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In 2020, its worth keeping in mind that a third of the sitting senators are up for reelection. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is on the ballot this fall, as are Republicans from Maine, Colorado, and Arizona. So Democrats are trying to figure out how to gain control in Washington. If they can hold the seats theyve got, they need to gain three more to even up the ranks. The math is looking a bit more in Dems favor latelymoney is rolling in for candidates, and polls are shifting. But will that be enough to overcome to the daunting structural challenges they still face? And what about the sitting Dems who are endangered in the fall?

On Tuesdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Jim Newell, who covers Congress for Slate, about what this election season looks like for Democratic senators. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mary Harris: The three states Democrats are really focusing on are Arizona, Colorado and Maine.

Jim Newell: Ill admit I am surprised that Maine is as competitive as it has been. Susan Collins has always won her races with about 60 percent of the vote and had bipartisan popularity. Shes pretty shrewdshell give the Dems one here and then side with Republicans there. But her favorability rating is really bad. A recent poll showed her at 37 percent approval. Watching her Brett Kavanaugh speech, I thought, This will polarize her numbers a bit more, but shell probably recover as time goes on. That hasnt happened. She is really in the fight for her life here.

Her challenger is Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. What do her chances look like?

Most have the race as a toss-up right now because even though Collins is underwater, shes going to have a lot of money behind her, and Mitch McConnell, after that Kavanaugh vote, has saving Susan Collins as a priority. If you look at the polling, its in a dead heat. Well see how that progresses going forward. But Collins is absolutely vulnerable.

Lets talk about Arizona, where Mark Kelly is running. Hes former Rep. Gabby Giffords husband and was an astronaut. Hes just raised a massive amount of money.

This race is shaping up to be a little bit similar to Martha McSallys last one, which she lost. She ran in 2018 for an Arizona Senate seat against Kyrsten Sinema. She lost by a few percentage points. Republicans had put McSally in as their future for the Senate in this state. Then she lost and they couldnt quite figure out whom they wanted to appoint to John McCains seat. There wasnt really anyone else who came to mind, so they appointed her. But shes polling pretty poorly against Mark Kelly. Hes out-raising her. Democrats have to win this seat, and theyre in pretty good position to do it.

Now, Colorado. Thats where former Gov. John Hickenlooper is running. But hes not the only governor whos thrown his hat into the racewe also have Steve Bullock in Montana. A few months back, I remember that people were really worried that Chuck Schumer couldnt attract people to run for the Senate. What does it tell you that these big players in the Democratic world are now running?

When Hickenlooper and Bullock were running for president, they swore left and right that they would never run for Senate. Theyre governorsthey dont want to just be one of 100 in a legislative body. But I think they just wanted to see if their presidential campaigns could go anywherethey did not. So then they looked at the Senate numbers and saw there was a pretty good path to victory. Hickenlooper nearly cleared the field of a lot of candidates who were running in the gubernatorial primary before he did change his mind. So he will win that. Hell be up against Cory Gardner, who won in 2014, a really good Republican year. This is an absolute must-win for Democrats. Its their No. 1 target. Hickenlooper is popular. Gardner is not that popular. If Dems do not win Colorado, they have significant problems.

Part of the problem for Democrats has to do with where theyre running, and whether their states went for Trump in 2016. In Montana, a state that Trump won by 20 points, Gov. Steve Bullock was hesitant to throw his hat in the ring until after Super Tuesday, when Joe Biden surged and it seemed like he was well on his way to the presidential nomination. We should talk about Bullock because hes a Democrat leading a state that Trump wonbut hes very, very popular.

That was a pretty clear case of Biden versus Sanders being the deciding factor there. And Schumer was persistent with Bullockhe flew to Montana.

Bullock himself emphasized this in his presidential campaign to no avail: He won in 2016 with Trump at the top of the Republican ticket. There are differences between gubernatorial and federal elections. Sometimes red states might go for a Democrat for governor but then send a warm body to join the Republicans in Washington. So its still going to be really uphill. Fortunately, hes running against Steve Daines, the senator who won in 2014. Hes not really the most distinguished person.

If you want to convert all of these states, you need a lot of these middle-of-the road candidates who can appeal to thesuburbs. Jim Newell

It sounds like Daines realized he was going to have to contend with Bullock: He was raising money early on to have a war chest and hunker down just in case.

Hes definitely feeling the fire right now.

There are going to be some big structural impediments there, given that Trump is probably gonna win the state by, like, 20. So that means Bullock needs a lot of ticket splitters at the polls in order to pull that off.

