Latest news with #SpecialElections
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Early voting in Spartanburg's GOP primary: Here's what to know
Early voting is underway in the Spartanburg County Republican Party primary for two November 4 special elections. Nine Republican candidates are in the mix to become Spartanburg County's next sheriff: Robert Cheeks, Andy Clark, Rusty Clevenger, Adam Crisp, Nick Duncan, Randy Hollifield, Joseph Pilato, Bill Rhyne, Ric Stephens The winner of the GOP primary will run unopposed. Meanwhile, there are six candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Spartanburg County Council District 3: Paul Abbott, Bryan Alverson, Tim Burrell, Caylus Goodson, Jason Lynch, and Stephen Mathis. The primary winner in the county council race will take on Democrat Kathryn Harvey and Forward Party candidate Sarah Gonzalez. The Republican Party primary will be held on August 5. But eligible voters may cast their ballot ahead of time – from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday until August 1 – at the Spartanburg County Administration Building, located at 366 North Church Street. More: Spartanburg sheriff candidates offer views on diversity hiring, ICE enforcement Voting is taking place in Conference Room 1. 'It's very important to note that this location is upstairs and voters should park on the Church Street side of the administration building, entering through the main entrance near the flagpoles,' said John Baucom, Director of Spartanburg County Voter Registration and Elections. Voters should bring a valid photo ID, Baucom said. He also encourages voters to visit to verify their address and review a sample ballot. The special election for Spartanburg County Sheriff follows the May 23 resignation of former Sheriff Chuck Wright amid controversy. Wright had been in office for more than 20 years. Jeffery Stephens is currently serving as interim sheriff. The special election for Spartanburg County Council will fill the seat David Britt held since 1991. He resigned in May to take a position with the South Carolina Public Service Commission. This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Early voting has begun in sheriff, county council GOP primaries Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
What Democratic swings in special elections mean for 2026
It's not too early to talk about 2026, the first national elections since President Donald Trump was voted into the White House for a second time. It's the first opportunity that those unhappy with Trump can register their disapproval with his agenda by deciding whether to maintain a Republican congressional majority. As such, politicos are scouring the landscape for any signs hinting at which way voters may be leaning in the 2026 midterms. If history is any guide, Democrats should gain seats in the House and Senate since that's been the pattern of the party out of power in off-year contests, with a few notable exceptions. Beyond what the historical record suggests, there is an additional warning sign for Trump allies who want to continue single-party GOP rule in Washington: Democrats have made big gains in special elections since Trump took office in January 2025. A Washington Post analysis of these races suggests Democrats might be on track for a very good 2026. Among all special elections this year, Democrats have outperformed Harris' vote share in 2024 by 13 percentage points, based on Harris-Trump baselines calculated by The Downballot, an election data newsletter. That's the largest shift toward any party in years. In fact, all but four of the 31 special elections have seen movement to toward Democrats. Most of the specials we looked at were state legislative elections, and while Democrats have only flipped two of the seats (Pennsylvania's 36th state Senate district and Iowa's 35th state Senate district), the size of the shift compared with last year's presidential election is noteworthy. Democrats are overperforming in districts across the map, from Pennsylvania to Florida and California. Some of the largest swings toward Democrats were in states that Donald Trump won in 2024, while the four races that shifted toward Republicans were in more Democratic-leaning states. But Democrats aren't only performing well in state legislative special elections. They also delivered huge swings in the April special elections for Florida's 1st and 6th Congressional Districts, exceeding Harris's vote share by 15 and 23 percentage points, respectively. There are a few caveats to keep in mind, though. Any Democratic swing in 2024 could look exaggerated, following the party's popular vote loss and overall poor showing last November. It's a lot easier to overperform when the baseline is lower. And of course, special elections aren't necessarily predictive of voter behavior over a year from now. Many things can change — from swings in the economy to Trump's approval rating; and Democrats are themselves very unpopular with voters. The results are also in line with an emerging pattern in recent years in which the pool of voters who turn out for lower-profile elections, like special elections, tends to be more Democratic and more engaged. If you follow U.S. elections closely, this probably isn't the first story you've read about special elections. But it's hard to overstate just how much of an outlier these results are. In specials ahead of the 2018 midterms, Democrats beat Hillary Clinton's 2016 numbers by six points and preceded a nine-point win in the House popular vote. In 