DDHQ Morning News Spotlight: Election Day Afternoon Edition

Morning Headlines

• The most high-profile race of the night is the Alabama Republican Senate runoff between Katie Britt and Mo Brooks. Brooks managed to beat out Michael Durant for second place in the initial primary results, but carried only 29.2% of the vote to Britt’s 44.7%. In a now deleted tweet, Brooks begged Trump for re-endorsement after the primary, “Richard Burr voted to convict Trump. Deb Fischer stabbed Trump in the back and told him to drop out in 2016 after Access Hollywood. John Thune is a McConnell acolyte. All of these RINOs are Mitch McConnell’s minions, desperately trying to con President Trump into endorsing McConnell’s hand-picked RINO candidate Katie Britt—in the next 24 hours. Let’s tell President Trump not to fall for it. Ask him to send a message to McConnell and the Swamp and #ReEndorseMo.” Nevertheless, Trump recently endorsed Britt, and she is heavily favored over Brooks– who lost Trump’s initial endorsement before the primary because he was performing poorly in polls.
• In the District of Columbia, incumbent Mayor Muriel Bowser faces primary left-wing opposition from two DC City Council members, Robert White and Trayon White. Robert White represents the city at-large while Trayon White serves in Ward 8, in the southeast part of the city near the Amacostia River. Since Bowser also has strong credentials with left-wing and African-American activists, she is heavily favored for re-election.
• The focus in Virginia tonight will be on two GOP House primaries in competitive districts this fall. In VA-02, Democrats have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to boost far-right candidate Jerome Bell in the Chesapeake and Virginia Beach-based district. Bell is primarily opposed by Jen Kiggans, who is supported by the GOP establishment (her endorsement include Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik). The winner will face Elaine Luria this fall in a great flip opportunity for the GOP. Just north in VA-07, a variety of challengers are vying for the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent Abagail Spanberger in November. Spanberger, a moderate, won a Trump district in 2020 and was moved into slightly more blue-leaning turf. The national favorite among the group is Yesli Vega, who holds a Ted Cruz endorsement but faces a geographic disadvantage in the primary. Virginia completed its statewide elections in 2021, so there will not be many races across the state tonight.
• State Rep. Bee Nguyen is expected to win the Democratic primary runoff for Secretary of State against former State Rep. Dee Dawkins-Hagler. There are several intriguing low-profile congressional races to also keep an eye on in Georgia. In the GA-02 Republican runoff, Jeremy Hunt holds a slight edge over Chris West. Hunt is expected to perform well in the northern part of the district (Muscogee County), while West should have an advantage in the South (Thomas County). Trump-endorsed Jake Evans is the underdog against Rich McCormick in GA-06, where McCormick won the primary 43%-21%. Mike Collins and Vernon Jones advanced to the runoff in GA-10, carrying 25.6% and 21.5%, respectively. Jones has Trump’s endorsement, but it should be a close race

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