter was carrying the state by a smaller 53-47.

Sarbanes never came close to losing in any of his subsequent campaigns, though he did attract some notable GOP opponents. Sarbanes's foe in 1982 was Prince George's County Executive Lawrence Hogan, a former House colleague and the father of current Gov. Larry Hogan, while his 1988 adversary was Alan Keyes, who would go on to lose the 2004 Senate race in Illinois to Barack Obama. Sarbanes' smallest win was in 1994 against former U.S. Secretary of Labor Bill Brock, who had been elected to the Senate from Tennessee in 1970 and lost re-election six years later; Sarbanes prevailed 59-41.