Fierce battle underway for open North Carolina attorney general seat
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein speaks to the media outside of the United States Supreme Court following oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, a Republican-backed appeal to curb judicial oversight of elections, in Washington, December 7, 2022.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
With North Carolina’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein pursuing a gubernatorial bid, two lawmakers on Capitol Hill are looking to occupy his current office.
Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican hardliner, is the sole Republican candidate in the state’s AG race. leaves behind a seat in a deep-red district that has sparked a GOP race to succeed him, featuring pastor Mark Harris who led a failed congressional run in 2018.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson is competing on the Democratic side, in part due to the state’s redrawn its congressional map, which effectively turned his purple district red. Attorney Tim Dunn and Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry are also in the Democratic running.
If none of the candidates in the North Carolina primaries secure a 30% majority or higher, the top two will head to a runoff on May 14.
— Rebecca Picciotto
Trump, Biden and Haley are staying home on Super Tuesday
Former President Donald Trump played golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, per a source present with Trump.
Source: Kate Santaliz
This Super Tuesday, the top presidential candidates are working from home.
Donald Trump played golf Tuesday morning at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, a few minutes’ drive from his Mar-a-Lago resort home, a source told NBC News.
Trump’s campaign said the former president will deliver a speech at Mar-a-Lago in the evening.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, returned to the White House on Tuesday morning after spending the weekend at Camp David.
He is slated to convene a White House council meeting in the afternoon to announce new actions to fight “corporate rip-offs.”
Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley told CNN on Friday that she will be in her home state of South Carolina on Tuesday night, even though the state already held its primary election, which she lost to Trump.
— Kevin Breuninger
Crypto-backed groups spent $13 million on Super Tuesday races
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks to supporters outside the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Union Hall at the kickoff rally for his two-week California for All Tour in Burbank, California, on Feb. 11, 2023.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
A group of political action committees financed by the cryptocurrency industry spent just more than $13 million on congressional primary contests taking place on Super Tuesday, according to data from AdImpact.
The data shows that Fairshake, one of three crypto-backed PACs, has spent $9.5 million on television, radio and digital advertisements against Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., who is running for California’s open Senate seat in a massive primary fight against Democratic front-runner Rep. Adam Schiff.
Protect Progress, another crypto-supported committee, spent $1.7 million in support of Shomari Figures, a Democrat running in a primary campaign for Alabama’s 2nd congressional district.
Defend American Jobs spent more than $1 million backing two Republicans running for House seats in North Carolina.
— Brian Schwartz
Taylor Swift urges voters to cast ballots for candidates ‘who most represent YOU’
Taylor Swift performs during The Eras Tour at the National Stadium in Singapore on March 2, 2024.
Ashok Kumar | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Pop superstar Taylor Swift used her hugely popular Instagram account to urge followers to vote in the presidential primaries in her home state of Tennessee and elsewhere.
“I wanted to remind you guys to vote the people who most represent YOU into power,” Swift wrote in an Instagram Story post. “If you haven’t already, make a plan to vote today.”
Swift then directed her 282 million followers to the link Vote.org to find information about their polling locations.
The singer backed President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Supporters of former President Donald Trump started criticizing Swift months ago, in the expectation that she would endorse Biden again.
Before the Super Bowl game in February, Swift was briefly the subject of a bizarre right-wing conspiracy that imagined that her romance with Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce was a stunt designed to help Biden’s reelection bid.
— Dan Mangan
Where Americans are voting today
Campaign signs for Republican presidential candidates former President Donald Trump and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley stand next to a sign asking voters to write in President Joe Biden in the Jan. 23 primary election, in Loudon, New Hampshire, on Jan. 19, 2024.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Below is an alphabetical list of the states where Americans are casting ballots today.
The following states are holding both Democratic and Republican primaries:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Vermont
- Virginia
In Utah, Democrats are holding a primary while Republicans are holding a caucus.
In Alaska, Republicans will caucus while Democrats are holding their primary on April 6.
Though Republicans already settled Iowa in the first primary of the season, Democratic ballots have been rolling in since January and are due to be released Tuesday.
— Rebecca Picciotto
Colorado could be one of Haley’s rare chances to pick up delegates
Presidential candidate Nikki Haley addresses a crowd during a campaign stop at Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight Museum in Centennial, Colorado, on Feb. 27, 2024.
Helen H. Richardson | Denver Post | Getty Images
The Colorado primary could offer Nikki Haley a rare opportunity to add to her delegate count. Former president Donald Trump is currently leading with 276 Republican delegates to Haley’s 43.
