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The Federal Tap: Ten Republicans competing in NC-09 special election primary
From Ballotpedia
May 11, 2019Issue No. 160
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Saturday, May 4
Trump endorses Keller (R) in PA-12 special election
- President Donald Trump (R) endorsed state Rep. Fred Keller (R) over college professor Marc Friedenberg (D) in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District. The two candidates will compete in a special election on May 21 to succeed former Rep. Tom Marino (R), who resigned in January.
- Marino beat Friedenberg by 32 points in November 2018, and Trump won the district by 36 points in the 2016 presidential election. Outside rating agencies have designated the district as safely Republican.
- This is the first congressional special election taking place for a seat in the 116th Congress and four special elections have been called. Three of those are for seats in the U.S. House, and one is for a seat in the U.S. Senate. From the 113th Congress to the 115th Congress, a total of 40 special elections were held.
Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi (R) announces retirement
- Wyoming U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R) announced that he would not run for re-election in 2020. Enzi was first elected to the Senate in 1996 and previously served in the U.S. House from 1991 to 1996 and the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1987 to 1991.
- Enzi last won re-election in 2014, defeating his Democratic opponent by 54.8 percentage points. Election forecasters rated Wyoming as “Safe Republican” in the 2018 election cycle.
- Enzi is the fourth U.S. senator to announce his retirement ahead of the 2020 elections. Democrat Tom Udall (N.M.) and Republicans Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and Pat Roberts (Ks.) are also not seeking re-election. Six U.S. House members—three Democrats and three Republicans—have announced that they will not seek re-election or will run for another office. Fifty-five members of Congress did not seek re-election in 2018—37 Republicans and 18 Democrats.
Wednesday, May 8
Republican candidates in NC-03 runoff receive new endorsements
- State Rep. Greg Murphy and Dr. Joan Perry each received endorsements as they contest the Republican nomination for the special election in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District. Murphy was endorsed by the Women for Trump PAC, giving him his first endorsement from a women’s group. Perry was previously endorsed by two such groups—Susan B. Anthony List and Winning for Women Action Fund.
- Perry was endorsed by FreedomWorks for America, a conservative group that had given Mark Meadows money in past cycles. Meadows publicly endorsed Murphy last week and said Murphy would receive financial backing from the House Freedom Fund.
- Murphy and Perry are competing in the primary runoff on July 9. The winner will face Allen Thomas (D) and Tim Harris (L) in a September 10 general election to fill the vacancy left by Walter Jones (R), who died on February 10, 2019.
Thursday, May 9
Senate confirms two judges to U.S. Appeals Court
- The U.S. Senate confirmed Joseph Bianco and Michael Park to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on May 8 and 9, respectively. The vote for Bianco was 54-42 while the vote for Park was 52-41. Bianco and Park will be the second and third judges on that court to be appointed by President Trump.
- Bianco served as a deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice prior to his nomination to the federal bench. Park was a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and is an adjunct professor at George Mason University’s law school.
- Bianco and Park will replace Dennis Jacobs and Christopher Droney, who recently announced their retirements.
Williamson becomes 18th candidate to qualify for first set of Democratic presidential primary debates
- Author Marianne Williamson announced she had reached the donor threshold to qualify for the first round of the Democratic presidential primary debates. Eighteen candidates have now qualified via polling or fundraising requirements.
- Candidates meeting the threshold by polling performance must register support of 1% or more in three polls (which may be national polls, or polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and/or Nevada) publicly released between January 1, 2019, and 14 days prior to the date of the organization debate. The qualifying polls must be sponsored by one or more of certain organizations or institutions.
- Candidates meeting the fundraising threshold must receive donations from at least (1) 65,000 unique donors; and (2) a minimum of 200 unique donors per state in at least 20 U.S. states.
- There are four other Democratic notable elected officials or public figures running and only two more slots on the debate stage open. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has said that only 20 candidates will participate in the first two sets of presidential debates.
- If more than 20 candidates qualify according to the original criteria, the DNC said it will give preference to candidates who have qualified via both fundraising and polling. The second tiebreaker will look at who has the highest average poll performance. Finally, the DNC will look at who has the most unique donors.
Congress is in session
The Senate will be in session May 13-17, and the House will be in session May 14-17. Click here to see the full calendar for the first session of the 116th Congress.
SCOTUS is out of session
The Supreme Court finished hearing arguments for the October 2018-2019 term on April 24. To learn more about this term, read our review.
WHAT'S ON TAP NEXT WEEK
Tuesday, May 14
Ten Republicans competing in NC-09 special election primary
- Ten Republicans are running in the primary for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District special election. The election was called in February after the state Board of Elections investigated allegations of absentee ballot fraud in the 2018 general election and declined to certify its results. It is one of four special elections scheduled for the 116th Congress.
- Dan McCready (D), who faced Mark Harris (R) in the general election last year, is running for the seat again. He is unopposed in the Democratic primary.
- With ten Republican candidates running, it is the largest Republican primary field in the district since 2012. A candidate must receive at least 30 percent support or more to proceed to the general election. If not, a Republican primary runoff will be held on September 10, 2019, between the top two candidates.
- A recently released survey from Public Policy Polling stated that state Sen. Dan Bishop (R) had 31 percent support. Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing (R) and former Mecklenburg County Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour (R) followed with 17 and 9 percent support, respectively. The poll's margin of error was five percent.
- The race has received attention from satellite groups. The National Association of Realtors has been the biggest spender, putting $1.3 million into TV and radio ads to support realtor Leigh Thomas Brown (R). Club for Growth has also entered the race, endorsing Bishop and spending five figures against Rushing and Brown.
- Six other candidates are running: attorney Chris Anglin (R), real estate agent Kathie Day (R), former Charlotte mayoral candidate Gary Dunn (R), sales manager Stevie Rivenbark (R), former state Sen. Fern Shubert (R), and nuclear engineer Albert Wiley Jr. (R).
Where was the president last week?
- On Monday, Trump presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tiger Woods.
- On Tuesday, Trump participated in a meeting with the Republican members of the Senate.
- On Wednesday, Trump toured areas affected by Hurricane Michael and spoke at a Make America Great again rally in Panama City Beach.
- On Thursday, Trump spoke about ending surprise medical billing.
- On Friday, Trump participated in the Celebration of Military Mothers.
Federal Judiciary
- 149 federal judicial vacancies
- 64 pending nominations
- 15 future federal judicial vacancies
About
The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.
