RandySF
RandySF's JournalCA: Open Northwest Orange County Supervisor Seat Sees Packed Primary
Orange County residents are guaranteed at least one new county supervisor this election season, with Supervisor Andrew Do terming out of office at the end of this year.
Now, a state senator, a former state assemblyman, and a slate of current and former city council members are running to replace him overseeing central Orange County.
It’s also the first time the first district seat has been up for grabs following the board’s redistricting in 2022, placing the cities of Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, and Westminster together.
If any candidate manages to grab over 50% of the vote in the March 5 primary, there won’t be a runoff in November, but if all the candidates fall short of the majority threshold, the top two vote getters will face off again in the general election.
The sole Democrat in the race is Cypress City Councilwoman Frances Marquez, who’s also netted the endorsement of the county Democratic Party and has worked for years in the party at the federal level, working in Congressmen Alan Lowenthal and Mike Honda’s offices.
https://voiceofoc.org/2024/01/open-orange-county-supervisor-seat-sees-packed-primary/
CA-45: The LA Times endorses Kim Nguyen-Penaloza (D) for Congress in CA-45
Steel doesn’t represent the values of her district. A majority of the voters there cast ballots for Joe Biden in 2020 — and for California’s abortion rights measure, Proposition 1, in 2022.
Four Democrats are vying to run against Steel in November. The strongest among them, and the one with the best chance of knocking Steel out of her seat, is Kim Nguyen-Penaloza, a Garden Grove City Council member who has expertise and passion for improving healthcare and medical insurance — she works as a manager for Blue Shield’s Medi-Cal program — and who is a strong advocate for reproductive rights. She thinks she can do a much better job than Steel of bringing federal dollars to the 45th.
At age 25, she was the youngest person elected to the City Council, where her accomplishments include spearheading a mobile mental health program that serves mostly the city’s homeless population. That progam is about to be expanded into a wraparound service center for the homeless, providing food, job training and shelter. She’s now in her eighth and last year as a council member.
What’s notable about her achievements is that she was working with a council that, although officially nonpartisan, is dominated by Republicans. Even so, she was able to find areas of commonality to get important legislation passed, such as an agreement that requires the contractors on public projects to hire a certain number of veterans and local workers. The ability to work successfully with members of another political party is a rare quality in the divided Congress.
https://theliberaloc.com/2024/01/29/the-la-times-endorses-kim-nguyen-penaloza-for-congress-in-ca-45/
Local Tech CEO and Political Donor Garry Tan Tweets That Some SF Supervisors Should 'Die Slow' In Late-Night Rant
A seemingly drunken and now-deleted tweetstorm from Y Combinator CEO and political donor Garry Tan called on most of the SF Board of Supervisors to “Die slow motherf***ers,” which may be awkward for one supervisor candidate whose company funding is linked to Tan.
If you’re like many San Franciscans on Twitter, there’s a good chance you are blocked by highly vocal local tech CEO Garry Tan. So you may not have seen a series of eyebrow-raising (and seemingly drunken?) tweets Tan posted late Friday night and early Saturday morning. Tan is best known for being the CEO of the VC firm Y Combinator, but has also donated well over $100,000 toward moderate causes in the last couple years, and serves as a board member of the very active tech-funded political group Grow SF.
But as Mission Local reports, Tan appeared to engage in a “die slow motherfucker” rant on Twitter in the wee hours Saturday morning, clearly directed at seven of the 11 members of the SF Board of Supervisors. The thread has since been deleted.
“Fuck Chan, Peskin, Preston, Walton, Melgar, Ronen, Safai, Chan as a label and motherfucking crew,” Tan posted to his 400,000+ Twitter followers at 12:25 a.m. Saturday morning. “Die slow motherfuckers.”
https://sfist.com/2024/01/29/local-tech-ceo-and-mega-donor-garry-tan-tweets-that-some-sf-supervisors-should-die-slow-in-late-night-rant/
WI: Gov. Evers vetoes Republican legislators' maps proposal
Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday vetoed legislative maps passed by Republican lawmakers last week, setting up the state Supreme Court to make the decision over what the state’s voting districts will look like in this year’s elections.
