Megathread #0003: "[The Kurds] didn't help us at Normandy"

[foxfirefey]

The White House and Congress are locked in a power struggle over impeachment investigation proceedings; meanwhile, the US has been abandoning its Kurdish allies to Turkey's aggression.

---

Chatfilter is this way. Metatalk is this way. Report things to the moderators here.

Comments

[chrysostom]

HOUSE

• TX-28: The progressive attempt to primary out conserva-Dem Rep Henry Cuellar continued to get attention, as AOC endorsed his challenger, Jessica Cisneros.


• CA-50: Things continue to look not great for indicted Rep Duncan Hunter (R), as his wife is planning to testify against him.


• OH-13: Rep Tim Ryan (D) ended his no-hope presidential bid, and will be running again for his House seat.  Seat is Solid D.


• HI-02: Fellow no-hope presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D, I guess) has announced that she will not be running again for her House seat (filing deadlines would have allowed her to do so pretty easily).  Gabbard already had a primary challenger in state Sen Kai Kahele; other folks will likely now jump in.  Seat is Solid D.

SENATE

• KS: SecState Pompeo continuing to give off signals he's going to run for Senate.  He visited the state yet again this week, and met with Charles Koch.  Pompeo would presumably be a strong favorite in both the primary and the general, although it's possible his involvement in the Ukraine quid pro quo could damage him.


• MI: Presumptive GOP nominee John James was spotted in old photos hanging out with Ukraine scandal figures Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas.


• Interesting Crystal Ball analysis that presidential and Senate battlegrounds are possibly out of sync.

STATES

• IN: AG Curtis Hill escaped criminal charges apparently groping multiple women at a work party last year, but will now be the target of a civil suit.


• MS gov: Internal poll by Hickman for Hood  has Dem AG Hood up 46-42 on GOP LG Reeves.  Mason-Dixon, on the other hand, has Reeves up 46-43.


• KY gov: One of gov Bevin's GOP primary opponents has endorsed Dem Beshear.


• TX: Shocker as powerful House Speaker Dennis Bonnen is retiring after a set of scandals.  Dems presumably have no shot at his seat (HD-25 went 69-28 Trump), but this kind of turmoil will likely be helpful in their quest to flip control of the House.


• NC gov: Harper Polling out with an early survey of the 2020 governor race has incumbent Dem Cooper leading all plausible GOP candidates by high single digits or more.


• MD: Very longtime Senate president Mike Miller (D) is stepping down for health reasons, and will be succeeded by Sen Bill Ferguson.  Miller has been a blocking point for progressive legislation in this solid blue state; Ferguson is considered likely to be far more helpful.

ODDS & ENDS

• ACLU suing Minnesota to restore voting rights to people who have finished their prison sentences (but are on parole or probation).  Could affect ~52k people.


• Most states are refusing to provide driver's license data to the Census Bureau.  This is yet another attempt to end run the collection of citizenship status.


• Medicaid expansion looks likely to be on the ballot in Oklahoma in 2020 as backers turned in massively more signatures than required.


• The lawsuit over North Carolina congressional gerrymandering has been remanded back to state court after a pointless attempt to move it to federal court (this move already failed in the legislative gerrymandering case).


• Oregon mulling constitutional amendment to allow same day voter registration.  Old people like myself will recall the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult, who were involved in how same-day originally got banned (it was a Bloom County story line and everything).


• Pennsylvania gov Tom Wolf (D) appears to have struck a deal with the GOP-controlled legislature.  In return for eliminating straight party voting, it provides funding for voting machine upgrades, loosens absentee voting and voter registration deadlines, adds no-excuse absentee voting, adds quasi-early voting at the county elections office, and creates a permanent vote by mail list.  On balance, this is probably a positive outcome, and drags PA at least somewhat into the modern voting era.


• NYT on efforts by the GOP in multiple states to suppress the college student vote.