Lets talk a little bit about the liabilities for Democrats, because its not just that theyre looking to pick up seatsthey may also lose seats. And I think the seat most people are talking about is Doug Jones in Alabama.

Doug Jones is in another league. I think hes the most likely senator of either party to lose his seat this year.

Why is that? Is it just that he ran against an especially weak candidate, Roy Moore, last time?

Yeah, a historically weak candidate in a special election environment. Doug Jones was a very good candidate, but now hes running against either Jeff Sessions or Tommy Tuberville, who are both going to be fine for Republicans. Trump is going to win that state by 30 or so points. Thats gonna carry whatever Republican is there unless they have an especially acute liability, which I dont think will be the case again.

Michigan is also a place where Democrats are on the ropes.

Not quite on the ropes, but they are paying attention. Thats where Gary Peters is the incumbent Democratic senator. You probably dont know anything about him because no one knows anything about him. Republicans have been running a lot of joke ads about how people dont even know his name. And Peters is running against John James, who ran for Senate in 2018 against Debbie Stabenow and lost by about 5 percentage points, which is pretty good in an overwhelmingly Democratic year against a pretty strong incumbent.

Are all these candidates indicating where the Democratic Party is going?

I think its a continuation of the 2018 playbook, with the emerging growth sector of people who are coming toward the Democrats: suburbanites in the South and Southwest, young people who may have moved to the suburbs of some of these cities, ex-Republicans who are pushed away from Trump. And so Democrats in 2018 pick candidates who would appeal to them, candidates like veterans and ex-prosecutors, exCIA officials. All with pretty centrist beliefs, but also more open to things like gun control. This is a lot of what the future of the Democratic Party looks like. If you want to convert all of these states, you need a lot of these middle-of-the road candidates who can appeal to the suburbs. The left does not like this, but this is the segment of the party that is growing.

How are any of these candidates talking about getting out the vote, given the unique circumstances were in right now?

I dont think anyones quite figured out how campaigning in the fall is going to be done. We know that rallies are suspended for the foreseeable future. If that continues throughout the fall, the entire campaign is basically going to be TV ads and webcam rallies. But whos going to actually go to those? So itll mostly be a war fought on the air. It remains to be seen whether well get back to normal-looking elections, whether the virus will be contained well enough by the fall or its going to be everyone in quarantine watching the campaign through paid media for the next seven months.

It would be a good test for stuff like holding rallies and knocking on doorswhether a lot of that in-person stuff is bullshit. If we dont have that, its just a campaign with candidates doing local TV interviews and paid media with lots of advertising. If the results are pretty much the same, well see how much rallies actually matter.

Is it silly for us to be talking about Senate prospects at this particular moment? Its early, and theres so much else going on. Im wondering what this conversation tells you about the state of politics right now.

Well, the races are still going to happen. Its too early to make predictions about whos going to win control of the Senate, but these races are still going on in some form or another. The coronavirus just changes the message a little bit. It becomes: What has your senator done about the coronavirus? Did your senator vote for this relief bill? Did they push Trump hard enough when he wasnt taking the coronavirus seriously? So it changes the contours. But the campaigns arent pausing. Theres no national suspension of politics during all this, so dont think for a second that these are on the back burner right now.

Listen to the full episode using the player below, or subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Link:
Democrats Actually Have a Chance to Win the Senate This Year - Slate

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An extensive review of the quarterly campaign finance filings finds that vulnerable House Democrats have compiled a massive war chest to help defend the majority.

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The top brass of Joe Bidens campaign is clashing over whether to hire Hawkfish, the digital firm backed by Mike Bloomberg, or staff up for an internal operation.

Democracy for America is backing a primary challenge to Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the fourth primary challenger the longstanding progressive group has endorsed this cycle.

Good Wednesday morning. A big thank you to Ally ([emailprotected]; @allymutnick), for crawling through hundreds of House FEC filings to bring you todays Topline. Email me at [emailprotected], or follow me on Twitter at @ZachMontellaro.

Email the rest of the Campaign Pro team at [emailprotected] and [emailprotected]. Follow them on Twitter: @POLITICO_Steve and @JamesArkin.

Days until the absentee ballot deadline for the Ohio primary: 6

Days until the 2020 election: 195

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MONEY MOVES One of the biggest takeaways from the first quarter filing deadline: Vulnerable House Democrats had collectively banked nearly $100 million. Thats a staggering sum that further hampers Republicans chances of reclaiming the majority. Our chart with the fundraising for every House candidate is for Pros only, but lets preview the quarter for everyone by looking at the cash race.

