GOP state lawmakers press for Georgia ballot watermarks in ongoing quest for voter confidence

The Georgia House overwhelmingly passed legislation on Wednesday that would require ballots in future elections to have a visible watermark security feature.

On Wednesday, House Bill 976 was passed 167-1, advancing an enhanced security measure to the Senate that has the support of Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. According to state officials, if approved by the Legislature, the new watermark symbol would likely appear on millions of ballots printed for the November general election.

Rep. Steve Tarvin, a Chickamauga Republican, said the watermark is another step toward improving voter confidence after many Georgians questioned the validity of the gubernatorial and presidential elections in recent years. State and local election offices will be able to take advantage of this enhanced feature at a minimal cost, according to bill sponsor Valdosta GOP Rep. John LaHood.

“It’s a shame we have to do this, but I thank (LaHood) for bringing this bill because it restores confidence when our people vote,” Tarvin said.




https://georgiarecorder.com/2024/01/31/gop-state-lawmakers-press-for-georgia-ballot-watermarks-in-ongoing-quest-for-voter-confidence/

AZ-SEN: Sinema, Her Fund-Raising Fading, Faces Ticking Clock on Senate Decision

Senator Kyrsten Sinema is behind schedule in making a decision about whether to seek re-election in Arizona. She’s also running out of time.

Ms. Sinema, who left the Democratic Party just over a year ago to become an independent, is still considering whether to run for a second term, aides said. But new campaign finance reports show that she is lagging well behind the plan she and her team discussed last spring.

In April, Ms. Sinema and her advisers laid out a schedule for her decision that set a deadline of Sept. 30 for an initial round of public opinion polling and research into challengers, who include Representative Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, and Kari Lake, a Republican television-anchor-turned-politician who narrowly lost the governor’s race in 2022. By the end of December, Ms. Sinema would have a campaign staff in place.

But there is no sign that she carried out any significant polling, research or staff hires in the final six months of last year. She spent $6.9 million during the past year, new filings with the Federal Election Commission show, much of which went toward digital advertising, security and consulting.


https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/31/us/politics/sinema-arizona-independent-senate.html

Missing Persons - Words

NY-03: GOP super PAC doubles down in NY special election

A top GOP super PAC is dumping even more money into the special election to replace ex-Rep. George Santos, and once again they are doubling down on an immigration-centric attack.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a group allied with Speaker Mike Johnson, will spend $2.6 million on TV ads to aid Republican nominee Mazi Pilip in the final two weeks before the Feb. 13 special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District. That brings its total investment to nearly $5 million and extends a GOP ad blitz that began earlier this month in the New York City area.

The new cash will also help narrow what had become a massive spending advantage for Democrats.

Pilip, an Ethiopian-born former Israeli Defense Forces soldier, faces former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi in the race for the district, which includes parts of Long Island and Queens.



https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/31/ny-house-race-santos-00138801

AZ-SEN: Kari Lake's fundraising puts her behind in Arizona Senate race

Kari Lake raised more money challenging the results of her last election than she did running for a new one.

Lake, a MAGA darling, launched her Arizona Senate bid last October with much fanfare — and a video cameo from Donald Trump — but ended 2023 with relatively little money in the bank. She raised $2 million in the roughly 11 weeks after she entered the race, but she quickly spent nearly half that haul.

That left her starting 2024 with a little over $1 million in the bank — and $308,000 in debt.

Those numbers are low for a frontrunner in a major Senate race. And they mean Lake entered the 2024 election year far behind her major competitors: Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who hasn’t yet decided on a reelection bid, started the year with close to $11 million in her coffers, and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who launched in January 2023, had almost $7 million in the bank.




https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/31/kari-lake-fundraising-arizona-00138975

Trump has spent millions more than he's raised in 2023

Donald Trump’s joint fundraising committee reported raising $53.8 million in the first half of the year, a long-teased figure that blows all of his Republican opponents out of the water.