2020, Democrats led by two points in special elections and won the House popular vote by three. The 2022 cycle showed the same pattern in reverse: Republicans led in specials — over-performing Trump's 2020 showing by about four points — and ultimately won the House popular vote. You can trace the relationship between special elections and House popular vote back to the 1980s. The Daily Kos has done just that. Even using a slightly different baseline, the core takeaway is the same: when a party consistently outperforms its last presidential outcome in special elections, it usually does well in the next House cycle. But Democrats shouldn't celebrate too early. While special elections have historically been a reliable signal of congressional outcomes, their predictive power may be fading. For example, the 2024 cycle doesn't quite fit the pattern we described. Before the 2024 general election, Democrats were outperforming their 2020 results in special elections by about two points. But Republicans won the House popular vote by roughly the same margin as they had in 2022. What gives? One explanation comes from a 2024 postmortem by the Democratic-aligned data firm Catalist. In their report, they found that Democrats are increasingly dominating among engaged voters. Those are voters that are most likely to turn out to vote. In fact, this was one of the few groups that Harris improved with compared with Joe Biden in 2020, according to Catalist. Low-turnout contests, like special elections, can magnify that advantage. This pattern also shows up elsewhere. Over the past decade, Democrats have gained ground with college-educated voters, and education is strongly correlated with turnout, especially in lower-profile special elections. That skew helps explain their success. Take the March 2025 special election for Iowa's 100th state House district, which had a 23-point swing to the left. Just over 5,000 people voted in that election, compared to nearly 15,000 who voted in that district in the 2024 presidential election. According to data from L2, a nonpartisan election data firm, 42 percent of voters in the March special were registered Democrats, which is a sharp jump from the 33 percent who were registered Democrats in the same district in 2024. Put simply, Democrats have become much better at showing up in special elections. This is both because of their newfound advantage with reliable voters, but also because a party's base is often most fired up when they are in the opposition. So yes, history and the data both suggest that Democrats are well-positioned heading into 2026. Midterm elections tend to have lower turnout than presidential years, which could benefit Democrats given their growing advantage among high-propensity voters. But there's a big difference between winning on a sleepy Tuesday in March and winning when tens of millions of voters head to the polls in 2026.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fairshake's Florida Wins Likely to Amp Up List of Crypto-Supported Allies in Congress
The crypto political action committee that stunned U.S. politics last year, Fairshake, successfully weighed in again in a pair of Florida special elections to replace Republican members of Congress, likely adding to its list of lawmakers who have the industry to thank for campaign support. A primary election closed Tuesday night, giving pro-crypto candidates supported by $700,000 in Fairshake money overwhelming victories in both seats. Florida's 1st District vacated by former Representative Matt Gaetz and 6th District vacated by former Representative Mike Waltz are both staunchly Republican, meaning the primary winners — Jimmy Patronis in the 1st and Randy Fine in the 6th — are likely to move on to general-election wins in the April 1 ballot. The two Florida seats in the House of Representatives were open after President Donald Trump tapped their occupants for other duties — including Gaetz, who flamed out as Trump's attorney-general pick under accusations he'd paid for sex with a minor and purchased illegal drugs. The other was the seat of Waltz, who Trump elevated as his national security adviser. The expected wins would also further reinforce the GOP's slim House majority, which remains so narrow that a gust of political wind in the wrong direction could derail the Republican agenda there. One of Fairshake's super-PAC affiliates, Defend American Jobs, is the one that backed the Florida politicians. Patronis was the state's chief financial officer who was pulling for Florida to embrace crypto in its own state finances, and Fine had also publicly argued for supporting crypto. The PAC devoted about $200,000 to backing Patronis and $500,000 for Fine. "We were proud to support both candidates with TV ad campaigns," said Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Fairshake, which is still sitting on more than $100 million to spend on the next congressional campaign cycle. "The industry looks forward to collaborating with them and the hundreds of members on both sides of the aisle committed to working together to pass responsible regulation." Super PACs are permitted to spend unlimited sums on ads for or against candidates, as long as they're "independent expenditures" purchased without involvement from the campaigns. Fairshake spent $139 million to help get 53 crypto-friendly lawmakers into 2025's new Congress, so one in ten of the sitting lawmakers were backed by Fairshake-funded ads. Read More: Crypto PAC Fairshake Steps Up For an Encore in Florida Special Elections
