Election Updates for December 13, 2021
With the holiday season in full swing, election news is not slowing down. Below are the latest updates.
States
In Arizona, there’s a bill that would make school board elections partisan.
In New York, the New York City Council has voted for an initiative that lets 800,000 noncitizens vote in New York City elections.
In Wisconsin, an audit conducted by a Conservative group found that there isn’t any evidence of a significant amount of fraud in the 2020 election.
In Missouri, St. Louis County is considering enacting nonpartisan elections.
In Texas, Republicans are continuing to take an active role in school board elections.
In Utah, the Lieutenant Governor has taken aim at those who criticize UT’s election. This was in reaction to a movement in the state legislature to audit UT’s 2020 election results.
In Virginia, the resolution of the last contested state delegate race from the VA 2021 elections gave Republicans control of the House of Delegates.
In Montana, state legislators are pushing for an investigation of the 2020 election.
In Massachusetts, a special election for state senate is mirroring the dynamics of the Boston mayoral race last month, where Progressives beat the establishment Democrats.
In Texas, the Department of Justice is suing Texas on the basis that its redistricting map violates the Voting Rights Act.
In Georgia, Republican former US Senator David Perdue is challenging incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp.
In Washington, a recall election occurred concerning a Socialist City Council member.
In Pennsylvania, the contentious Democratic primary for US Senate is invoking moderate Democrat Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
In Florida, Democrats are already starting to blame each other for what they believe will be poor results in 2022. Meanwhile Democrat candidate for Governor and State Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried was subject to a negative ethics ruling.
In North Carolina, former President Donald Trump helped broker a deal that got former Congressman Mark Walker to leave the US Senate race to run for the US House. This will ensure a less crowded primary. In other news, the state primaries for 2022 will be pushed back for two months due to legal challenges to the state redistricting map.
In Ohio, Trump was mad that a Republican Super PAC ran an ad attacking Republican US Senate primary candidate J.D. Vance for not supporting Trump in the past because Trump is concerned it could hurt his own favorability numbers in the state.
Culture
Republicans are planning on making vaccine mandates an election issue for the midterms. Meanwhile, Democrats are starting to oppose vaccine mandates.
There is concern that Republican infighting could harm Republicans’ chances of making significant gains.
Slate has a piece expressing concern that pro-Trump figures have taken key roles in overseeing elections in swing states.
A new poll finds that Hispanics are evenly divided in terms of the preference between Democrats and Republicans.
Republicans are hoping they can build on their success with female voters in the Virginia gubernatorial election as they head into the midterm elections.
In an international summit on democracy that the Biden administration held last week, US voting rights was a key part of the agenda.
17 Democratic state Attorneys General are supporting a legal challenge to Florida’s recent voting law.
A recent poll found that a majority of voters support abortion rights, but are not concerned about Roe v. Wade being overturned.
Some believe the influx of celebrities running for office is a problem.
Controversial election attorney Sidney Powell raised $14 million that was used on election disinformation.
A group of Trump loyalist Republican House members are vowing to make Trump Speaker of the House if Republicans take Congress.
Corporate
Big pharma gave money to a “dark money group” that supports moderate Democrats who are opposed to radical changes in drug pricing.
Biden nominated Meg Whitman, a former Republican and tech CEO who supported his election, as Ambassador to Kenya.
Koch Industries bought a Republican Senate candidates’ company. In related news, Tim Phillips, a prominent figure in the Koch-affiliated Americans for Prosperity, resigned in the middle of an investigation into his conduct.
The National Rifle Association’s finances are doing better, but only because it spent far less in the 2020 election.
Republican firebrand Congressman Devin Nunes is resigning from Congress to become head of Trump’s media company. Trump’s media company is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Committee.
Todd Carney is a writer based in Washington, DC. The views in this piece are his alone and do not reflect the views of his employer.