Nearly every one of the 42 members in the DCCCs Frontline program has twice as much cash on hand as their opponents, if not much more. In fact, their fundraising prowess has grown so formidable that five freshman Democrats Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Josh Harder (D-Calif.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Max Rose (D-N.Y.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) (who is not a Frontliner) now crack the list of the top 20 House candidates with the most cash on hand, besting longtime incumbents, committee chairs and leaders from both parties who have been stockpiling donations for years.

The House battleground is shrinking as the disparity between these members and their GOP challengers grows. Rep. Ben McAdams (D-Utah) has at least 14 times more cash on hand than any of his challengers. For Reps. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.), Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), that advantage is at least tenfold. Every Frontline Democrat has banked at least $1 million. Only a dozen GOP challengers have at least $500,000. And on the committee level, the DCCC outraised the NRCC by $2.7 million in March and sports a cash on hand advantage of nearly $32 million.

Republicans may have to expend resources to help some vulnerable incumbents. Among GOP members who trail at least one Democratic challenger in cash on hand: Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska), David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Steve King (R-Iowa), Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas). On the Democratic side, Rep. TJ Cox (D-Calif.) narrowly trails his opponent, former Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.).

WEB WARS Bidens team is clashing over its digital operation and whether to hand over the keys to Hawkfish, the Bloomberg-backed digital shop. One Democratic operative who has been in touch with Bidens team said that the fight inside the campaign has taken on a generational dimension, with older officials more receptive to Hawkfishs pitches than younger, digitally-native staffers, POLITICOs Alex Thompson reported. Advocates for Hawkfish argue that instead of spending weeks or potentially months building an in-house team, the campaign could plug-and-play the firm now. They say it is flush with Bloombergs cash and boasts an impressive roster of Silicon Valley talent.

More from Alex: Advocates of the in-house approach argue that it would make the campaign more nimble, save money, and generate more authentic content. They add that they believe Biden campaigns senior leadership is being lured by grandiose promises and warn that the campaign would be turning over its most critical tool to a firm with little political experience thats backed by a man who was not a Democrat for most of his life.

SURVEY SAYS Moving toward mail voting is popular. In a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 58 percent of registered voters said theyd support changing election laws to allow everyone to vote by mail, with that number rising to 67 percent when asked if the changes were only limited to the November election this year (900 registered voters; April 13-15; +/- 3.27 percentage point MOE).

THE REELECT President Donald Trump is itching to get out of the White House. POLITICOs Gabby Orr reports that the president has privately urged aides over the past week to start adding official events back to his schedule, including photo ops and site visits that would allow him to ditch Washington for a few hours. A Trump campaign official told Gabby that the presidents campaign would remain digital for the time being and doesnt have any rallies or fundraisers scheduled for the rest of April or May. But the same official said the White House is in charge of the presidents schedule and could add events at any given moment.

ON, WISCONSIN? Wisconsins spring election was truly a mess. A damning report from Daphne Chen, Catharina Felke, Elizabeth Mulvey and Stephen Stirling of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, PBS Frontline and Columbia Journalism Investigations details what went wrong with absentee balloting in the state, where some voters reported not receiving requested ballots. The problem reveals a system leaking from all sides, buckling under the weight of a global pandemic and partisan bickering that kept the logistics of Election Day up in the air until less than a day before polls opened. (Read the whole report.)

BALLOT ACCESS New York election officials will meet to decide if the Democratic presidential primary in the state should be canceled altogether. The two Democratic commissioners, who were granted the authority in the states budget to strike candidates from the ballot if theyve stopped campaigning, will decide if Sen. Bernie Sanders stopping campaigning (but saying hed like to continue to stay on the ballot to collect delegates) is enough to remove him from the ballot, POLITICO New Yorks Bill Mahoney reported for Pros.

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin submitted a revised emergency election plan that rolls back voters access to absentee ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic, following Republican pushback over an initial plan that would have extended mail-in ballots to more people, The Advocates Sam Karlin reported. The revised plan struck several excuses voters could provide to request an absentee ballot.

A group of liberal organizations in Florida are suing the state to make absentee voting easier. Their asks include making election officials accept ballots postmarked by Election Day as opposed to received by and more. POLITICO Floridas Gary Fineout has details for Pros.

