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US Senate Challengers raise Big Money

 
 
 
Alabama will likely vote as they want and won't go Trump's way, but man... if those MAGA hat wearing idiots could see to not voting for Sessions in the primary... Sen. Jones could have a chance again.
 
Trump advisers warn McSally is in trouble - POLITICO
Senior political advisers to President Donald Trump warned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday that Republican Sen. Martha McSally is falling dangerously behind in the critical swing state of Arizona.

Trump’s campaign team was meeting with the president at the White House to discuss the state of play in a handful of battleground states. Toward the end of the meeting, Trump pulled McConnell, who was at the White House to meet with him on another matter, into the Roosevelt Room. The discussion turned to Arizona, where recent polling has shown Trump and McSally trailing.

...
McSally is also heading into the final six months of the campaign at a substantial fundraising disadvantage. Through the end of March, Kelly had outraised McSally $31 million to $18 million. Kelly, who is the husband of ex-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is the most well-funded Senate candidate in the country.
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So they are running scared. What a nice sight to see.
 
Montana barrels toward blockbuster Senate fight | TheHill
Though Montana has traditionally voted Republican in presidential elections — handing President Trump a 20-point victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 — it has split its votes for statewide offices, including electing Democratic Sen. Jon Tester three times.

Bullock has raised Democratic hopes he can win a second Senate seat for them after joining the race once his presidential campaign fizzled out. Polls show the popular centrist governor leading Daines, though it’s still likely to be an uphill battle as the Republican senator has built up a beefier campaign bank account in a race rated as “lean Republican” by The Cook Political Report.
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There are two Democratic governors who have run for President in this year's race, and who are now running for the Senate: John Hickenlooper of CO and Steve Bullock of MT.
 
Progressives steamrolled across the Senate map - POLITICO
The left wing has been wiped out in Senate primaries or failed to recruit at all in states across the map this year, leaving a slate of centrist candidates more in the ideological mold of Joe Biden than Bernie Sanders. Liberal insurgents on the ballot over the coming weeks in states like Kentucky and Colorado aren't favored to fare any better, failing to gain significant traction thus far against more moderate favorites.

A Senate shutout would be an embarrassment for the progressive movement, which a few months ago looked ascendant. If Biden wins the presidency, and Democrats take back the Senate, it would likely result in a more incremental approach to legislating despite Biden's public overture's to the left since he clinched the Democratic nomination.

...
The failure of left-wing candidates in their primaries has prompted soul-searching among many progressive leaders who now believe that they neglected the task of organizing and building a downballot bench as they were caught up in the thrall of Sanders’ candidacy. It is also a victory for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who recruited most of the primary victors, viewing them as more likely to win general elections.

...
In addition to Senate races, progressives have also come up short against many of the incumbent House Democrats they've targeted — though some prospects remain, including possibly toppling Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) later this month.

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Still, some take heart that at least many of the candidates in swing states are more liberal than their counterparts just a decade ago. Every Senate candidate in a major race, from Mark Kelly in Arizona to Cal Cunningham in North Carolina, supports a public option to compete with private health insurance plans. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock supports repealing the Senate filibuster so that legislation can pass with a simple majority.
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Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez was one of several candidates, and a fellow progressive, Sema Hernandez, was also in the race. Seems like they lost by vote splitting.

In Iowa, progressive Kimberly Williams lost to Teresa Greenfield.

There are still several progressives in Senate races, like Paula Jean Swearengin in West Virginia, Betsy Sweet in Maine (up against Sara Gideon), Charles Booker in Kentucky (up against Amy McGrath), and Andrew Romanoff in Colorado (up against Mike Hickenlooper).

Both Mike Hickenlooper and Steve Bullock ran for President before deciding to run for Senate.
 
