Tag: re election
Andy Beshear

Kentucky's Democratic Governor Wins Big Re-Election Victory

Democrat Andy Beshear won re-election as Kentucky's Democratic governor, defeating former Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron Monday, NBC News reports.

Per The Hill, Beshear "has seen strong approval despite being the Democratic governor of a red state," and has also "been noted as one of the most popular governors in the country."

Still, NBC reports, Republican Russell Coleman defeated Democrat Pamela Stevenson in Kentucky's race for attorney general," while "Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams won re-election."

NBC also notes, "In his bid for a second term, Beshear leveraged the popularity he built over the last four years, touting the state's economic progress and his response to natural disasters, including devastating floods."

The news outlet calls Beshear's win "a welcome sign for Democrats ahead of" the 2024 presidential election.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Vance McAllister Considers Comeback After Consulting God, Constituents

Vance McAllister Considers Comeback After Consulting God, Constituents

In another display of excellent decision making, Rep. Vance McAllister (R-LA) — otherwise known as the Kissing Congressman — is considering reversing course and pursuing re-election in the fall. The disgraced congressman, who made headlines earlier this year when a video showing the married father of five locked in a passionate embrace with a staffer was leaked, has apparently made adequate apologies to his wife and to God, and has received the green light for another campaign.

Polling also played a role in McAllister’s change of heart; private surveys released earlier this week actually show McAllister as the frontrunner in Louisiana’s 5th congressional district. Conducted by the Glascock Group, the latest poll shows McAllister with a slight 26.1 to 25.6 percent edge over state senator Neil Riser, a former opponent. Riser has since decided against a campaign, however, leaving McAllister as the only candidate with considerable public support.

Then again, Zach Dasher — a member of Duck Dynasty’s Robertson family — recently announced plans to run for McAllister’s seat, so maybe there will be some stiff competition after all. Dasher, the nephew of Phil Robertson — the “Duck Commander” of the family, who is famously close with McAllister — is a 36-year-old father of four with no political experience, but plenty of reality TV support. In a statement, Dasher emphasized his religious-right bona fides, saying, “Man is made in the image of the Almighty God. If we are afraid to say that, then we don’t have a case for liberty.” He went on to proclaim his position as “a strong supporter of the Second Amendment [who] favors adoption of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, an overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a strong U.S. military.” 

Glascock’s poll also listed McAllister as both a Republican and a Democrat, following rumors of an affiliation switch, but McAllister reaffirmed his dedication to the GOP in a statement earlier this week. “I believe in pro-life, I believe in a strong military, in a smaller government, I believe in a free enterprise system,” he assured constituents. “Those are all core values of the Republican Party … and I’ll always be a Republican.” Apparently, one of the core values of the Republican party is not fidelity.

Of course, McAllister has never completely ruled out a potential re-bid for Congress. “If there’s a possibility that the people want me to do another political office, again,” he said in May, “maybe I’ll do it.

Now, it would appear that the people have spoken.

McAllister may be taking his cues from another famously scandal-ridden Louisiana politician. In 2007, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) was revealed as a client of “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Vitter admitted to his dalliance with prostitutes, and like McAllister, apologized to his wife and to God, asking his constituency for forgiveness. 

Though the scandal was expected to sound the death knell for Vitter’s political career, the senator not only managed to escape with his career intact, but also went on to win a landslide re-election in 2010. Vitter, one of the few prominent politicians to support McAllister during his scandal, is now the frontrunner in Louisiana’s 2015 gubernatorial race.

While Vitter is a prime example of a scandal success story, his situation is the exception, not the norm. According to a Washington Post analysis of 38 political sex scandals over the past four decades, only 39 percent of House and Senate members involved in such a sticky situation won re-election. The rest lost, resigned, or chose not to run again. Even more troubling for McAllister, the rate of re-election for scandal-ridden members of Congress has plummeted since Bill Clinton’s impeachment; just 20 percent have held on to their seats after a scandal since 2000.

Chart via Washington Post

Chart via Washington Post

The odds are against McAllister, but that won’t stop him now.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

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Michigan’s Rep. Camp Won’t Run For Re-Election

Michigan’s Rep. Camp Won’t Run For Re-Election

By Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican who has in recent years chaired the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, will not seek re-election this year, adding to the growing number of Michigan members of Congress heading toward the exits.

Camp, 60, made the announcement official Monday, saying the decision was “reached after much consideration and discussion with my family.” He did not give a reason for the decision.

In recent years, Camp has been a fervent proponent of changing and simplifying the U.S. tax code, but there seemed to be little enthusiasm for making such a change in advance of the midterm elections. Because of House Republican rules, Camp will be forced to step down as Ways and Means chairman at the end of this year. He became chairman in 2011.

He has been in Congress since 1991 and joins a list that includes U.S. Sen Carl Levin and U.S. Rep. John Dingell of Dearborn, both Democrats, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Howell, who have announced they won’t run for re-election this year.

Like Rogers, Camp is a key ally of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who noted Monday that he was elected to Congress the same year as Camp. Boehner said from the start, he had been “impressed by (Camp’s) wisdom and thoughtfulness and grateful for his friendship.”

Camp, in a statement announcing he would step down at the end of his term, said: “Serving in Congress is the great honor of my professional life. I am deeply grateful to the people of the 4th Congressional District for placing their trust in me. Over the years, their unwavering support has been a source of strength, purpose and inspiration.”

In 2012, Camp battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma and was later pronounced cancer-free.

