Medicaid expansion keeps breaking through in red America. Next stop: North Carolina?

Democrats recently notched big gubernatorial wins in deep red Louisiana and Kentucky, and they took full control of the Virginia state legislature — all of which were driven in no small part by bruising local debates over the Medicaid expansion.

Now Democrats are hoping that this momentum for the Medicaid expansion, combined with the growing popularity of the proposal even in Republican territory, could finally produce a breakthrough that they’ve long coveted: in still-reddish North Carolina.

And if that doesn’t happen, they believe they can make North Carolina Republicans pay a big price for it.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who faces North Carolina voters next year, is planning to make the Medicaid expansion a key feature of his reelection campaign, according to political consultant Morgan Jackson, who works for the governor.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/06/medicaid-expansion-keeps-breaking-through-red-america-next-stop-north-carolina/

NY Senate Republicans plagued by retirements ahead of 2020

Nearly a third of New York’s state Senate Republicans are calling it quits ahead of the 2020 election, ceding ground to Democrats keen on pushing the Empire State further to the left.

Seven GOP senators out of 23 members are jumping ship, with the latest retirement announcement coming Wednesday from upstate Sen. Joe Robach (R-Rochester).

He follows departing Sens. Michael Razenhofer (R-Buffalo), Betty Little (R-Queensbury), George Amedore (R-Kingston) and freshman Bob Antonacci (R-Syracuse), who will vacate his seat for a Syracuse-area judgeship.

Sens. Chris Jacobs (R-Buffalo) and Rob Ortt (R-Lockport), who are running for Congress, are also possibly on their way out.



https://nypost.com/2019/12/11/ny-senate-republicans-plagued-by-retirements-ahead-of-2020/

Democrats plan 'unprecedented' effort to flip state legislative chambers in 2020 state races

National Democratic leaders, backed by activist groups formed in response to President Trump’s election, are planning an unprecedented push to flip legislative chambers in at least seven states next year, a major strategic shift buoyed by the party’s successful seizure of Virginia’s state government in November.

Democratic groups, labor unions and grassroots organizations say their strategy centers on funneling tens of millions of dollars into traditionally low-profile state legislative contests in an effort to create new routes for the party’s agenda and prepare for upcoming congressional redistricting. The party has largely focused on the top of the ballot during presidential election years, an approach that allowed Republicans to make gains in statehouses for decades.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which focuses on statehouse elections, has set a $50 million spending goal for 2020 — five times more than the group spent before the last round of redistricting in 2010. The group plans to target statehouses in Texas, North Carolina and several battleground states.

“We have a generational opportunity to flip state legislatures from red to blue,” said Jessica Post, the committee’s president. “We’ve seen this gridlock in Washington, that hopefully will not continue, but if it does .?.?. we want progress. We’ve got to see it happen in the states.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1440



https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/democrats-plot-unprecedented-effort-to-flip-state-legislative-chambers-in-2020-state-races/2019/12/13/c661980e-1b61-11ea-b4c1-fd0d91b60d9e_story.html

Democratic fundraising titans prepare for Arizona clash in 2020

Big-money national Democratic groups are gearing up for what could prove to be a watershed election in Arizona, investing millions in staff, advertising and canvassing efforts to swing key races and turn out likely Democratic voters.

Success would mean more than picking up a Senate seat and winning some congressional races, though that certainly wouldn’t hurt the Democratic cause. Key victories could be a testament to the contestability of once-staunchly Republican Arizona – in essence, the extension of an invitation to moneyed progressive causes that now have evidence of a return on their investments in the state. This has its own suite of implications – on local campaign strategy, candidate messaging and the efficacy of outside-the-party PAC fundraising against institutional party fundraising.

A litany of Democratic PACs with seemingly computer-generated names like NextGen America, the Progressive Turnout Project, Flippable, MoveOn, Arena, the FutureNow Fund and others have all announced large investments in the state, building on groundwork laid in the last election cycle, which served as a sort of coming-out party for the state in national Democratic circles.

The 2018 election cycle introduced many in this cast of characters to the state political scene – NextGen, founded and largely funded by now-presidential candidate Tom Steyer, spent $3.4 million in Arizona last year. FutureNow, founded by Pritzker Family scion Adam Pritzker, economist Jeffrey Sachs and former New York Assemblyman Daniel Squadron, spent heavily on the 2018 Senate race in LD28, in which teacher Christine Marsh fell short of unseating Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, by two-tenths of a percent.

Several consultants, strategists and PAC staffers on both sides of the aisle told the Arizona Capitol Times that the positive results in that cycle – which netted the Democratic Party several seats in the state House, four statewide positions and generated wave turnouts among typically low-propensity voters – opened the door for the influx of national interests that are already preparing for battle in 2020, even as primaries in most races remain heavily contested.



https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019/12/13/democratic-fundraising-titans-prepare-for-arizona-clash-in-2020/

NJ-02: Van Drew considering switching parties.

“President Trump on Friday personally urged a vocally anti-impeachment Democrat, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ), to switch parties — a request he is now believed to be strongly considering,” the Washington Post reports.

“The meeting was confirmed by a Trump administration official and a congressional official with knowledge of the White House conversation.”

New York Times: “Mr. Van Drew has had discussions with senior Trump advisers about securing the president’s support for his switch, a blessing that could help him avert a primary challenge next year in what would be his new party.”

https://politicalwire.com/2019/12/14/trump-urges-democratic-lawmaker-to-switch-parties/

Today os Election Day in Houston

Judge orders state to purge more than 200,000 Wisconsin voters from the rolls

PORT WASHINGTON - An Ozaukee County judge on Friday ordered the state to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Wisconsin's voter rolls because they may have moved.

The case is being closely watched because of the state's critical role in next year's presidential race. Circuit Judge Paul Malloy also denied the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin's petition to intervene.

Lawyers for the League and for the Wisconsin Elections Commission indicated they will appeal and asked Malloy to stay his ruling pending those appeals, but he declined.

At issue is a letter the state Elections Commission sent in October to about 234,000 voters who it believes may have moved. The letter asked the voters to update their voter registrations if they had moved or alert election officials if they were still at their same address.

The commission planned to remove the letter's recipients from the voter rolls in 2021 if it hadn't heard from them. But Malloy's decision would kick them off the rolls much sooner, and well before the 2020 presidential election.



https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/13/judge-orders-wisconsin-purge-more-than-200-000-voters-list/4412776002/

Tweet of the Day

Tomorrow is Election Day in Houston

Are you ready?

AZ-SEN: Martha McSally runs away from a couple of veterans.