After filing closes, Louisiana Gov. Edwards (D) has eight challengers

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Thanks for joining us this weekend! In state and local news this week we look at gubernatorial races in Mississippi and Louisiana as well as Seattle's primary elections. Let's dive in!

Read the full Tap online ([link removed])


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** MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR PRIMARIES: HOOD (D) WINS, REEVES (R) AND WALLER (R) ADVANCE TO RUNOFF 
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* On Tuesday, Mississippi voters selected nominees for state executive and legislative offices in Tuesday's primaries. Attorney General Jim Hood ([link removed]) (D) won the Democratic nomination ([link removed]) for governor while Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves ([link removed]) (R) and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. ([link removed]) (R) advanced to a runoff in the Republican primary ([link removed]) . 
 
* Hood was first elected as state attorney general in 2003. He positioned himself as a moderate and said that his record of winning statewide elections for attorney general proved that he could win the gubernatorial race. 
 

* In the Republican primary, no candidate received a majority of the vote, meaning that Reeves and Waller will appear in an August 27 runoff. 
 

* Reeves has held statewide office since the 2003 election, serving two terms as state treasurer and two terms as lieutenant governor. He has emphasized his experience in state government and his opposition to abortion and to tax increases. 
 
* Waller served 10 of his 22 years on the state Supreme Court as chief justice before retiring in January. He says he will prioritize repairing the state's roads and bridges and that he is the candidate best-positioned to draw support from Democratic and independent voters in a general election against Hood. 
 

* Hood will face the winner of the Republican runoff in the November 5 general election. In order to win election as governor of Mississippi, a candidate must both win a majority of the statewide popular vote and carry a majority of the 122 state House districts. If no candidate does both, the state House decides the winner. No Democrat has won election as governor of Mississippi since Ronnie Musgrove (D) in 1999.

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** AFTER FILING CLOSES, LOUISIANA GOV. EDWARDS (D) HAS EIGHT CHALLENGERS
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* John Bel Edwards, the only Democratic governor in the southernmost states, faces eight challengers after qualifying for the October 12 primary election ([link removed]) closed. A candidate can win the primary outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote; otherwise, a general election ([link removed]) between the top two vote-getters will be held on November 16. 

* Two Democrats, five Republicans, and one independent are challenging Edwards. The list includes two Republicans—U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham and businessman Eddie Rispone—who announced their bids in the final months of 2018 and have been identified as top challengers by media outlets. Republicans Patrick Doguet, Patrick Landry, and Manuel Russell Leach; Democrats Oscar Dantzler and M.V. Mendoza; and independent Gary Landrieu qualified for the race as well.

* Rispone and Edwards started airing TV ads ahead of the qualifying deadline, while Abraham plans to go on air next week. Campaign finance reports through July 4 showed Edwards and Rispone with more than $9.5 million in cash on hand. These totals included funds raised prior to 2019 and funds remaining from the $10 million Rispone loaned his campaign. Abraham raised $1.6 million this year, Edwards raised $2.7 million, and Rispone raised $915,000 beyond his self-financing. Other candidates who qualified have not filed campaign finance reports for this race.

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** VOTE COUNTING IN SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL PRIMARIES TO CONTINUE UNTIL AUGUST 20
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* Seattle held a primary election ([link removed]) for the seven district seats on its nine-member city council. Seattle uses a vote-by-mail process; due to the delay between ballots being mailed by voters and received by election officials, races have not yet been called. King County Elections is scheduled to count ballots each day until the primary results are certified on August 20.

* Once results are finalized, the top two finishers in each race will head to a November 5 general election. Four of the races are open, while three incumbents are seeking re-election.

* The following were preliminary results as of Thursday afternoon for races with incumbents:

* In District 1, incumbent Lisa Herbold led her two opponents with 49% of the vote. Phil Tavel was second with 34%.
* In District 3, incumbent Kshama Sawant led with 34% of the vote, and Egan Orion had 23%; the nearest challenger of the four others was Pat Murakami with 14%.
* In District 5, incumbent Debora Juarez led with 43% and Ann Davison Sattler had 28%. In third was John Lombard with 14%. A total of six candidates are running.

* Preliminary results for the four open races were as follows:

* In District 2, Tammy Morales led with 47% and Mark Solomon was second with 24% in the seven-candidate field.
* In District 4, Alex Pedersen led with 44%, and Shaun Scott was second with 20%. Ten candidates are running in District 4.
* In District 6, Dan Strauss and Heidi Wills led with 32% and 22%, respectively, in the 14-candidate field.
* In District 7, Andrew Lewis led with 30% and Jim Pugel was second with 26%. Ten candidates are running.

* As of 6 pm PDT Wednesday, King County Elections reported having received 194,112 ballots from Seattle voters, accounting for 42% of active registered voters in the city. Results, as shown above, are based on 132,632 counted ballots.