Republican lawmakers had hastily introduced and passed the maps, hoping to interrupt the Court’s process before the body’s new liberal majority could select among the maps submitted by parties in a lawsuit. Lawmakers attached the proposal as an amendment to a bill that would change how the state’s maps are drawn without holding a public hearing on the district lines. The Republicans said they were slightly amending the maps Evers had submitted to the Court, arguing they were making them more fair with little tweaks.
However, Democrats claimed that Republicans were actually moving district lines in order to protect their incumbents from being put into more competitive districts or being forced to run in primary races, with Democratic lawmakers calling it a continuation of the partisan gerrymander that has defined the state’s politics for the last decade.
On Tuesday, Evers said he was vetoing the maps because the state’s voters deserve districts that are more fair and more responsive to their decisions.
https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2024/01/30/gov-evers-vetoes-republican-legislators-maps-proposal/
DLCC Announces Investment into the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus Ahead of Pivotal Bucks County Special Election
WASHINGTON — Ahead of the crucial Pennsylvania House special election in battleground, bellwether Bucks County, the DLCC today announced a $50k investment into the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus. The balance of power in the House chamber rests on this Feb. 13th race, given the seat count is currently tied 101D-101R. Fundamental freedoms, including abortion access, are on the line as DLCC Spotlight Candidate Jim Prokopiak faces GOP candidate Candace Cabanas.
Since clinching the majority in 2022, House Democrats have provided an important check on the extreme MAGA agenda of Pennsylvania’s Senate Republicans. The DLCC defended our one-seat majority through a series of high-stakes special elections last year, notching 5 wins in 2023 alone.
Now, we turn to this pivotal special election in Bucks County, considered by many to be one of the biggest swing counties in Pennsylvania. This race will once again prove how important a single legislative seat can be for determining a majority. The DLCC’s investment today underscores our commitment to working with our partners on the ground to mount a strong campaign and continue protecting our majority through November.
“This race is one of the most important special elections of the year and the DLCC is all hands on deck to ensure that Jim Prokopiak emerges victorious. Everything is on the line – from control of the Speaker’s gavel to the future of fundamental freedoms like abortion access. This is a must-win race and our in-state partners need every resource possible to mount the strongest campaign possible in this notorious battleground county. We cannot allow state Republicans to regain control of both chambers and legislate Pennsylvania backward. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”
https://dlcc.org/press/dlcc-announces-investment-into-the-pennsylvania-house-democratic-caucus-ahead-of-pivotal-bucks-county-special-election/
OR-05: National Democratic campaign backs Janelle Bynum for Oregon's 5th District
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Monday named Oregon’s Janelle Bynum to its competitive “Red to Blue” program, throwing its support behind the state representative a few months before her primary election.
Bynum, D-Clackamas, is one of several Democrats vying for a chance to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer in the 5th Congressional District that stretches from Bend to Portland. The race is a top target for Democrats trying to flip the U.S. House, as the district voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and is home to more Democrats than Republicans.
Bynum’s chief opponent in the Democratic primary is Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a Terrebonne attorney and the 2022 Democratic nominee. Metro Council President Lynn Peterson has been in the race for months but struggled to gain traction. Matthew Davie, a tech executive from Bend with no prior government experience, also recently filed to run.
Becoming part of the Red to Blue program means Bynum will have access to DCCC strategic guidance, resources and training, along with more fundraising support than other primary candidates. Monday’s announcement, shared first with the Capital Chronicle, is the latest in a series of signals that Bynum is the preferred candidate of the Democrats’ powerful fundraising machine. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, personally encouraged her to run, and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek endorsed her, as did most Democrats she serves with in the state House. And on Monday, Bynum scored an endorsement from the Democratic fundraising juggernaut Emily’s List.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/national-democratic-campaign-backs-janelle-bynum-oregons-5th-district
Nessel asks for dismissal of Right to Life lawsuit to repeal Michigan abortion rights amendment
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told the Michigan Advance on Tuesday she’s asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by anti-abortion stakeholders to toss out the state’s voter-approved constitutional right to abortion access.
