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June 25, 2018, 11:08 a.m.
AR GOV: Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) and former state Teach for America executive Jared Henderson (D) released statements about HHS considering utilizing unused federal land in the state to house immigrant families.
Hutchinson: “The decision to use a military installation or other federal property for housing immigrant families is a decision made in Washington and not in Little Rock. Any costs would be borne by the federal government and beyond that there is very little information on what plans are being considered.”
He added that he is “opposed to the use of any Arkansas facility that would be for children who are separated from their parents.”
Henderson: “Arkansans have made it clear they want no part in this administration’s heinous policy that separates families at the border. There is not yet a path forward to reuniting children with their families, and now Arkansas’s leaders are standing by as the federal government works to keep those children minutes from where Arkansas’s Japanese-American internment camps once were. I cannot stay silent as our history repeats itself, and I hope our governor cannot either.” (Arkansas Times)
AZ GOV: Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) will be able to stay on the Aug 28 primary ballot after allies of Gov. Doug Ducey (R) dropped their lawsuit that attempted to have him removed. “The lawsuit alleged that at least 1,316 of Bennett’s signatures are invalid for a host of reasons, including that they don’t match signatures on voter records or were signed by Democrats or unregistered voters.”
Bennett spokeswoman Christine Bauserman: “It wasn’t hard to see what a worthless claim it was. First they tried to pay the signature gathers to not help us. And second, they filed this worthless lawsuit that they knew was worthless.” (Arizona Republic)
GA GOV: Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) released “a new TV ad as part of a recent, $1 million advertising campaign he hopes will carry him to victory in the GOP’s brutal gubernatorial runoff.”
“Kemp came under fire earlier this year for a controversial TV in which Kemp cleans a shotgun alongside Jake, who is identified as a young man wanting to date one of Kemp’s daughters. The ad implies that Kemp is menacing the young man with the weapon, and appears to be a tongue-in-cheek effort to bolster Kemp’s credentials as a gun rights advocate.” (WXIA)
HI GOV: The Sierra Club of Hawaii endorsed Gov. David Ige (D) on Sunday at the state Capitol.
Ige: “From restoring our rainforests to enhancing our water to minimizing C02 emissions and preparing for climate change, I am committed to working with the Sierra Club to protect and preserve our environment for future generations.” (release)
KS GOV: “The most recent federal campaign finance filings show” Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) “still has nearly $240,000 of debt in his congressional campaign committee fund — outstanding loans that he made to his own campaign more than a decade ago that the campaign has never paid back.” Colyer, when asked about it remaining open: “We just decided that’s how we wanted to do it. Who knows? We may run … a long time ago we may have been running for it.”
A Colyer spokesman: “Gov. Colyer’s accountant recommended that he leave the account open for the time being. The account has no operating costs and there is no real reason to close it at this time.” (Kansas City Star)
Musician Ted Nugent campaigned on behalf of Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) Saturday. “Nugent told the roughly 175 people that Kobach should be the next governor of Kansas as he lobbed scorn at former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, those trying to limit guns and what he said is the dumbed-down, desouled, unarmed helplessness that comes with mass shootings. The Democrats are insane, Nugent said, but Kobach is a constitutionalist and a voice of reason.”
Nugent: “Tell everybody you know to vote for this great man.”
The event included a raffle for an AR-15 signed by Nugent. (Kansas City Star)
MD GOV: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) endorsed former NAACP President Ben Jealous (D) on Monday.
De Blasio: “Ben Jealous is the visionary leader the people of Maryland need. He’s spent his life bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice. He will proudly stand in defiance against Donald Trump’s divisive agenda. As Washington keeps filling the pockets of of the wealthy, Ben’s agenda will create fairness and lift up all people — strengthening Maryland for years to come.” (release)
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) campaigned with Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker (D) on Saturday. “They met in Greenbelt for a rally with campaign volunteers. Then, they knocked on doors to encourage voter turnout.” (AP)
Also on Saturday, Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Ben Cohen joined Jealous at a phonebank event in Silver Spring, where Cohen addressed the volunteers and handed out ice cream. (release)
NE GOV: State Sen. Bob Krist (D) received a standing ovation at the state Democratic Party convention, cementing his welcome into the party. Krist, a former Republican, switched parties to challenge Gov. Pete Ricketts (R).
“Krist told the party gathering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Innovation Campus that Democratic State Chair Jane Kleeb actively recruited him as a candidate and he is determined “to make the state whole again [and] unite the state.’”
“And he intends to do that, he said, while championing a tax reform policy that centers on reducing the local property tax load while opposing tax policy that would mean ‘pizza for you and me, and caviar for Pete and his friends.’” (Lincoln Journal Star)
NH GOV: Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand (D) will announce his plan to make New Hampshire a sanctuary state at an event Wednesday at Lafayette Park in Manchester. (Twitter)
Gov. Chris Sununu (R) was endorsed by the New Hampshire Police Association.
