It’s A Date

Due in part to South Carolina’s political parties previously funding their presidential primaries as well as various cycles in which primaries were not held due to incumbents running for reelection, the 2024 cycle is just the fourth time in which the Palmetto State will hold both Republican and Democratic primaries. The 21-day gap between the…

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Early(ish)

The date of the New Hampshire presidential primary was officially scheduled for January 23, 2024. That is the third earliest date on which the primary in the Granite State has been conducted following the cycles of 2012 (January 10th) and 2008 (January 15th). The only other cycle in which the primary was conducted in January…

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Party Like It’s 1928

With Joe Manchin announcing he will not seek reelection to his U.S. Senate seat, West Virginia Republicans are poised after 2024 to hold all offices elected on a statewide ballot for the first time in nearly 100 years. In 1928, Herbert Hoover topped the GOP ticket in the state with a 17.4-point victory with Henry…

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You Can’t Please Them All

Joe Biden critics have had a field day for the last several months as oft-described ‘fringe’ candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has variously polled in the low double-digits in several state and national surveys. This brings to mind the 1996 reelection bid of Bill Clinton – another Democratic incumbent who did not have to participate…

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Ideological, Not Partisan

The next high profile electoral battle (for a technically nonpartisan office) will take place in two months for Wisconsin’s open Supreme Court seat. Over the last 100 years, Wisconsin has held 77 elections to its Supreme Court. Just 16 of these were open seat contests – in 1925, 1949, 1956, 1961, 1963, 1977, 1978, 1979,…

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A Tale of Two Cycles

At this point during the 2020 cycle, eight Democrats had already jumped into the race for president: Maryland U.S. Representative John Delaney (July 28, 2017), New York businessman Andrew Yang (November 6, 2017), West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda (November 11, 2018), former HUD Secretary Julian Castro of Texas (January 12, 2019), California U.S. Senator…

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The Elusive Majority

By getting swept for a third straight cycle in the states’ four constitutional elections this week, Minnesota Republicans have now failed to win a majority of the vote in 46 consecutive statewide contests dating back to 1996. [Republicans were plurality winners in seven]. The DFL has won exactly half of these 46 elections with a…

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Now What Do They Do?

Since the Election of 1990, no political party in Minnesota had enjoyed unified control of the executive and legislative branches save for a 2-year DFL stint following the Election of 2012 during the 88th legislative session. By flipping the state senate, holding the state house, and sweeping the four elections for constitutional offices for a…

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Options Are Limited

For the first time since 1990, Minnesota voters will have just two choices on the ballot in a state constitutional office election. In fact, two contests – those for Secretary of State and Attorney General – have only DFL and GOP nominees this November. The most recent cycle to feature two candidates on the ballot…

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Fight to the Finish

Wisconsin’s highly-watched GOP gubernatorial primary last week resulted in the closest race for the Republican nomination and first plurality winner in more than 75 years in the state. Tim Michels defeated Rebecca Kleefisch by 3.9 points with 47.0 percent of the vote – the tightest contest since Governor Walter Goodland edged former state adjutant-general Ralph…

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