PRIMARY PROBLEMS Democracy for America announced that it is backing Democrat Jamaal Bowman, who challenging Engel in the blue NY-16. Jamaal Bowman wont just be a significant progressive improvement over the corporate Democrat hes looking to replace, hell be a passionate change agent in the U.S. House and we couldnt be more honored to be standing with him, Yvette Simpson, the CEO of Democracy for America, said in a statement. Bowman is the fourth primary challenger DFA backed this cycle.

ON THE AIRWAVES Advancing Arizona, a Democratic dark money group, is spending $700,000 to air a Spanish-language ad attacking Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) over health care. Campaign Pros James Arkin has more for Pros.

Democrat Jon Ossoff is up with his first ad in his campaign to challenge Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.). The ad, which doesnt mention Perdue, calls medical workers heroes and highlights his wife, Alisha Kramer, who is a doctor. It's never been clearer we need to stand up to the health insurance companies that have bought off Congress, Ossoff said in the ad. The campaign said the at is a roughly $50,000 buy in the Atlanta market, but it is expected to expand soon.

FIRST IN SCORE ENDORSEMENT CORNER Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, the Bloomberg-backed gun control group, and its grassroots affiliate Moms Demand Action, is rolling out the first round of its Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate program, which is a seal-of-approval for candidates the group says supports strong gun control measures. More than 700 candidates up and down the ballot get the mark, including Democratic Senate challengers like Mark Kelly, John Hickenlooper, Sara Gideon, Cal Cunningham and more (heres the full list of candidates). The group is also holding a virtual rally on Thursday, which will feature Hickenlooper, freshman Reps. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) and Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) and officials from the group.

Former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) threw his support behind Kathy Landing in the Republican primary to challenge freshman Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham in SC-01, per The Post and Couriers Caitlin Byrd. DeMints endorsement cuts against the wishes of most of the party leadership, which has lined up behind Nancy Mace in the primary in the battleground district. (DeMint bucking party leadership? Why I never!)

BEAR MARKET Freshman Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) failed to disclose the stocks she sold throughout 2019, which is in violation of the STOCK Act, the Miami Heralds Alex Daugherty reported. (Shalala had previously told the Herald she sold stocks in 2019 to avoid a conflict of interest.) Her office chalked it up to a mistake: As a new member with a broker and attorney who were not familiar with the congressional disclosure rules, there was a misunderstanding, a spokesperson told the Herald. Shalala flipped FL-27 in the midterms, but the seat voted for Hillary Clinton by a wide margin in 2016 (and Shalala is not in the DCCCs battleground program).

PAC ATTACK Leadership PACs have long been criticized as slush funds for lawmakers, and a review from Roll Calls Chris Marquette will likely add on to that. Roll Call found that seven House members combined to spent nearly $800,000 over the past 11 years on elaborate expenditures, including trips to ski resorts, fishing trips and more.

IN THE BUSINESS The state of Michigan is axing plans to use a sister company of NGP-VAN, which runs the wildly popular data management software for Democratic campaigns, for its coronavirus contract tracing program, The Detroit News Beth LeBlanc reported. The state ditched plans to use Every Action VAN, which handles nonprofit, corporate and government markets, after an outcry from Republicans in the state.

JUST SPECIAL Democrat Tricia Zunker, who is running in the special election in WI-07 on May 12, is out with a new TV ad. The ad from Zunker criticizes Republican nominee Tom Tiffany on health care and pre-existing conditions. It appears to be a small buy; Advertising Analytics tracked about $37,000 in airtime booked by the Zunker campaign last week, starting on Tuesday and running through April 27. Tiffany is the favorite in the race in a red district thats gotten redder in the Trump era.

MEA CULPA In Tuesdays Score, I misstated the cash on hand for One Nation, the Senate Republican nonprofit. The group has just under $42 million in the bank. (I initially published what the group said it had on hand at the end of Q1 in 2018, sorry!)

CODA QUOTE OF THE DAY: If youre having trouble keeping up, you can pause, because the placement of the tuna is very important. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in an Instagram video detailing how he makes a tuna melt.

Continue reading here:
House Democrats dominate the cash on hand battle - Politico

Sen. Gary PetersGary Charles PetersDemocratic senator wants watchdog to probe Paycheck Protection Program Republican files signatures to run in Michigan Senate race, setting up primary battle Senate battle hinges on four races MORE (D-Mich.) is calling for a government watchdog to investigate how aid for small businesses impacted by the coronavirus was distributed, after large chains disclosed they qualified for some of the funding.

Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter on Tuesday to Gene Dodaro, the comptroller general for the Government Accountability Office (GAO), asking for the investigation.

"There is also evidence that a substantial amount of PPP loans have gone to large hotel and restaurant chains, rather than the struggling small and minority-owned businesses who may be forced to permanently close their doors without urgent assistance," he wrote, referring to the Paycheck Protection Program.

"I am concerned that PPP loans may not have gone to those who need them most," he added.

Peters, who is up for reelection in November, noted that1 million individuals in his state have filed for unemployment in the past month but that Michigan currently ranks 35th for the amount of processed PPP loans.

The program, created under last month's $2.2 trillion coronavirus package, was intended to provide loans and grants to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Congress initially appropriated $349 billion for it, but the Small Business Administration announced late last week that it had run out of money.

Some corporations, including Shake Shack, Potbelly Sandwich Shop and Ruths Chris Steak House, disclosed that they received PPP money. Shake Shack subsequently said it would return its loan of $10 million.

Peters is asking for the GAO to investigate how the Small Business Administration and lenders determinedwhich businesses to issue loans to, includinghow loans were distributed by state as well as the number of loans, number of lenders, number of applications, number of loan recipients and total loan amount per location.

Peters also wants to know how PPP loans were distributed across companies of different sizes. Democrats and some Republicans have raised concerns that larger companies were able to more easily get the assistance than smaller businessesthat might not have an existing relationship with a bank.

He's also asking the GAO to investigate how the Small Business Administration made sure lenders and loan applicants complied with the rules of program.

Some senators have raised concerns that businessesthat are not negatively impacted by the virus or have access to other revenue streams applied for funding through the small-business program.

Original post:
Democratic senator wants watchdog to probe Paycheck Protection Program | TheHill - The Hill

Sen. Bernie Sanders makes a point to former Vice President Joe Biden during the Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas. (Photo by Mark Ralson/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) The first three Democrat presidential debates held this year on Jan. 14, Feb. 7, and Feb. 19 contained a single, passing reference to the coronavirus outbreak that had emerged in China weeks earlier and was starting to spread.

That sole reference came from former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, during the Feb. 7 debate in Manchester, N.H., who said, The next president is going to face challenges from global health security, like what were seeing coming out of China.

None of the other candidates raised the issue, and neither did the ABC News moderators. The word coronavirus was not mentioned. (Neither was COVID-19, although the World Health Organization only came up with that name for the disease on Feb. 11.)

Apart from Buttigiegs comment, China did come up during the Feb. 7 debate, but in the context of climate change (Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Amy Klobuchar) and its mistreatment of Muslim Uighurs (Sanders).

By Feb. 7, China was reporting more than 34,500 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 700 deaths, while 288 cases were reported in 24 other countries including 12 in the United States along with the first death outside China, in the Philippines.

That debate came five days after U.S. travel restrictions, barring entry to any non-U.S. national who has visited China in the previous 14 days, came into effect. It also came eight days after the WHO had declared the outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern.

A little over a fortnight before the New Hampshire debate, a Democratic presidential debate was held in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 14.

There were no references during that debate to the outbreak in China, although China was mentioned, in relation to trade (Biden, Sanders), North Korea (Biden) and the economic threat (Klobuchar).

Although Jan. 14 was early in the context of the outbreak, by then the CDC had issued a travel health notice for Wuhan, established a coronavirus incident management system, and issued an advisory to state and local health departments and health care providers. Thailand had just reported the first confirmed case outside China.

Almost two weeks after the New Hampshire debate, another was held, in Las Vegas, on Feb. 19. None of the candidates raised the coronavirus issue, and neither did the NBC News/MSNBC moderators.

China did come up, but again in connection with climate change (Biden, Buttigieg, and Mike Bloomberg).

By Feb. 19, China was reporting more than 74,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 2,100 deaths, while more than 1,070 cases were confirmed in 26 other countries including 15 in the United States along with eight deaths outside China (in the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, France, and Iran.)

By Feb. 19, the China-related U.S. travel restrictions had been in effect for 17 days.

It never even was a part of their dialogue

During a White House press briefing on Sunday evening, President Trump drew attention to an observation by Fox News Bret Baier that the Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas had not featured the words coronavirus, virus or COVID-19.

That was February 19, thats way after I closed entrance from China into our country, Trump said.

I just thought that was a very interesting because, you know, you hear these people, some of the people, the Democrats, said oh, this, that. It never even was a part of their dialogue. Now they bring it up because you see what happens now. But they didnt bring it up, he said. But I brought it up.