David Silverstone ᵇˡᵐ 🌅✡️ on Twitter: "Amy McGrath is:
- Conservative
- Pro-Trump
- Unable to win a House race
- Handpicked by the Establishment and donor class
- Imperialist
- Against M4A and GND
In short, she’s everything wrong with the Democratic Party.
Vote for @Booker4KY - a real Democrat!
#BookerBeatsMitch! https://t.co/uobaLmqEa5" / Twitter
then
David Silverstone ᵇˡᵐ 🌅✡️ on Twitter: "Shamelessly stolen from [MENTION=420]ryan[/MENTION]grim’s article for @theintercept last July: https://t.co/SZTOortEE2" / Twitter
noting
Amy McGrath Is Everything Wrong With the Democratic Party
Amy McGrath is everything wrong with the Democratic Party. She launched her high-profile campaign Tuesday with a multimillion-dollar burst of fundraising, with Democrats across the country eager to see her upend Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. By Wednesday, she was apologizing for a bizarre flip-flop-flip on a question — Brett Kavanaugh’s fitness for the Supreme Court — that seemed like a layup. In between, she told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that she was running on the mind-bending rationale that McConnell needs to go because he has been obstructing the agenda of Donald Trump.
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Amy McGrath flip-flops on Kavanaugh vote — in 1 day - POLITICO
 
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Charles Booker (@Booker4KY) is running for Senate & building the kind of principled, inclusive, and winning coalition in Kentucky that can inspire positive change.
The US Senate will be a better place with him in it. I’m proud to endorse him.
Let’s go: https://t.co/yocF7U9Os5" / Twitter

AOC is joined by the likes of Brand New Congress and the Sunrise Movement.

Looks like an interesting primary contest - CB vs. Establishment favorite Amy McGrath.

Charles Booker on Twitter: "It’s official: I’m running for Senate to defeat Mitch McConnell.
This is a statement that we're taking our future back. It is a declaration that nothing will change unless we stand together and fight for it. Join our movement. Chip in: [url]https://t.co/0jwsl8VSOu. https://t.co/vDSeeHcnUt" / Twitter[/url]
 
Paula Jean Swearengin won the Democratic Senate nomination in West Virginia, and she will be challenging Republican Shelly Moore Capito.

With 98% of precincts reporting, the election was
  • Paula Jean Swearengin 68,089 37.9%
  • Richard Ojeda 59,333 33.0%
  • Richie Robb 52,222 29.1%
Richard Ojeda was a WV State Senator, and he also joined the Presidential race on November 11, 2018, withdrawing on January 25, 2019.

PJS's platform:
Addiction
Long term care solutions

Economic diversity
Bring in new industries like cannabis & more

Healthcare
Medicare for all because healthcare is a human right

Education
Supporting teachers, public schools 8 children with better resources & practices

Labor
Supporting unions, collective bargaining. a living wage & ending right to work
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Among her endorsers was Brand New Congress, and she was one of the four 2018 candidates whose runs were documented in Knock Down The House. She is also a supporter of Bernie Sanders.
 
'A Battle Cry From Appalachia': Progressive Paula Jean Swearengin Wins US Senate Primary in West Virginia | Common Dreams News - "This campaign has always been about the movement for a better future," said the victorious Democrat who ran on Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.

Paula Jean Swearengin on Twitter: "The people of #WV have spoken! A big, sincere thank you 🙏 to everyone who has been part of this movement.
As we celebrate our primary victory tonight, our team is already mobilizing to bring representation of, by, and for the people of WV all the way to DC!
#PaulaJean2020 https://t.co/b4ImMC0Lc3" / Twitter

U.S. Senate Candidate Paula Jean Swearengin wins W.Va. Democratic primary
"What's humbled me the most is a lot of West Virginias that had to move out of state because there were not opportunities here, they have worked on our campaign because they just wanted to come home, so it's been really incredible," Swearengin said. "I'm really humbled."
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WV's other Senator is Joe Manchin, and PJS ran against him in 2018. She lost.
 
Democrats’ momentum puts Senate majority in play - POLITICO
The most important states remain Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and Maine, four races in which Democratic challengers outraised incumbent GOP senators in the first quarter of this year. These contests underscore just how costly the battle for the Senate will be: Super PACs in both parties have already reserved nearly $130 million for TV ads in these states, plus an emerging battleground in Iowa, to lay the foundation for the fall campaign.
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Bernie backs insurgent in Kentucky, Engel's challenger in New York - POLITICO
Sanders, AOC back Kentucky progressive, look to spoil centrist Dem's gains against McConnell | Fox News
 
Insurgent threatens to derail McGrath-McConnell showdown in Kentucky - POLITICO - "State Rep. Charles Booker has captured late momentum in the June 23 primary, fueled by prominent endorsements and Amy McGrath's stumbles."
McGrath is the favorite of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm and many sitting senators, and it’s hard to imagine she could lose a primary in which she’s outspent her opponents combined by a nearly 30-1 margin through early June. But there are signs it's turning into a real race: Booker is panning McGrath as a bland national Democrat who is predictably tacking to the center, while McGrath is biting back at Booker, accusing him of talking a big game on health care and voting rights but not backing it up.