The state’s 37 delegates are awarded proportionally to candidates who win at least 20% of the vote. According to NBC News, Haley’s worst case scenario would still likely be a pickup of 10 delegates.
Haley typically performs better than Trump among Independents and center-right Republicans, according to Republican strategist Susan Del Percio. A third of the total votes cast so far in the Colorado presidential primary came from voters who were unaffiliated with either party, Axios reports.
Haley also draws outsize support from affluent, college-educated Republicans. Nearly half of Colorado’s population age 25 and older, 43.7%, have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, per the U.S. Census.
— Chelsey Cox
California Democrats — and one rising Republican — vie for powerful Senate seat
A voter casts their ballot during early voting, a day ahead of the Super Tuesday primary election, at the San Francisco City Hall Voting Center in San Francisco on March 4, 2024.
Loren Elliott | Reuters
The biggest primary race to watch in the nation’s most populous state isn’t the one for president.
A crush of candidates are vying for the powerful Senate seat formerly held for two decades by Dianne Feinstein, who died in September. Sen. Laphonza Butler, whom Gov. Gavin Newsom picked to temporarily fill the vacancy, has opted not to run to keep the seat.
The Senate primary in California, which consistently votes blue in statewide contests, has largely looked like a three-way race between Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks to supporters outside the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Union Hall at the kickoff rally for his two-week California for All Tour in Burbank, California, on Feb. 11, 2023.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Schiff, who gained national prominence for his leading role in the first impeachment of then-President Donald Trump, has led the pack in ad spending and polling.
But Steve Garvey, a Republican former pro baseball player, has seen a late surge in the polls, even though his campaign has placed no TV ads.
That’s likely because the majority of Schiff’s broadcasts mention Garvey, while none mention Porter.
Steve Garvey, right, former first baseman with the Los Angeles Dodgers, with son Ryan Garvey, left, is a guest of honor at the Huntington Beach Fourth of July Parade along Main Street in downtown in Huntington Beach, California, on July 4, 2022.
Gary Coronado | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
It’s a strategy that could pay off massively. California has an open primary, meaning voters can select any party’s candidate, and only the top two candidates will proceed to the general election.
If Schiff winds up competing against Garvey in the general, rather than Porter or Lee, he may have a better shot at winning in California, which hasn’t had a Republican senator since 1992.
— Kevin Breuninger
Eyes are on North Carolina fight to replace outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks during a visit by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to Guilford Technical Community College in Greensboro, North Carolina, on April 19, 2021.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
North Carolina’s primaries feature several competitive down-ballot races, including a closely watched gubernatorial primary to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, which could act as a bellwether of the battleground state’s leaning in November.
Gov. Cooper endorsed the state’s Attorney General Josh Stein to be his successor. But before Stein officially secures the incumbent party’s nomination, he will have to clear a crowded Democratic field. Stein is up against four opponents including former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Morgan.
If he is the Democratic nominee, Stein could face a November matchup against Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is leading the GOP pool so far and has Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Joe Biden is looking to flip North Carolina after Donald Trump narrowly won the state by just over one percent in the 2020 general election. If Republicans are able to turn Gov. Cooper’s seat red, it could signal how the swing state’s electorate is thinking about their options at the top of the ticket.
— Rebecca Picciotto
Vermont kicks off Super Tuesday voting bright and early
A voters enters a polling station at the Vermont National Guard Williston Armory in Williston, Vermont, U.S., on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
Kate Flock | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Super Tuesday primary voting began bright and as early as 6 a.m. ET in Vermont, with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump looking to cement their leads over their respective remaining intraparty opponents.
In the Republican primary, 17 delegates are up for grabs, while in the Democratic contest, there are 16 delegates at stake. Polls will close at 7 p.m. ET.
Vermont has an open primary system. Voters can choose in which party primary to vote, regardless of their personal political affiliation.
Vermont, which is the second-smallest state by population, will award just three votes in the Electoral College after the presidential election in November.
— Dan Mangan
California Senate race is already the state’s most expensive ever
Senate candidate Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks during a Get Out The Vote meet and greet at IATSE Local 80 in Burbank, California, on March 4, 2024.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
The battle for California’s coveted open Senate seat is still a long way from the general election, but the contest is already the state’s most expensive Senate race of all time, by far.
Spending on the Golden State Senate race has topped $65.3 million, AdImpact reported on Feb. 29.
That’s 242% more spending than the last three California Senate races combined, according to AdImpact.
The difference underscores just how competitive the race for late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat has been compared to other elections in the reliably blue state.
— Kevin Breuninger
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