Coronavirus first featured in a Trump tweet on Jan. 24, when he thanked China for working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. At the time the CDC had reported two confirmed cases in the U.S.

On Jan. 29, the White House announced the formation of the coronavirus task force, and on Jan. 31 Trump declared the outbreak a public health emergency. When he delivered his State of the Union on February 4, Trump said the administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from the coronavirus threat.

After Las Vegas, the next Democratic debate was held on Feb. 25, in Charleston, S.C., and for the first time, the coronavirus situation was brought up by a moderator, CBS News Gayle King. (By then there were 53 COVID-19 cases in the U.S., but no deaths had been attributed to the disease.)

Among the candidates responses, Biden said if he were president he would be putting pressure on China to allow American experts to visit.

Heres the deal, he said. I would be on the phone with China and making it clear, We are going to need to be in your country. You have to be open. You have to be clear. We have to know whats going on. We have to be there with you, and insist on it, and insist, insist, insist.

I could get that done, Biden added. No one up here has ever dealt internationally with any of these world leaders. Im the only one that has.

Eight days before Biden made those remarks, a 25-person WHO-led team of experts, including U.S. scientists from the CDC and NIH, had finally arrived in China on a mission delayed for weeks by the Chinese government. Back on February 7 the New York Times had reported that China had been ignoring both CDC and WHO offers of help for weeks.

Continued here:
Coronavirus Was All But Ignored in First Three Democrat Debates of the Year | - CNSNews.com

Oregon Democrats were bounced from the secretary of states office in 2016. The states dominant political party has no intention of making it ahabit.

The question, now, is who they put forward for thegig.

On May 19, Democrats will choose between state Sen. Mark Hass, state Sen. Shemia Fagan, and former Congressional candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner as the partys standard-bearer in a run to reclaim the states second-highest executiveoffice.

The candidates are vying for a role that wields major power. Not only does Oregons secretary of state oversee elections, auditing, and business registry, it is first in line to assume the governorship if the elected governor leaves office or is incapacitated. Chances are whoever wins the seat will also oversee implementation and enforcement of campaign finance contributions inOregon.

McLeod-Skinner, Hass and Fagan largely share a vision of how the secretary of state should operate in increasingly partisan times. They all vow to make it easier to register to vote and to ease rules on when voters must mail their ballots. Each has ideas for prioritizing election security and pushing back against disinformation. They bring similar views about the importance of state audits, which the secretaryoversees.

On the Republican side, current Secretary of State Bev Clarno appointed to the position after the death of former Secretary Dennis Richardson is not running for election. State Sen. Kim Thatcher of Keizer announced her candidacy in early February, making clear at the time shed have preferred another Republican stepup.

The owner of a construction contracting firm and 15-year veteran of the statehouse, Thatcher bills herself as an experienced leader in times of crisis. Shes also the only Republican in the race with an established campaign infrastructure. Her opponent, David Stauffer, has run for governor twice first as a Democrat, then a Republican each time receiving less than 3% of the primary vote. Asin earlierraces, a big part of Stauffers campaign for Secretary of State is a series of inventions, including his idea for a system of commuter water slides that could ferry workers between Portland and Vancouver, Wash., viaskiff.

Given that field, the Democratic primary is Mays more compelling race. Heres a rundown of the candidates, and where they stand on keyissues.

Jamie McLeodSkinner.

EmilyCureton/OPB

A Race Car Driver And AMechanic

An unknown until two years ago, McLeod-Skinner made waves in 2018 by running an energetic race against U.S. Rep. Greg Walden in the states massive, heavily Republican 2nd CongressionalDistrict.

By mounting a challenge, McLeod-Skinner was basically launching herself against a brick wall. She lost by 17 points, which, though not close, was still Waldens most competitive race since he first won the seat in1998.

McLeod-Skinner argues today that her candidacy distracted Walden, not allowing him to spend his sizable campaign war chest supporting congressional Republicans throughout the country and helping Democrats reclaim the House. (Federal records show Walden still had a hand in distributing tens of thousands of dollars for Republican campaigns.) And, she says, it created a road map for energizing Eastern OregonDemocrats.

An attorney and consultant, McLeod-Skinner did relief work in Kosovo and Bosnia before spending a decade working as a city planner and environmental planner in the Bay Area. She also spent eight years as an elected city councilmember in Santa Clara, California. In 2016, she was hired as the city manager of the southern Oregon city of Phoenix but was fired after four months amid circumstances that aredisputed.