...
But beneath her powerhouse fundraising, there are signs of struggles. McGrath had a bumpy rollout last year, saying in one of her first interviews that she would have supported Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, only to reverse herself later that day. More recently, Republican governors and Cindy McCain, the late Sen. John McCain’s widow, condemned ads of hers using their images to attack McConnell.

And McGrath has few substantial in-state endorsements, while Booker has been endorsed by prominent Kentucky media and close to two-dozen elected officials.

“There's not a lot of enthusiasm for Amy among Democrats. Charles’ supporters are very enthusiastic,” said one prominent Kentucky Democrat, who requested anonymity to speak candidly.
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United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2020 - Ballotpedia
  • General election candidates (may be incomplete):
    • Brad Barron (Libertarian Party)
    • Derek Leonard Petteys (Reform Party)
    • Alyssa Dara McDowell (Independent)
  • Democratic primary candidates:
    • Jimmy Ausbrooks
    • Charles Booker
    • Mike Broihier
    • Maggie Jo Hilliard
    • Andrew Maynard
    • Amy McGrath
    • Eric Rothmuller
    • John Sharpensteen
    • Bennie Smith
    • Mary Ann Tobin
  • (Democratic) Withdrew, disqualified, or did not make ballot:
    • Steven Cox
    • Joshua Paul Edwards
    • Kevin Elliott
    • Matt Jones
    • Loretta Babalmoradi Noble
  • Republican primary candidates:
    • Mitch McConnell (Incumbent)
    • Nicholas Alsager
    • Wendell Crow
    • Paul John Frangedakis
    • Louis Grider
    • Naren James
    • Kenneth Lowndes
    • C. Wesley Morgan
  • (Republican) Withdrew, disqualified, or did not make ballot:
    • Karl Das
The "Yang Gang" supports another one of these: Mike Broihier. Making it three candidates with support known to me: Amy McGrath (establishment), Charles Booker (Bernie Sanders supporters), and Mike Broihier (Yang Gang -- Andrew Yang supporters).
 
Markey lets it rip in ‘Massachusetts family fight’ - POLITICO
The incumbent senator derided Kennedy on Monday as a "progressive in name only" and called him out for working for a conservative Republican district attorney early in his career. Markey also slammed the four-term congressman for failing to lead on any number of issues, ranging from Medicare-for-All to climate change to the militarization of law enforcement.

Markey didn’t have much choice but to let it rip. He’s trailed Kennedy in most public polls taken this year, has less money in the bank and the Covid-19 crisis has served to complicate his task of capturing attention against the scion of the state’s most prominent political family.
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Iowa Poll: Theresa Greenfield leads Joni Ernst in tight Senate race
Democrats have charted a path to the majority that includes taking on vulnerable incumbents in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and North Carolina. As Democrats work to defend their own endangered incumbent in Alabama, they’re hoping to expand their opportunities by investing heavily in Iowa, where they see Ernst as beatable.
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Ernst challenger leads by three points in tight Iowa Senate race | TheHill
The poll found that Greenfield, like most Democrats, polls higher among women and nonreligious voters.

Among nonreligious voters, 71 percent back Greenfield and 19 back Ernst. Among women, 54 percent back Greenfield and 34 percent back Ernst.

Republicans and Democrats largely responded to the survey along party lines, with independents more likely to back Greenfield than Ernst, 42 percent to 38 percent.

The Cook Political Report rates the Senate race as "lean Republican," but a survey released last month from the left-leaning firm Public Policy Polling showed Ernst leading Greenfield by just 1 point.
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This 3% lead is within the margin of error of the poll, so Sen. Ernst may still be ahead. But it shows how close the race is.
 
Kentucky's largest newspaper endorses progressive Charles Booker in Senate race | Salon.com
Kentucky's highest-circulation newspaper, the Courier-Journal, on Wednesday endorsed state legislator Charles Booker in the Democratic primary for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's long-held seat, saying Booker has the "vision" his more moderate opponent lacks.

Days after the state's second-largest newspaper, the Lexington Herald-Leader, endorsed Booker, the Courier-Journal's editorial board wrote that the state representative — whose platform includes Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and universal basic income — understands "the challenges of our times" and is "willing to put forth bold ideas and fight for everyday people."