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** WASHINGTON VOTERS TO DECIDE STATE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY IN NOVEMBER
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* Washington voters will decide in November ([link removed]) whether to allow affirmative action to be used when considering a person for public education or public employment opportunities. The petition effort for Referendum Measure 88 (R-88) ([link removed]) targeted Initiative 1000 ([link removed]) (I-1000). After I-1000 qualified for the ballot through a successful initiative petition drive, the measure was approved by the legislature on April 28, 2019, thereby precluding an election. The R-88 petition requires that I-1000, instead, must be placed on the 2019 ballot in Washington for a statewide vote of the people.R-88 was certified for the ballot on Wednesday.

* I-1000 was designed to allow affirmative action without the use of quotas by the state of Washington. This means that characteristics such as race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status could be used as factors when considering a person for public education or public employment opportunities. I-1000 would ban preferential treatment, meaning those characteristics could not be the sole or deciding factor when considering a person for education or employment opportunities. Initiative 200 (I-200), approved by voters in 1998, banned discrimination and preferential treatment by the state. I-200 was sponsored by Washington initiative activist Tim Eyman ([link removed]) . Eyman said, “Voters have accepted the principle that the government should treat everyone equally, without different rules for different races.” I-1000 was sponsored by the One WA Equality Campaign and was supported by Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) and the NAACP. 

* As an Initiative to the Legislature—the name of indirect initiatives in Washington—the state legislature could either approve I-1000 or send it to the voters once it had qualified through a sufficient signature petition. The state legislature approved I-1000 on April 28, 2019, largely along party lines with all votes in favor coming from Democratic legislators. In the House, one Democrat, Brian Blake of District 19b, joined all House Republicans in voting no. Two Senate Democrats, Mark Mullet of District 5 and Tim Sheldon of District 35, joined the 20 Senate Republicans in voting no. Senator Guy Palumbo (D-1) was excused from voting.

* Let People Vote led the R-88 petition drive and is leading the campaign for a vote against I-1000 at the November election. Let People Vote argued, “I-1000 can be summed up in one sentence: It would abolish the standard of equality for all, regardless of races, sex, color, age, ethnicity, or national origin, as required by Washington Civil Rights Act, and replace it with a system that uses different rules for people of different races. Initiative 1000 seeks to repeal Washington Civil Rights Act (I-200) and was enacted by the Legislature on the last day of the session in order to deny a public vote on the matter. Voter[s] approved I-200 by more than 58% of votes in 1998. Why shouldn’t voters be allowed to decide whether to change it?”

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** CABAN (D) CONCEDES JUNE 25 QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRIMARY TO KATZ (D)
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* Public defender Tiffany Caban ([link removed]) conceded the Democratic primary ([link removed]) for Queens, New York, district attorney to Queens Borough President Melinda Katz ([link removed]) (D) on Tuesday, ending a six-week-long dispute over the election's outcome.

* The primary to succeed Richard Brown, who died in May 2019 after 28 years in office, drew national attention after presidential candidates Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) endorsed Caban.

* On June 25, Caban appeared to be the winner with a lead of 1,100 votes over Katz. However, after absentee and provisional ballots were certified July 3, Katz took a lead of 20 votes. The city's board of elections completed a full manual recount on July 29 which found Katz ahead by 60 votes. 

* Caban challenged the results of the recount before the Kings County Supreme Court, saying that the board had invalidated a number of ballots which she argued should have been counted. In his ruling Tuesday, Judge John G. Ingram ([link removed]) found that most of the ballots named in Caban's challenge were not valid, meaning that there were not enough ballots remaining in question to change the election's result.

* Katz will face attorney Daniel Kogan (R) in the November 5 general election.

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** INCUMBENT LONGWELL (R), STATE REP. WHIPPLE (D) ADVANCE FROM WICHITA MAYORAL PRIMARY
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* Mayor Jeff Longwell ([link removed]) finished first ahead of eight challengers in Wichita’s nonpartisan municipal primary ([link removed]) in his bid for re-election. Longwell—who was first elected mayor in 2015—received 32.3% of the vote. In second place was Kansas House of Representatives District 96 member Brandon Whipple ([link removed]) , with 25.9%. Whipple began serving on the Kansas House of Representatives in 2012. The third-place finisher—Lyndy Wells—had 25.2% of the vote. The general election between Longwell and Whipple takes place November 5.

* Although the mayoral election is officially nonpartisan, commentary ([link removed]) in _The Wichita Eagle_ identified Longwell as a Republican. Whipple is a Democratic member of the Kansas State Legislature.

* Three city council ([link removed]) seats are also on the general election ballot. None of the seats held a primary because the races did not have enough candidates to require one. Wichita is the largest city in Kansas and the 49th-largest city in the U.S. by population.