NHPA president Patrick Cheetham: “During the last election cycle, Chris Sununu made a commitment to support New Hampshire’s law enforcement community and to maintain an open-door policy at all times. He has kept his word and we are thankful for his commitment and strong support.” (WMUR)
NY GOV: “The insurgent Democratic candidates taking on Gov. Cuomo (D) and Queens Rep. Joseph Crowley (D) in primaries are set to cross-endorse each other Monday”
Actress Cynthia Nixon (D) is expected to endorse Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) in her bid for Crowley’s seat. Ocasio-Cortez is also expected to endorse Nixon against Cuomo.
“Nixon described herself and Ocasio-Cortez as ‘underdogs’ taking on the entrenched establishment dominated by men.” (New York Daily News)
Nixon also “announced that her oldest child has come out as transgender. The former Sex and the City star posted the announcement on her Instagram account on Friday to mark the 14th annual Trans Day of Action. Her 21-year-old son Samuel Joseph Mozes, who goes by the nickname Seph, originally was named Samantha.” (AP)
RI GOV: Former Secretary of State Matt Brown (D) “withdrew his bid for the state Democratic Party nomination Sunday night” at the state Democratic Convention.
Some at the convention argued a roll call vote to decide the Democratic nominee “was out of order because Brown had withdrawn and that it was a waste of time and divisive, that someone had to stop it. A campaign of disrupting the vote by clapping did drown out some of the votes, but everyone voted for Raimondo except two members.” (Providence Journal)
SC GOV: State Rep. Joshua Putnam (R) claimed Gov. Henry McMaster’s (R) running mate Pamela Evette (R) publicly rebuked him after Putnam announced his support for businessman John Warren (R). Not long after Putnam made his endorsement of Warren at a news conference, Putnam said Evette followed him and his wife down a street in Greenville. “Putnam said Evette — accompanied by her husband and a friend — caught up to the couple in the middle of a public sidewalk, shook her finger at him, and said she and McMaster ‘will never forget this.’”
Putnam: “When the lieutenant governor pick says, ‘We will never forget this,’ what does that communicate to me, as a sitting House member? It says to me that I’m blacklisted. If you cannot react better than that, if you don’t have better judgment than that, it makes me question your ability to lead the state.” (AP)
Warren responded to Putnam’s claims on Twitter, writing “Two state legislators who endorsed our campaign have been bullied and bribed by Henry McMaster’s cronies. This is the type of corruption that needs to be stopped. Career politicians will do anything to stay in power - on Tuesday, let’s make them go find a job in the real-world.” (Twitter)
Two recent polls offer differing takes on the gubernatorial race. Internal polling conducted by Fabrizio, Lee and Associates for the Warren campaign shows Warren leading with 46 percent compared to McMaster’s 42 percent. (June 19-20; 500 RVs; +/-4%)
However a poll from the Trafalgar Group has McMaster with 47 percent and about 7 percent of voters leaning towards voting for him. Warren received 31 percent with around 6 percent leaning towards supporting him. (June 19-21; 1,650 RVs; +/-3%) (Columbia State)
Vice President Mike Pence joined McMaster on the campaign trail on Saturday during a stop in Conway.
Pence: “I’m here today, and my friend’s going to be here Monday, because Gov. Henry McMaster has been there supporting this administration every day. He’s been there shoulder-to-shoulder with this president, and really that’s nothing really new because Henry McMaster’s been putting the people of South Carolina first his whole life.” (Charleston Post and Courier)
TN GOV: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) endorsed former state cabinet member Randy Boyd (R) on Friday. Huckabee also appeared in a TV ad for Boyd that began airing statewide Friday. (release)
Huckabee: Boyd “spent his life building a company from scratch, and like President Trump, he knows what it takes to disrupt government-as-usual.”
VT GOV: Water quality advocate James Ehlers (D) is facing scrutiny after the discovery of past social media posts that seem to indicate that he is against abortion. “Posts on Ehlers personal, publicly available Facebook page show he wrote in 2015 to ‘pray for these legislators and their victims’ when posting an article about Colorado Democratic legislators killing an anti-abortion bill. He also described the work of Planned Parenthood as “horrors” on a CNN story about a 2015 video released by conservative activist James O’Keefe.” (AP)
Ehlers campaign communications director Sarah Anders: “James is firmly in favor of women’s reproductive rights, and has always fought for funding for Planned Parenthood, even when Phil Scott was threatening to cut funding. He is a strong advocate and it’s important that Vermonters know that.” (Lebanon Valley News)