...
The newspaper highlighted Booker's advocacy for gun control, labor protections, and lowering insulin prices — an issue which he brings personal experience to as one of the state's 449,000 adults living with diabetes — along with his personal background.
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Progressive Booker emerges as late threat to McGrath in Kentucky primary | TheHill
A growing number of Democrats have begun lining up behind him, believing he is better suited for the political moment than the well-funded McGrath, who rose to prominence in 2018 during her close but unsuccessful bid to unseat Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.).

“Charles kind of met the moment,” said Mark Riddle, a Kentucky-based Democratic strategist and the president of the political nonprofit Future Majority. “People seem to be for Booker right now in a way that I haven’t really seen them for Amy.”

A recent internal poll conducted for Booker’s campaign showed him trailing McGrath by 10 points ahead of the June 23 primary. While that’s not an insignificant margin, a similar internal survey fielded in April showed him down by more than 50 points.
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We'll soon find out. Kentucky Congressional-primary election day is June 23, this upcoming Tuesday.
 
 
The Kentucky Senate Democratic primary vote so far, with 63,966 votes and roughly half of all votes counted,

Amy McGrath 44.0%, Charles Booker 37.6%, Mike Broihier 6.2%, others 3.2%, 2.2%, 1.8%, 1.7%, 1.5%, 1.0%, 0.9%

So it's a close race between AMG and CB.
 
AOC and other liberals, minorities gain in U.S. congressional primary races - Reuters
Like Engel, McGrath, a prolific fundraiser, was backed by the Democratic Party establishment. She had the edge over Booker in early results, but those did not include the state’s two most populous counties and many absentee ballots. Complete results will not be known before June 30, Kentucky officials said.

At 74,651 votes, roughly 1/3 of the total,

Charles Booker 43.5%, Amy McGrath 40.0%, Mike Broihier 5.6%, others 2.8%, 1.9%, 1.6%, 1.6%, 1.3%, 0.9%, 0.8%

Seems like the Bernie-faction favorite, Charles Booker, is pulling ahead of the establishment favorite, Amy McGrath. Both are well ahead of the Yang-faction candidate Mike Broihier.
 
Hickenlooper's Stumbles Complicate Democrats' 2020 Strategy - The New York Times - "The former governor has faltered in a primary campaign for a seat that is essential for Democrats to capture if they hope to retake the Senate majority."
But Mr. Hickenlooper, who was coaxed into the Senate contest after ending his brief presidential run, has faltered in recent weeks ahead of the primary race on Tuesday. He now finds himself in a tougher-than-expected contest with Andrew Romanoff, a former state House speaker and another longtime Colorado political presence, in a fight with significant implications for the general election and control of the Senate.

...
“He has had a bad June,” Kyle Saunders, a political-science professor at Colorado State University, said about Mr. Hickenlooper’s multiple travails and missteps. Chief among them was a contempt finding by the state’s independent ethics commission for defying a subpoena to appear at a hearing on a complaint against him — an event that prompted disastrous news coverage across the state.

...
Mr. Hickenlooper’s troubles go beyond the ethics complaint, which accused him of having improperly accepted private jet and limousine rides as governor.

...
Allies of Mr. Hickenlooper say he has always lacked the verbal discipline of a typical politician — and that is part of the quirky, authentic personality that voters have come to appreciate and admire.
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Poll Shows Trump Dragging Down G.O.P. Senate Candidates - The New York Times - "A New York Times/Siena College poll paints a grim picture for Republicans in Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina as voters shun candidates aligned with the president."
Senator Martha McSally of Arizona, a Republican, trails her Democratic opponent, Mark Kelly, by nine percentage points while Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina is behind his Democratic rival, Cal Cunningham, by three. Both incumbents are polling below 40 percent despite having recently aired a barrage of television advertisements.

In Michigan, which Senate Republicans viewed as one of their few opportunities to go on the offensive this year, Senator Gary Peters, a first-term Democrat, is up by 10 percentage points over John James, who is one of the G.O.P.’s most prized recruits.

The poll showed that the same voters who are fleeing the president — highly educated white Americans, many of them once-reliable Republicans — are providing an advantage to Democratic Senate candidates. Mr. Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus and his bombastic response to protests over racial justice have made him an underdog against Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic nominee, who led the president by 14 percentage points nationally in the Times poll.
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They made their bed, and they must lie in it. After enabling that asshole of a pResident for so long, they are now finding that their enabling is hurting their election chances.
 