“During the next nine months, I will redouble my efforts to grow our economy and expand opportunity for every American by fixing our broken tax code, permanently solving physician payments for seniors, strengthening the social safety net and finding new markets for U.S. goods and services,” he said.

Prior to running for Congress himself, Camp was campaign manager for his boyhood friend, Bill Schuette, who ran successfully to represent the district in 1984. Camp stayed in his office for two years before serving a term in the state House himself.

When Schuette — now state attorney general — ran unsuccessfully to replace Levin in 1990, Camp replaced him in Congress. Talking of Camp Monday, Schuette — who said Camp told him his decision earlier in the day — said “the House will miss him.”

“I just think he said, ‘OK, it’s new career time,’” Schuette said.

Gov. Rick Snyder said the state would miss Camp’s “steady leadership.”

Camp, who has an easygoing, friendly demeanor, has long been known as a bridge-builder in the Michigan delegation, and even though he has been chairman of one of the House’s most powerful committees during a time of extreme partisanship, he was more of a policy wonk than a fire-breathing conservative.

Known for his expertise on tax and trade issues — both of which fall under the committee’s purview — Camp joined former Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, on a barnstorming tour last year to push tax reform.

But when Camp unveiled his sweeping, 979-page discussion draft in February and suggested it was time to lead to slaughter some sacred cows — like the deduction of interest on education loans or the deduction on mortgage interest for homes costing up to $1 million — to spark job growth, the proposal met with a Republican caucus unwilling to commit to such a change this year.

It called for flattening individual rates, collapsing seven current brackets to just two and cutting the corporate rate from a top rate of 35 percent to 25 percent, among many other provisions.

Tax and trade policy weren’t Camp’s only passions, however. He has long been a proponent of making adoptions more streamlined and accessible to help move children from foster homes to adoptive ones. He wrote laws that helped facilitate international adoptions and created financial incentives for states that encourage the adoption of older children.

As happened last Friday when Rogers — who had been in Congress since 2001 — announced he was leaving at the end of this term, Camp’s departure may put his party in a bit of a bind: Candidates wishing to appear on the August primary ballot must file candidacy paperwork and 1,000 petition signatures by 4 p.m. April 22.

The district — which is composed larger of the central lower peninsula — is reliably Republican, however, and Camp, if he chose to, could be a financial asset if he chose to be, with $3.4 million in his campaign fund as of the end of 2013.

State Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak wasn’t worried about holding onto the district.

“We have a deep bench of leaders in our party who will continue Congressman Camp’s legacy of tirelessly working on behalf of Michigan families,” he said. “I’m certain we will retain Congressman Camp’s seat this fall.”

Bill Ballenger, of the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, said while he was surprised at the timing, it’s not hard to understand why Camp would leave.

“If you’re going to look at making real money in the private sector his window is almost closed,” Ballenger said.

Among the names being prominently mentioned as a possible candidate is state Sen. John Moolenaar (R-Midland), who chairs the Veterans, Military Affairs and Homeland Security Committee and serves as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Other potential names being mentioned among Republicans include state Sens. Roger Kahn of Saginaw Township, state Rep. Kevin Cotter of Mt. Pleasant; state Rep. Jim Stamas of Midland and former state Rep. Tony Stamas of Midland.

Potential Democratic names being mentioned are former U.S. Rep. Jim Barcia of Bay City, Bay County Executive tom Hickner and former state Sen. Joel Sheltrown of West Branch.

“This is such a rare opportunity that a lot of people will be considering this,” said political consultant Stu Sandler.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), who is chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Michigan was losing an outstanding congressman, one who said had “a long record in support of jobs and improving the nation’s economy in everything he touched.”

“I will genuinely miss the strong partnership we had with the unprecedented privilege of Dave at the helm of the Ways and Means Committee and me with the Energy and Commerce Committee,” Upton said.

vpickering via Flickr

Wall Street Gives Obama Another Look: $70 Million In New Fundraising

While Barack Obama’s policy choices have often irked his progressive base and his occasional jabs at “fat cat bankers” have rankled the thin-skinned titans of Wall Street, he has had surprisingly little trouble raking in their fundraising dollars. The Democratic National Committee and his re-election campaign reported gathering a combined $70.1 million in the quarter that closed at the end of September.

Much of that money came from bundlers, or fundraisers who gather the legal maximum of $2,500 from as many people as possible.

“The network of bundlers that is already active has been funneling in huge amounts of money to the Obama campaign and the DNC,” Michael Beckel, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, told The National Memo. “We know that a lot of those people have connections to Wall Street and ties to the security and investment industry. So while some Wall Street people are sitting on their hands or waiting to see which way the political wind is blowing, others are still backing the president.”

Obama raised more than the entire Republican field combined, and though big-dollar donations are certainly doing much to boost his totals, he continues to collect money from hundreds of thousands of grassroots supporters giving small-dollar (less than $200) donations as well.

“In the second [previous] quarter, he raised about 47 percent of his money from small dollar donors,” Beckel said. “That’s even more than over the course of the 2008 campaign, when the Obama campaign raised about a third of its money from small donors and 57 percent from people who gave $1,000 or less.”

Nonetheless, the big story here is probably that for all of its reservations about Obama, the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, and the Democratic Party’s occasional flirtation with populism, a large chunk of the financial community is betting on a win by the president.

“Wall Street likes a winner, and an incumbent president is hard to unseat, especially when he’s got the financial resources at his disposal. He’s running up the tab on his side of the column while the Republicans are still duking it out amongst themselves,” Beckel added.