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** SPECIAL ELECTION TO BE HELD TO REPLACE SOLE REPUBLICAN ON LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL
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* The city of Los Angeles, California, is holding a nonpartisan special general election ([link removed]) for one of the 15 seats on the city council on Tuesday, August 13. John Lee ([link removed]) and Loraine Lundquist ([link removed]) are facing off after advancing from a pool of 15 candidates in the special primary June 4.
 
* The vacancy on the city council occurred when District 12 representative Mitchell Englander ([link removed]) stepped down on December 31, 2018, to work for a sports and entertainment firm.
 
* Lee received 19.2% of the vote in the primary, while Lundquist came in second with 19%. Lee was endorsed by the L.A. Jobs PAC, which is sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Lundquist was endorsed by _The Los Angeles Times, _the Green Party of Los Angeles County, and a number of Democratic Party clubs.
 
* Los Angeles is the largest city in California and the second-largest city in the U.S. by population.

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** BALLOT MEASURES UPDATE
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** 2019
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* Twenty-three statewide measures ([link removed]) are certified for the 2019 ballot so far in Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.

* One new measure was certified for the ballot last week: a veto referendum in Washington to authorize affirmative action by the state.
 

* Four of the 26 states ([link removed]) with a process for citizen-initiated measures allow for ballot initiatives or veto referendums on ballots in any odd-numbered years: Colorado ([link removed]) , Maine ([link removed]) , Ohio ([link removed]) , and Washington ([link removed]) .

 
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2020
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* Thirty-eight statewide measures ([link removed]) in 18 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot so far.

* Four of the 38 certified 2020 measures are citizen-initiated measures. Thirty-three are legislative referrals. One is an automatic constitutional revision commission question.

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** STATE LEGISLATIVE SPECIAL ELECTIONS
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* So far this year, 70 state legislative special elections ([link removed]) have been scheduled in 24 states. Special elections have been held for 50 seats so far; heading into those races, Democrats had previously controlled 30 of the seats while Republicans previously controlled 20. Four seats have flipped from Democratic control to Republican control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to Democratic control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to an independent officeholder. 

* In special elections between 2011 and 2018, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats nationally each year.
* An average of 91 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past four odd years (2011 ([link removed]) : 94, 2013 ([link removed]) : 84, 2015 ([link removed]) : 88, 2017 ([link removed]) : 98).
* An average of 55 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010 ([link removed]) : 26, 2012 ([link removed]) : 45, 2014 ([link removed]) : 40, 2016 ([link removed]) : 65, 2018 ([link removed]) : 99).

 
** UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTIONS INCLUDE
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AUGUST 13

* South Carolina House of Representatives District 84 (primary runoff) ([link removed])

AUGUST 20

* Alabama House of Representatives District 42 (primary) ([link removed])
* New Hampshire House of Representatives Rockingham 9 (primary) ([link removed])
* Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 85 ([link removed])
* South Carolina House of Representatives District 19 ([link removed])

* So far this year, 70 state legislative special elections ([link removed]) have been scheduled in 24 states. Special elections have been held for 50 seats so far; heading into those races, Democrats had previously controlled 30 of the seats while Republicans previously controlled 20. Four seats have flipped from Democratic control to Republican control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to Democratic control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to an independent officeholder. 

* In special elections between 2011 and 2018, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats nationally each year.
* An average of 91 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past four odd years (2011 ([link removed]) : 94, 2013 ([link removed]) : 84, 2015 ([link removed]) : 88, 2017 ([link removed]) : 98).
* An average of 55 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010 ([link removed]) : 26, 2012 ([link removed]) : 45, 2014 ([link removed]) : 40, 2016 ([link removed]) : 65, 2018 ([link removed]) : 99).

 
** UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTIONS INCLUDE:
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AUGUST 13

* South Carolina House of Representatives District 84 (primary runoff) ([link removed])

AUGUST 20

* Alabama House of Representatives District 42 (primary) ([link removed])
* New Hampshire House of Representatives Rockingham 9 (primary) ([link removed])
* Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 85 ([link removed])
* South Carolina House of Representatives District 19 ([link removed])

AUGUST 27

* Alabama House of Representatives District 74 (primary runoff) ([link removed])
* California State Assembly District 1 (primary) ([link removed])

* Alabama House of Representatives District 74 (primary runoff) ([link removed])
* California State Assembly District 1 (primary) ([link removed])

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** [link removed]
STATES IN SESSION
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Four states—Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin—are in regular session ([link removed]) . Ohio is in skeleton session. In a typical skeleton session, a clerk, a presiding officer, and another legislative member are the only people present. The presiding officer will convene the session day and adjourn it minutes later. California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are in recess. Forty-one states have adjourned their 2019 legislative sessions.

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