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Welcome to the weekend!
What's on tap in political news this week? Read on for this weekend's edition of the top stories in federal politics, and for a full review of the week, plus a look ahead, click the button below and launch the full edition.
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Presidential and congressional primaries to be held in nine states, Washington, D.C.
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Nine states and Washington, D.C., will hold a combination of presidential and congressional primary elections on Tuesday, June 2. Six states and the District of Columbia are holding both presidential preference and congressional primaries, two states are holding only congressional primaries, and one state is holding only a presidential preference primary.
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Seven states and the District of Columbia are holding presidential primaries on Tuesday, June 2: Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Dakota. Four of the states rescheduled their primaries to June 2 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Across the Democratic primaries, 479 pledged delegates are available to be allocated on June 2, which is 12% of all pledged delegates available. Only Super Tuesday, held on March 3, had more delegates at stake on one day.
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Eight states and the District of Columbia are holding congressional primaries on Tuesday, June 2: Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. Ballotpedia has identified 12 of Tuesday’s congressional primaries as battleground primaries, including three Senate primaries and nine U.S. House primaries. Those primaries include:
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Democratic U.S. Senate primary in Iowa: Four candidates are running for the Democratic Party nomination to challenge incumbent Joni Ernst (R), who is unopposed in the Republican primary. As of May 13, Theresa Greenfield led the four in fundraising with $7.1 million to $4.6 million for Eddie Mauro, $790,000 for Michael Franken, and $260,000 for Kimberly Graham. Satellite spending in the race has included $6.7 million in support of Greenfield by Senate Democrats’ official campaign arm and just under $1 million in support of Greenfield on behalf of a committee affiliated with EMILY’s List.
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Republican primary in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District: Three Republicans are in the running for this seat representing the southern half of the state. Local media have identified Claire Chase and 2018 GOP nominee Yvette Herrell as leading candidates. The winner will face incumbent Xochitl Torres Small (D) in the general election. The seat is one of 30 currently held by Democrats that backed President Trump over Hillary Clinton (D) in the 2016 election.
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Republican primary in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District: Fifteen Republicans are running for the GOP nomination to succeed Rep. Susan Brooks (R), who is not seeking re-election. The winner will advance to the general election, where they will face the winner of the five-candidate Democratic primary as well as any third party or independent candidates.
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Among the eight states holding June 2 primaries, 46 House and five Senate seats are up for election. This equals 10.6% of all House seats and 15.2% of all Senate seats up for election in 2020.
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Incumbents are running for re-election in 41 of the 46 U.S. House races and four of the five Senate races in the states holding primaries on June 2.
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Washington, D.C. is also holding primary elections for one nonvoting U.S. representative, one shadow U.S. representative, and one shadow U.S. senator.
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Jorgensen wins Libertarian Party presidential nomination at convention
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The Libertarian Party selected Jo Jorgensen as its presidential nominee on Saturday, May 23, during the Libertarian National Convention.
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Libertarian Party delegates nominated six candidates to be on the initial ballot. Candidates were eliminated on each subsequent ballot until one candidate received a majority of the vote. Jorgensen received 51% of the vote on the fourth ballot, defeating candidates Jacob Hornberger and Vermin Supreme.
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The Libertarian National Convention was originally scheduled to take place May 21-25 in Austin, Texas. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the nomination portion of the national convention was moved online and took place May 22-24. The party plans to conduct a separate in-person convention for other party business July 8-12 in Orlando, Florida.
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Congressional candidate filing period to end in five states
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The filing deadline to run for Congress in Alaska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Minnesota will pass next week. The filing deadline is June 1 for Alaska, Kansas, and Wisconsin. For Hawaii and Minnesota, the filing deadline is June 2.
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Prospective candidates may file for the following congressional offices:
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Alaska
- U.S. Senate (1 seat)
- U.S. House (1 seat)
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Kansas
- U.S. Senate (1 seat)
- U.S. House (4 seats)
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Wisconsin
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Hawaii
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Minnesota
- U.S. Senate (1 seat)
- U.S. House (8 seats)
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Wisconsin’s and Minnesota’s primaries are scheduled for August 11. Alaska’s primary is scheduled for August 18; Kansas’s for August 4; and Hawaii’s for August 8. The general election in each state is scheduled for November 3.
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The next statewide filing deadline is on June 11 in Connecticut.
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Ballotpedia debuts polling feature with Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day
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On Wednesday, Ballotpedia launched a special two-week run of polling related to impacts of the coronavirus as part of Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day series. These polls show how voters are processing the impacts and what they think the future will look like as we move along the path to recovery. Below are this week's numbers:
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Biden wins Hawaii’s presidential primary
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Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Hawaii Democratic primary on Friday, May 22, with 63.2% of the vote to Bernie Sanders’ 36.8%. Biden won 16 pledged delegates to Sanders’ eight.
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The primary was held entirely by mail in response to the coronavirus pandemic and incorporated ranked-choice voting.
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In ranked-choice voting, voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated and that candidate’s votes are redistributed to second-preference choices to conduct a new tally. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.
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Hawaii’s Republican Party announced on December 11, 2019, that it would not hold a presidential preference vote.
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Filing period ends for congressional candidates in Vermont, Wyoming
- The major-party filing deadlines to run for elected office in Vermont and Wyoming passed on May 28 and May 29.
- Candidates in Vermont filed for the following offices:
- Candidates in Wyoming filed for the following offices:
- The primary in Vermont is scheduled for August 11, and the primary in Wyoming is scheduled for August 18. The general election in both states is scheduled for November 3, 2020.
- Vermont and Wyoming’s major-party congressional filing deadlines were the 39th and 40th to take place in the 2020 election cycle. The next major-party congressional filing deadlines are on June 1 in Alaska, Kansas, and Wisconsin.
- Entering the 2020 election, the Democratic Party holds the At-Large Congressional District seat from Vermont, and the Republican Party holds the U.S. Senate and At-Large Congressional District seats from Wyoming.
- The U.S. Senate has 45 Democrats, 53 Republicans, and two independents who caucus with the Democratic Party. Only 33 out of 100 Senate seats are up for election. A majority in the chamber requires 51 seats.
- The U.S. House has 233 Democrats, 196 Republicans, and one Libertarian. All 435 seats are up for election. A majority in the chamber requires 218 seats.
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Congress is in session
Both chambers of Congress are in session next week. Click here to see the full calendar for the second session of the 116th Congress.
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Where was the president last week?
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On Monday, Trump and the First Lady participated in Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery and Fort McHenry National Monument.
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On Tuesday, Trump participated in a swearing-in ceremony for Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.
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On Wednesday, Trump met with Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo and toured the NASA Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida.
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On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order on social media.
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On Friday, Trump held a press conference in the Rose Garden.
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Federal judiciary
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