The lawsuit, led by Right to Life of Michigan, argues to “protect and vindicate fundamental constitutional rights” as a “civil rights action” against Proposal 3, the state constitutional amendment which added the right to reproductive freedom to state law. Proposal 3 was passed by the majority of voters in 2022 and the suit says it provides the “super-right” to reproductive freedom.
“At no time in our nation’s history has such a super-right, immune from all legislative action, ever been created by a popular vote outside of the checks and balances of a republican form of government,” the lawsuit filed in November says.
About 57% of voters approved Proposal 3 in November 2022, a 13-point margin, but the lawsuit asserts that the proposal was largely supported by out-of-state dollars and was purposefully “deceptive” to voters.
https://michiganadvance.com/2024/01/30/nessel-asks-for-dismissal-of-right-to-life-lawsuit-to-repeal-michigan-abortion-rights-amendment/
MI-SEN: Where is Mr. Rogers' (R) neighborhood?
Where does former Michigan U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers live?
Rogers has stood out in the crowded GOP field for an open U.S. Senate seat, having been recruited last year by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Records show Rogers, 60, owns homes in Michigan and Florida, but is registered to vote at a different Michigan address.
Rogers, who retired from a Michigan U.S. House seat in 2015, was living in Florida and was registered to vote there before deciding to run for office again in Michigan in 2023, per the Detroit News.
As late as May 2023, Rogers was still being reported to have interest in a run for the White House. When he was asked in March 2023 by WKAR-TV’s Tim Skubick if he was interested in replacing retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing), Rogers replied that he wasn’t sure.
https://michiganadvance.com/2024/01/30/where-is-mr-rogers-neighborhood/
5th Circuit grants motion against Black voters to rehear case over La. supreme court seat
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear a decades-old voting rights case that established the only majority-Black state supreme court district in Louisiana, according to the court’s docket Monday afternoon.
In a rare move Monday, the 5th Circuit granted a petition from the State of Louisiana for a rehearing en banc in Chisom v. State of Louisiana, a gerrymandering lawsuit that stems from the 1980s. During the 2021-2022 judicial year, the 5th Circuit granted only 2% of requests for en banc rehearings, according to the clerk’s annual report.
In the original lawsuit, Black voters argued the Louisiana Legislature gerrymandered the Louisiana Supreme Court districts by packing Black neighborhoods into majority-white districts.
After protracted litigation that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the state eventually agreed to a consent judgment in 1992 that settled the case by creating Louisiana’s only state supreme court district where Black voters have a chance of electing a candidate of their choice. Associate Justice Piper Griffin currently holds the seat, which is based out of New Orleans.
https://lailluminator.com/2024/01/29/5th-circuit-will-rehear-case-that-created-louisianas-only-black-supreme-court-seat/
AZ: Election distrust in Cochise County runs deep, and change is slow to come
SIERRA VISTA — At the base of the Huachuca Mountains near the Mexican border, in a city built next to an Army base, crowds gathered to look at the machines that some of them believe have been stealing their votes.
Chris Wlaschin, the security lead for the machine manufacturer Election Systems & Software, brought the equipment to this city to try and convince them otherwise. Attempting to connect with the veteran-heavy audience, he told them he, too, was a veteran, and described himself as a patriot.
“I have too much to risk,” Wlaschin told them, “by coming up here and not telling you the truth.”
But the rumblings in the room suggested not everyone believed him.
https://www.azmirror.com/2024/01/30/election-distrust-in-cochise-county-runs-deep-and-change-is-slow-to-come/
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