John Hickenlooper apologizes for 2014 “ancient slave ship” comment - The Colorado Sun
noting
Tay Anderson on Twitter: ".@Hickenlooper you have some explaining to do. — referencing my ancestors pain of being brought over here in chains to a political scheduler is utterly disgusting. #copolitics #cosen https://t.co/MKKT68LMeu" / Twitter
The video shows a silhouetted Hickenlooper speaking at some sort of gathering with a microphone in his hand about political schedulers. “Imagine an ancient slave ship,” he tells the audience. He says the schedulers are the people who lashed slaves to keep them rowing the ship. “We elected officials are the ones rowing,” Hickenlooper said.

In a statement released through his campaign, Hickenlooper said: “Taking a look at this video from six years ago, I recognize that my comments were painful. I did not intend them to be. I offer my deepest apologies.”

...
Hickenlooper is the front-runner in the June 30 primary, but he has stumbled repeatedly recently. Earlier this month Hickenlooper struggled to give his definition of the term “Black Lives Matter,” saying it meant that “all lives matter” — a formulation rejected by many of the African American activists who coined the slogan. Then the state ethics commission found Hickenlooper violated the state’s voter-approved ethics law by accepting flights on private planes while governor.
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Andrew Romanoff is closing the gap after John Hickenlooper’s stumbles, poll indicates
Hickenlooper stood at 51% compared to 39% for Romanoff, according to the survey from Myers Research conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, a comfortable lead but one Romanoff says he can close. The margin of error is 4.4 percentage points.

“The bottom line here is that Romanoff has seized the momentum, and he is well positioned to pull off a remarkable upset in this contest,” said veteran Democratic pollster Andrew Myers.

Hickenlooper’s campaign issued a statement that highlighted their double-digit lead, saying it reflects the candidate’s “record of bringing people together to deliver big, progressive change to Colorado.”
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Earlier polls had shown JH ahead of AR by much higher margins.

So will this race be like the KY-SEN race where Charles Booker looks like he's beating Amy McGrath?
 
Amy McGrath just won her unexpectedly close Kentucky Senate primary

Retired Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath will face off against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this fall, after winning a closer-than-expected primary against progressive challenger Charles Booker.

The primary proved to be a nail-biter up until the very end, with Booker and McGrath each pulling ahead at various stages of vote-counting. Booker dominated in Jefferson County, his home area around Louisville and a key area for Democrats. But ultimately, a weaker margin outside of Lexington wasn’t enough to make up McGrath’s showing in rural areas outside the two cities.

Despite election day in Kentucky being held on June 23, a crush of absentee ballots made it impossible to know statewide results until a full week later. Vox’s partner Decision Desk called the race on June 30, around 11:15 am. The week of delays could serve as a preview for the November general election, if it is close.
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Kentucky U.S. Senate Primary Election Results - The New York Times
With 544,062 votes,
Amy McGrath: 45.4%, Charles Booker: 42.6%, Mike Broihier 5.0%, others 2.0%, 1.1%, 1.1%, 0.9%, 0.7%, 0.6%, 0.5%

Abortion Rises as a Pivotal Issue for At-Risk Senate Republicans - The New York Times
It did not take Sara Gideon long to leverage Monday’s Supreme Court ruling on abortion in her race against Senator Susan Collins.

When Ms. Collins, a Maine Republican, cast a decisive vote to confirm Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018, she did so on the premise that he would uphold precedent to preserve abortion rights. But on Monday, Justice Kavanaugh dissented from a decision that did that, arguing that the court should have ruled differently than it did in a nearly identical case four years ago.

“Do you still think Brett Kavanaugh believes Roe v. Wade is settled law, @SenSusanCollins?” tweeted Ms. Gideon, Ms. Collins’s likely Democratic opponent.
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Does SC feel pissed off at BK? Like BK has given her an additional burden? Stabbed in the back by BK?
“Everyone who voted wrong, we’re coming for you,” Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, wrote in a tweet that named Ms. Collins and Senators Cory Gardner of Colorado, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, all of whom voted to confirm Justice Kavanaugh.

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Ms. Collins, Mr. Gardner and Mr. Tillis are seen as three of the most vulnerable Republicans in the Senate. And Ms. Ernst’s and Mr. Graham’s seats, while nowhere near as competitive, have become more so than they were a few months ago as President Trump’s popularity has eroded.
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