1. Volunteer Day
2. Previewing Missouri's 1st Congressional District Democratic primary
3. Only statewide measure in New York removed from ballot

Volunteer Day

Before we dive into today’s news, we want to present you with an opportunity to help the Ballotpedia community this Friday, Aug. 7, for our next Day of Service!  We kicked off our first one in April, and we had 108 registrants help us track local government responses to the COVID-19 crisis. I was amazed by the generosity and excitement of the readers who were willing to pitch in.

This time around, we're getting together (virtually) to research contact information for local candidates that will be on November's ballot. Why?  Ballotpedia is covering thousands of local elections, and we’d like as many candidates as we can get to fill out our Candidate Connection survey in order to bring you even more information before casting a ballot.

Here’s how our volunteer coordinator team explained the program to me.

• One-hour shifts are available from 2:00 pm-5:00 pm EST. 

• We'll have an official playlist, exchange summertime stories, and try to get as many candidates' contact information as we can. 

• After our work, we'll hang out together on a virtual happy hour to kick off the weekend with a cold drink in hand!

Are you in? You can sign up for shifts at this link.  

Hope to see you there!

Learn more

       

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Previewing Missouri's 1st Congressional District Democratic primary

Tomorrow, Aug. 4, is the month’s first big primary day. Voters in five states will head to the polls to decide races in Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington. Among those states, we’ll cover 1,530 elections for 842 offices. 

Leading up to the elections, we’ve been previewing the 18 battleground primaries being held in the five states. Last Wednesday, I wrote about a Medicaid expansion ballot measure that will be on the Aug. 4 ballot for Missouri voters. Let’s finish off our preview today by looking at the three other battleground elections in the state.  

Missouri's 1st Congressional District (Democratic primary)

Incumbent William Lacy Clay, Katherine Bruckner, and Cori Bush are running in the Democratic primary. This race features a rematch between Clay and Bush. Bush challenged Clay in the district's 2018 Democratic primary, which Clay won 57% to Bush's 37%.

Clay was first elected in 2000, replacing his father, former Rep. William Lacy Clay, Sr. (D). He had previously served in the Missouri State Legislature from 1983 to 2001. Clay received endorsements from U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

Bush is a nurse and civil rights organizer. She received endorsements from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jamaal Bowman (D), a candidate in New York's 16th District who defeated 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel (D) in the district's June 23 primary. 

Pre-primary reports show Clay raising $744,000 and Bush with $569,000. At this point in the 2018 primary, Clay had raised $407,000 compared to Bush's $139,000.

Clay or his father have represented the 1st District since 1969. Three race-tracking outlets rate the district as Solid/Safe Democratic. 

Missouri gubernatorial election (Republican primary)

Incumbent Gov. Mike Parson (R) is facing three candidates in his bid for a full term as governor. Parson took office in 2018 following the resignation of Gov. Eric Greitens (R) amid investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct and misuse of voter data during the 2016 election. The other candidates are attorney Saundra McDowell, state Rep. Jim Neely (R), and businessman Raleigh Ritter.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney (Democratic primary)

Incumbent Kimberly Gardner and Mary Pat Carl face each other in a rematch. In the 2016 race for circuit attorney, Gardner received 47% to Carl’s 24%. Gardner indicted former Gov. Greitens in 2018 for alleged misuse of voter data. The St. Louis American and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are among Gardner's endorsers. Carl's endorsers include the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Democratic organizations of several wards. In July 2020, Gardner filed felony charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a white couple who held guns in their yard as Black Lives Matter protesters marched by.

Only statewide measure in New York removed from ballot

On July 30, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that a $3 billion bond measure related to environmental projects was removed from the general election ballot. Gov. Cuomo cited financial concerns in his announcement. With the removal of the bond measure from the November ballot, there will be no statewide ballot measures in New York this year.

The measure would have issued $3 billion in bonds for projects related to the environment, natural resources, water infrastructure, and climate change mitigation. In April 2020, as part of the state budget bill, the New York State Legislature passed a provision for the bond measure. Gov. Cuomo proposed the bond issue, titled the Environmental Bond Act of 2020 "Restore Mother Nature,” during his State of the State Address on January 8. The budget bill also included a provision empowering the New York Director of the Budget to remove the bond measure from the ballot should the budget department decide that there would be an adverse effect on the state's finances. 

To get the measure on the ballot in a future election, the state legislature would need to pass the bond measure again. The last year there were statewide ballot measures in New York was 2017, when three appeared on the ballot. Prior to that, there had been none since 2014, when three were also on the ballot. 

For more information on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting ballot measures this year, click here.

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