Morning Headlines
- France held the first round of their presidential election on Sunday. As expected, no candidate received 50% of the vote so a runoff will be held on April 24th. Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron will face Marine Le Pen. Based on preliminary vote totals Macron won 27.6 of the vote to Le Pen’s 23%.
- In other international election news, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison set May 21st at the date for that nations federal parliamentary elections.
- Back in US politics, Nevada will be the focus of much attention during the upcoming mid-term campaign. With multiple competitive House seats, a pivotal Senate seat, and a gubernatorial race this year both parties are expected to spend significant resources in the state.
- Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz in the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary race. Oz is trailing former hedge fund manager Dave McCormick in the RCP polling average of the race. McCormick picked up the endorsement of former Republican Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum over the weekend. On the Democratic side, Lt. Governor John Fetterman holds a substantial polling lead over the rest of the field. Voters in both parties will go to the polls on May 17th to choose their party’s candidate to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Senator Pat Toomey.
- Iowa Court rules former Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer failed to submit enough signatures to appear on the Democratic Senate primary ballot. She is expected to appeal the decision. Iowa’s primary is on Tuesday, June 7th.
- A study from North Carolina State University says Gmail is more likely to mark Republican fundraising emails as spam while Yahoo and Outlook did the same more often with Democratic emails. Google denies a partisan bent to their Gmail product, saying user behavior is the primary driving force in how mail is treated.
- The June special election in Texas’ 34th Congressional District may be a preview of the GOP’s potential gains among Hispanic voters. President Joe Biden won the district, held recently until Democrat Filemon Vela resigned, by four points. The seat could have remained vacant until the November elections but Republican Governor Greg Abbott called the election, leading some analysts to believe Republicans feel they have a strong chance of winning the seat.
- Sarah Stook of Elections Daily continues her historical look at America’s First Ladies. This week, the Gilded Age from Garfield to Harrison.
Upcoming Elections
| Tues April 19 | CA State Assembly 17 Special General |
| Tues May 3 | Indiana Primary |
| Ohio Primary | |
| MI State House 15 Special General | |
| MI State House 36 Special General | |
| MI State House 43 Special General | |
| MI State House 74 Special General | |
| GA State House 45 Special General Runoff |