2023-2024 Presidential, senate, house, state and city election thread

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Iowa GOP Announces 2024 Caucus Date

DES MOINES -- The State Central Committee of the Republican Party of Iowa met today to officially set the date for the 2024 Republican Iowa Caucus. The Central Committee unanimously voted to hold the upcoming presidential caucus on January 15, 2024.

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann issued the following statement in response:

"The Republican Party of Iowa is proud to announce that we will officially hold our 2024 First-in-the-Nation Caucus on January 15, 2024.

https://www.iowagop.org/iowa_gop_announ ... aucus_date

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MO-GOV: Democratic legislative leader launches campaign for Missouri governor

The top Democrat in the Missouri House officially launched her campaign for governor early Sunday morning, taking direct aim at her likely GOP rivals while touting efforts to restore abortion rights and block foreign ownership of farmland.

State Rep. Crystal Quade, 37, is the first major Democratic candidate to enter the field to replace Gov. Mike Parson next year. In an introductory video announcing her campaign, she discussed being raised by a single mom and relying on food stamps before touting her record in the legislature.

“I committed myself to working for families like the one I grew up in,” she said. “Now I’m a leader in the state House, where I’ve stood up for workers against corporate special interests, sponsored a law to stop China and Russia from buying our farmland to squeeze out Missouri farmers and I’m leading the fight to restore our abortion rights.”

Quade is scheduled to kick off her campaign Monday in her hometown of Springfield.

She enters the race facing steep odds in an increasingly Republican-dominated state. Parson, who can’t run again due to term limits, defeated Democrat Nicole Galloway in 2020 by nearly 17 percentage points. And currently, no Democrats hold statewide office in Missouri.

https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/ ... -governor/

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2024's First Act: Ramaswamy Up, Pence Down in Iowa
by Sophia Cai
July 15, 2023

Introduction:

(Axios) A half-dozen GOP presidential contenders not named Donald Trump showed up at a convention center in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday for their first big job interviews, and two things quickly became clear.

Driving the news: The first: After ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson questioned the contenders before about 2,000 evangelical Christians, the crowd's favorites were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy — but not former Vice President Mike Pence.

• The second: A healthy chunk of the crowd, though, appeared to like Trump most of all — and seemed to be shopping for a No. 2 choice, just in case.

Why it matters: The Iowa caucuses, likely the first contests in the GOP primary season, are six months away. But this weekend's crush of events across the state is an early benchmark — a snapshot of who's up and who's down, at least for now.
But, but, but: It's a long campaign, and Iowa isn't everything.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2023/07/15/2024- ... desantis

So who is this Vivek Ramaswamy? Below is from a background piece that Axios presented in May:

Vivek Ramaswamy — the little-known biotech multimillionaire who jumped into the ’24 GOP presidential race — is auditioning to be the party’s next Donald Trump, with hyper-Trumpian positions on the border, voting, culture wars and more.

Why it matters: By running to the right of Trump, the 37-year-old entrepreneur seems to be positioning himself as heir apparent to the former president, 76. Ramaswamy is an understudy in plain sight — and already mentioned as a plausible V.P. pick for Trump.
…
Don't forget: Ramaswamy has never held elected office and isn't known to the vast majority of voters.

• But he's vowed to spend as much as $100 million on his campaign, and already has put $10 million of his own money toward ads and trips to key primary states.

For more of this Axios article: https://www.axios.com/2023/05/12/vive ... -gop-2024

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Grassroots Republicans Aren’t Donating Much Money to Ron DeSantis
by Russ Choma
July 18, 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Ron DeSantis is failing when it comes to grassroots fundraising. The situation has gotten so bad that it’s possible the Florida governor might actually be losing money when it comes to courting small-dollar donors.

Conclusion:

While DeSantis’ grand total from all donations, including large ones—$19.7 million—isn’t terrible, the roughly $2.9 million he raised specifically from small donors comes with some red flags. First, it appears to be costing DeSantis a lot to raise that rather paltry sum. According to the same federal filings, his campaign spent:

• $926,000 on credit card processing fees, to WinRed, the online fundraising tool favored by GOP candidates

• $883,000 on digital fundraising

• $730,000 on direct mail

• $200,000 on SMS text messaging

While it is possible to attract large donations with the use of digital fundraising and online processing tools like WinRed—and some of that direct mail and text messaging might be aimed primarily at voter activation, rather than fundraising—the filings paint a picture of a campaign completely flailing when it comes to connecting with grassroots donors. In all, those expenses add up to $2.7 million, almost as much he raised from small donors—and that doesn’t include some other expenses associated with the campaign’s outreach to the little guy. For example, contact list rental and the time staff might be spending on small donors.

The fact that it’s hard to separate out exactly how much DeSantis spent on grassroots fundraising from how much he spent targeting voters points to another problem with the campaigns’ numbers: the two categories are often the same. Small donors, of course, are sought for the total amount of money they might be able to contribute—and it can be substantial—but donors giving small amounts is also considered a good sign of voter activation. If a donor has donated something—even a small amount—it’s often considered by campaigns a good sign that they’re making progress persuading future voters. And for DeSantis, that just doesn’t seem to be happening.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... mp-biden/

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Chris Sununu Won't Run for Re-Election as Governor of New Hampshire
Source: New York Times

Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican, said on Wednesday that he would not run for re-election in 2024, opening up a seat in a battleground state that Democrats will be eager to take.

Mr. Sununu made the announcement in an email to supporters.

“This was no easy decision as I truly love serving as governor,” he wrote. “Public service should never be a career, and the time is right for another Republican to lead our great state.”

Mr. Sununu, 48, is serving his fourth two-year term as governor. He recently decided against two opportunities to run for higher office: He declined to run for Senate last year, and for president this year. His next steps are unclear.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/us/p ... ernor.html

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Quinnipiac: Trump +29 / Biden +57

Trump 54%
DeSantis 25%
Haley 4%
Pence 4%
Scott 3%
Christie 3%
Ramaswamy 2%
Everyone else 0%

Biden 71%
RFK Jr. 14%
Williamson 7%

https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3876

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Poll: Kentucky Gov. Beshear leads re-election race by 10 points


https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/ ... -rcna95549

A new statewide poll conducted by a Republican firm shows Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear leading his GOP challenger by 10 points, four months from the general election.

Beshear leads Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron 52% to 42% in the ballot test, which was conducted by the firm Public Opinion Strategies for the Prichard Committee, an education-focused group in Kentucky. (Public Opinion Strategies conducts the NBC News poll along with Hart Research Associates, a Democratic firm.)

Beshear's approval rating is also above water, with 63% of registered voters in deep-red Kentucky saying they approve of the job he's doing. Just 35% of voters disapprove of the job he's doing.

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