But the committee and its two affiliates — the former president’s official campaign and his leadership Save America PAC — have collectively spent $57 million over the same period, according to a POLITICO analysis of campaign finance filings. The spending rate threatens to put a significant strain on Trump’s finances as the election gears up.

All told, the joint fundraising committee spent more than $17 million over the first six months of 2023 on fundraising expenses such as digital consulting, direct mail, email and list rentals.

The Save America leadership PAC, which also filed its own biannual report on Monday, reported spending more than $24.4 million in the first six months of the year, excluding transfers to related committees.



https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/31/trump-finances-campaign-2024-00109131

Democratic group focused on young candidates rakes in $3M in fourth quarter

A Democratic group that aims to recruit and support young candidates for state legislative office announced it raised more than $3 million in the latest quarter of fundraising.

Leaders We Deserve — a group founded by activist David Hogg along with Kevin Lata, Rep. Maxwell Frost’s (D-Fla.) former campaign manager — announced Wednesday its fundraising haul between October and December. More than 100,000 donations were made, with the average contribution being $25, according to figures first shared with The Hill. The group received donations from every state.

The group, which was launched in August, aims to recruit Millennial and Gen Z candidates for office, predominantly for the state legislature. The group describes itself as “EMILY’s List for young people” and endorsed candidates running last cycle, including Virginia Del. Nadarius Clark (D), who won his state legislative race in November.

In an interview with The Hill, Hogg said that the goal last quarter was to raise at least $1 million. Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland high school shooting in 2018 who also co-founded March for Our Lives, said the group would be announcing its next slate of endorsed candidates “very soon” and was in the “final stages” of choosing the next picks.




https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4438456-democratic-group-focused-on-young-candidates-rakes-in-3m-in-fourth-quarter/

If local Arab leaders tank Biden in Michigan....

They deserve whatever they get from Trump.

Far-right mayor faces tough reelection in Alaska's largest city

Nine different candidates have filed to challenge Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson in the city's fast-approaching April 2 elections, but while the contest is officially nonpartisan, battle lines have already been drawn—some ideological, and some personal.

Out of this large field, the Anchorage Daily News writes that three of Bronson's opponents are waging credible campaigns to deny him a second three-year term as leader of The Last Frontier's largest city. (Anchorage is the rare major American city where terms last an odd number of years.)

The only Democrat in this trio is former state House Majority Leader Chris Tuck, while the other two members—former Anchorage Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance and former Anchorage Economic Development Corp. CEO Bill Popp—aren't registered with any party. The local Democratic Party, however, endorsed both Tuck and LaFrance.

Anchorage, according to data from Dave's Redistricting App, favored Joe Biden 49-47 in 2020. But the hard-right Bronson, a first-time candidate who emphasized his opposition to the city's pandemic health measures, won the race for mayor 51-49 against Democratic Assembly member Forrest Dunbar six months later, when Biden wasn't on the ticket.



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/30/2220486/-Far-right-mayor-faces-tough-reelection-in-Alaska-s-largest-city

MI: Democrats Xiong, Herzberg win state House special primary races in metro Detroit

Democrats Mai Xiong and Peter Herzberg have won state House special primary elections on Tuesday, according to unofficial results.

Both metro Detroit seats are Democratic strongholds, so Xiong and Herzberg go into the April 16 special general election as favorites. If they prevail in the general election, Democrats will be back to a 56-54 majority in the House.

The 13th District includes Macomb and Wayne counties, as well as the city of Warren and a small part of Detroit. Former state Rep. Lori Stone (D-Warren) represented the district until she won her election as Warren mayor in November.

Xiong, a Macomb County commissioner who amassed many endorsements, including that of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, romped in the Democratic primary with 78.9%, according to unofficial returns.



https://michiganadvance.com/2024/01/31/democrats-xiong-herzberg-win-state-house-special-primary-races-in-metro-detroit/