She is currently an elected board member of the Jefferson County Education ServicesDistrict.

McLeod-Skinner, 52, says her years working within government, alongside serving an elected role, have given her a broader perspective than other candidates in therace.

Its a race car driver versus a mechanic, and if you want a car or a vehicle to work, both those roles are important, she said. Ive actually done both, but were talking about two [other candidates] who have just been race car drivers and not also been amechanic.

On the campaign trail, McLeod-Skinner revels in wonkery. She cites obscure leadership frameworks by name, and calls auditssexy.

Its fun finding a way to make government work effectively, she said, nodding to criticisms leveled against Richardson, who some Democrats believed launched overly political audits. Its not about being abully.

If elected, McLeod-Skinner plans to conduct audits to make sure Oregonians are being treated fairly by state agencies. She also pledges to look into organizations that are recipients of state contracts and vows to set strict performance metrics for herself, such as requiring voter participation to increase particularly among underserved populations. Cybersecurity will be a major focus of her elections work, shesays.

Perhaps more than policy or technical expertise, though, McLeod-Skinner is hoping to sell Democrats on a fresh perspective. As a resident of small-town Central Oregon, she believes she can act as a salve to the misunderstandings between rural and urban Oregonians that she says plague discourse in the state. And as the only candidate voluntarily limiting campaign contributions and eschewing corporate donations altogether McCleod-Skinner says shes uniquely qualified to represent the interests of everydayOregonians.

There are a lot of voices around our state who are not feeling heard, she says. Not just rural Democrats, but especially communities of color in urban areas are really frustrated with the status quo. Those are the organizations and individuals that are supporting me and myrace.

Among those supporters is the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, which notes McLeod-Skinners history helping resettle refugees in Silicon Valley and supporting immigrant rights in Oregon in its reasons for endorsingher.

Jamies fresh perspective pushes for a multi-narrative approach to the accessibility and preservation of Oregons history, APANO political director Robin Ye said in an email. APANO is excited to support Jamie as she helps expand election security and voter access, audit for accountability, and ensure that Oregon supports allOregonians.

Also among McLeod-Skinners supporters: former Secretary of State Jeanne Atkinson, state Rep. Alisa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, and state Sen. Jeff Golden,D-Ashland.

State Sen. MarkHass.

Bradley W.Parks/OPB

A Record Of BigThings

Hass has spent nearly two decades serving as a legislator he was elected three times as a state representative for a Washington County district before moving to the Senate in 2007 but his experience in the Capitol predates even that. He spent more than 15 years as a reporter for KATU, covering statehouse issues in theprocess.

That wealth of experience is a key tothe sales pitch Hass, 63, has made since September. In appearances and campaign ads, Hass toutslessons he learned whileserving as a lawmaker through pastrecessions.

If anything, these times put an exclamation point behind the fact that we need someone who is experienced and steady in state government, Hass told OPB recently Ive been through some crises inOregon.

As chair of the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee, Hass has an influence on state tax policy and command of revenue issues. Lately, he has touted his own influence in coaxing lawmakers to build up historic reserves in recent years, money that will be needed as state taxes tank in the COVID-19pandemic.

Of all of the revenue issues that Im most proud of adopting and implementing and funding these reserve funds are probably the most significant, hesaid.

Thats something of a pivot for Hass. Early on in the campaign before the realities of a massive recession were playing out throughout Oregon he more prominently toutedhis role as an architect of a new tax on business sales. Prior to the economic collapse, that tax, known as the Student Success Act, had been expected to deliver roughly $1 billion a year to the states underfunded K-12 schools. Its impact is nowunclear.

Hass, who says he ran for office to improve things for students, also lists among his accomplishments the Oregon Promise, a grant program that offers free community college to Oregon high school graduates, and his central role pushing full-day kindergarten in Oregon publicschools.

Im the person in this race who has a record of big things, Hass often says in his campaignpitch.

Hasss priorities include creating an office of cybersecurity within the Secretary of States office, pressing for statewide ranked-choice voting, conducting audits through a climate change lens, auditing his own Student Success Act, and pushing for same-day voterregistration.

(Most candidates in the Democratic race agree on those issues, but Hass has often been the first to introduce items as policyplanks.)

