Political Crumbs

In last week’s midterm elections, Democrats continued to run up the score in U.S. House races across multiple Northeastern states. A sweep of Massachusetts’ nine congressional districts increased the Democratic winning streak to 119 in a row in the Bay State dating back to 1996. Democrats also swept through Connecticut for the sixth consecutive cycle,…

For just the third time in more than 650 general and special elections, voters in an Iowa U.S. House race will have six choices on the general election ballot. The state’s 3rd CD finds Republican David Young challenged by Democratic businesswoman Cynthia Axne plus Libertarian Bryan Holder, Green nominee Paul Knupp, independent Joe Grandanette, and…

Over the last 105 years, only one state has never elected a Republican U.S. Senator while a fellow GOPer served in the White House – Arkansas. The Natural State has voted for a Democratic nominee in all 17 opportunities to date, and will get its next chance to break that streak in 2020 when Republican…

For the first time in party history, only one Alaska Democrat appeared on the gubernatorial primary ballot. Despite a late entrance into the 2018 race, former U.S. Senator Mark Begich ran unopposed for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination while seven Republicans – second most in party history (1986, nine) – duked it out for the GOP…

For the first time since 1914, both Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries in Minnesota were decided by less than 10 points. On Tuesday, DFL Congressman Tim Walz defeated state Representative Erin Murphy by 9.6 points while Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson beat former Governor Tim Pawlenty by 8.7 points on the Republican side. Prior to…

With Attorney General Lori Swanson and state Representative Erin Murphy losing to Tim Walz in Minnesota’s 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Minnesota will continue its streak of never nominating a woman to the office of governor from a major party in state history. Meanwhile, with state Representative Peggy Flanagan and former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer…

Between 1986 and 2014, Kansas Democratic gubernatorial nominees were opposed in just three of eight cycles. One candidate ran in all three of these primaries: controversial founder of the Westboro Baptist Church Fred Phelps. Phelps came in last in each race, winning 6.7 percent in 1990’s primary won by Treasurer Joan Finney, 3.4 percent in…

Former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen rolled to victory as expected in the three-candidate race for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination on Thursday – and tied a party record in doing so. Bredesen won 91.5 percent of the vote against perennial candidate Gary Davis (running in his sixth consecutive primary for the office) and attorney John…

Nevadans head to the polls in their state primary Tuesday and thousands will cast their gubernatorial vote for ‘None of these candidates’ – an option provided to the voters in primary and general elections for more than 40 years. The magic number to watch is whether the percentage of underwhelmed voters for either party reaches…

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf ran unopposed in his 2018 renomination bid to become just the third Democrat without a challenger since the state’s first gubernatorial primary in 1914. Wolf joins attorney John Hemphill (1930) and Governor Ed Rendell (2006) among the 27 nominees selected during the direct primary era. Meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial nominees have run…