Political Crumbs

For just the second time in state history, the Democratic and Republican nominees are running unopposed in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial primaries with Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and GOP state Treasurer Stacy Garrity advancing to the general election on Tuesday. The only other cycle in which neither party held a contested primary for the office was in…

In Nebraska’s Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, incumbent Jim Pillen cruised to a 66.2-point victory in a five-candidate field as he seeks a second term this November. Pillen’s victory marked the 19th successful renomination bid by a sitting Nebraska GOP governor out of 19 attempts dating back to the state’s first primary in 1908 when…

In last week’s Ohio primary, Sherrod Brown set a state record for the most support received in a contested U.S. Senate primary in his race against technologist Ron Kincaid. The former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator won 89.5 percent of the primary vote – breaking incumbent John Glenn’s record of 87.6 percent set in 1986 en…

While Texas U.S. Senator John Cornyn exceeded prognosticator expectations by landing in first place in the GOP primary last week, he heads to the May runoff breaking his own state party record for the lowest support for an incumbent in a race for the office. Cornyn won 41.9 percent, some 17.5 points behind the 59.4…

Political parties in three states set all-time party and a few state records in gubernatorial elections during the 2022 midterms. In Hawaii, Lieutenant Governor Josh Green won a party- and state-high 63.16 percent in the gubernatorial race, besting predecessor David Ige’s 62.67 percent in 2018. In Florida, GOP Governor Ron DeSantis received 59.37 percent –…

Former Texas Democratic U.S. Representative Colin Allred announced this week that he will run for the U.S. Senate again in 2026, two years after falling 8.5 points short of unseating incumbent Ted Cruz. Allred is looking to become just the fifth failed Texas U.S. Senate major party candidate – and first Democrat – to win…

Of the 50 current U.S. governors, 17 were not born in the state they serve. Nearly half of Democratic governors (11 of 23) were born elsewhere but less than a quarter of Republicans (six of 27). Three of these 17 governors were born in New York City (Kansas Democrat Laura Kelly and Republicans Patrick Morrisey…

The Minnesota Historical Election Archive, curated by Smart Politics, has been updated with all 2024 special, primary, and general election results as well as candidate biographies for all 2024 hopefuls. The Archive now houses results for nearly 20,700 elections since statehood, or nearly 90 percent of all elections conducted in Minnesota across 17 state and…

Ruben Gallego won Arizona’s Democratic U.S. Senate nomination unopposed on Tuesday night, which has become par for the course for the party in recent decades. Democratic nominees for the office in Arizona have been crowned without opposition on the ballot in five of the last six cycles: Richard Carmona (2012), Ann Kirkpatrick (2016), Mark Kelly…

In Nebraska’s Democratic presidential primary, Minnesota U.S. Representative Dean Phillips came out on top in Logan County, winning five votes to Joe Biden’s four. Logan County is located in the central party of the state where more than 175 voters cast their ballots in the GOP primary. This is not Phillips’ first county-wide victory. Prior…