Well-regarded in the statehouse, Hass has been passed over in the primary by many of the groups that often help power Oregon Democrats to statewide victory. One reason: Hass voted yes in 2019 on a bill that trimmed pension benefits for public employees a move that infuriated public-sector unions, but ensured a smoother path for the Student SuccessAct.

Businesses have stepped in with help. Hass has seen support in the race from Nike, Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle and Oregon Business & Industry. Hes also got the backing of the states 23,000Teamsters.

He has a long history in Oregon politics. He knows everyone, said Mark McPherson, of the Joint Council of Teamsters No. 37. We felt he had the best opportunity in these really polarized political times were living in to reach across the aisle and try to work with everyone and getconsensus.

Hass also has support from two former secretaries of state, Bill Bradbury and Phil Kiesling, along with an array of state and local electedofficials.

Oregon state Sen.ShemiaFagan.

Bradley W.Parks/OPB

Progressing And Advancing The Ball

The Democratic race was upended on Feb. 11, when Jennifer Williamson dropped out of the race.

A charismatic former House majority leader, Williamson was considered a leading candidate for the nomination. She quit, she said, because of a forthcoming story from Willamette Week that questioned her use of campaign funds expenses that Williamson and the newspaper alike concluded werelegal.

Williamson had based her race on being the most progressive choice, and her departure created a hole in the field and unique opportunity for one of her closest allies in the Capitol. A little more than two weeks after Williamson departed, state Sen. Shemia Fagan entered the race.

Fagan, 38, is an employment attorney and former two-term state representative from Clackamas. She took two years off from the Legislature before launching a successful insurgent campaign against incumbent Democratic Sen. Rod Monroe in2018.

While her quick-draw candidacy might be seen as opportunistic, Fagan can credibly claim a long-term interest in issues that relate to the office. That includes work to build an automatic voter registration system in the state and to finally force a Senate vote on joining an interstate compact that could render the Electoral Collegemoot.

In 2019, Fagan also unsuccessfully pressed for a vote to lower Oregons voting age to 16 a policy she still touts. As a lawmaker, she has been more active than most about trying to demystify the legislative process for constituents, producing videos and podcasts explaining how the Capitolworks.

I have obviously for a long time thought I would love to run for secretary of state, shesaid.

She contends her legislative accomplishments including helping to shepherd statewide rent control through the Senate Housing Committee she chairs are as impressive as Hasss. Fagan also points to her upbringing in Dufur and The Dalles as evidence she can bring a rural viewpoint similar toMcLeod-Skinners.

I think I bring the best of what youre all highlighting, but I bring it all in one candidate, Fagan says she told one of her rivals upon entering the race (she refused to saywhich).

Policy-wise, Fagans stances dont differ much from her opponents. She supports ranked-choice voting, same-day voter registration, increasing election turnout, bolstering election security and increasing voterengagement.

Like Williamson before her, Fagan is running on a history of progressive votes that she says indicate the philosophy shell bring to the job. Sheoften talks about taking principled stands against the Democratic establishment both in taking on Monroe over his refusal to support rent control and in criticizing Senate Democrats habit of voting on legislation in private meetings, a practice that can seal a bills fate outside of the publiceye.

More striking, Fagan says she plans to be far more active than recent secretaries of state in using her platform to push lawmakers into agreeing with her on policymatters.

In any executive position, your job is to use the power of the bully pulpit to use the ability to go statewide with a message, she says. So if the problem is a senator in some area, you can literally go to their district and make the case to theirvoters.

Because the secretary of state oversees elections and audits, some feel the position should be made nonpartisan, similar to Oregons labor commissioner. Fagandisagrees.

When you look at other states right now, theres a ton of activist secretaries of state, she said. Theyre just a lot of Republican activists who are trying to shut down polling places and restrict voting. We can also have a secretary of state here in Oregon who sees their role as actually progressing and advancing the ball in all of theseareas.

Fagan jumped into the Secretary of State race just in time. While some organizations had already finalized their endorsements, she was able to quickly pitch herself to labor groups, pro-choice organizations, and conservation advocates, securing a bevy of highly sought supporters in short order. Her entrance into the race, in fact, was actively encouraged by unions, some of whom werent thrilled by the existing slate ofcandidates.

She has been endorsed byunions representinga wide swath of public employees, NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon, and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, among othergroups.

We just see in Shemia someone whos a real leader in this state and hopefully for a long time in a very powerful way, said OLCV executive director Doug Moore. Shes intelligent, shes dynamic, she knows what she doesntknow.

Fagan also has the endorsement of former governor and secretary of state BarbaraRoberts.

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