Campaign Report
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Campaign Report
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Voters head to the polls in Chicago and Wisconsin
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Tuesday’s races to elect the new Chicago mayor and fill a vacant Wisconsin Supreme Court seat could offer clues into how the electorate feels about issues like abortion, crime and education ahead of pivotal races in 2024.
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© AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
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Over in Chicago, voters will be choosing between former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson. Vallas finished first in the February race with 33 percent of the vote while Johnson notched a second place at 22 percent. Lori Lightfoot placed third, losing her reelection bid.
Save for their political affiliations – Vallas and Johnson are both Democrats – their approaches to addressing public safety and fixing Chicago Public Schools show they are two very different candidates. As The Hill’s Caroline Vakil reports today, Vallas has campaigned as a tough-on-crime candidate who has the backing of the Fraternal Order of Police; he’s also a school choice advocate who’s been supportive of charter schools.
Johnson has talked about public safety from an initiatives perspective rather than one largely focused on the role of police, such as creating an Office of Community Safety, and has more consistently spoken about the issue by leaning into the root causes around crime. He’s also advocated against charter schools and the idea of student-based budgeting, which relies on student enrollment.
Meanwhile in Wisconsin, voters across the state will choose between two candidates to replace an outgoing conservative justice on the state Supreme Court – a consequential election that will determine the partisan tilt of the court for at least the next two years.
Though the race is technically nonpartisan, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz and former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly – seen as the liberal and conservative candidates respectively – are vying for the open seat after they were the two top vote-getters in the initial February race.
A contested 1849 abortion law that bans abortions with very limited exceptions is expected to wind its way in front of the state Supreme Court. The high court could also hear challenges to the state’s election maps and even possible 2024 election challenges.
For Democrats, it’s the party’s first big test ahead of 2024 over whether the party can sustain its momentum since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, as Caroline also reports here.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, we’re Max Greenwood, Julia Manchester and Caroline Vakil. Each week we track the key stories you need to know to stay ahead of the 2024 election and who will set the agenda in Washington.
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Key election stories and other recent campaign coverage:
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Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) weighed in Tuesday on the mounting criminal cases against Donald Trump, saying “there’s no way” the former president will return to the Oval Office at this point. Republicans “could put up” with the Manhattan case where Trump was arraigned on Tuesday, Kasich said on MSNBC, but a probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and a Justice Department investigation …
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Former President Trump’s campaign is fundraising off of a fake mugshot in an email blast to supporters on Tuesday shortly after he arrived at the Manhattan court for his arraignment. “[W]hat better way to PROVE that our campaign will NEVER SURRENDER our country to the Left’s tyranny than countless grassroots patriots proudly wearing their very own ‘NOT GUILTY’ T-Shirts,” the campaign said in an email to supporters, which features …
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Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) announced she is endorsing former President Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, offering a show of support for the former president ahead of his arraignment in Manhattan on charges from a hush money case. In a statement released late Monday on the eve of Trump’s court appearance, the Mississippi Republican panned Trump’s indictment related to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy …
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Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:
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- 193 days until Louisiana’s gubernatorial primary
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217 days until Kentucky’s and Mississippi’s gubernatorial generals
- 581 days until the 2024 general election
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2024 Presidential Race Watch
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Asa Hutchinson enters as Trump-alternative candidate
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© AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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As much of the country and the political world has been engrossed in former President Trump’s indictment and legal issues, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is presenting himself as an alternative to Trump in the GOP presidential primary.
“You’ve got to carve your own lane,” Hutchinson told The Hill’s Julia Manchester in an interview on Monday. “The last thing that we need is another Joe Biden-Donald Trump race in 2024, so if you don’t accept that proposition that you have to yield, then you have to get in there and fight.”
But Republican primary voters do not seem so convinced. A Quinnipiac University survey released last week shows him registering at less than 1 percent in support from Republican voters. Trump, on the other hand, led the field with 47 percent support, while DeSantis followed at 33 percent.
Hutchinson’s entrance into the Republican primary comes as Trump faces an indictment in New York City over a 2016 hush money payment. The former Arkansas governor told The Hill that he expects the indictment to help Trump in the short term but is skeptical it will help him in the long term.
“Time will tell how that plays, and I’ve said we ought to see how the facts develop,” he said. “Even though I wouldn’t have brought that case under the facts I understand it; they’re filed and he’s got a bump out of it. This is very early in the season, and you’ll just have to see whether that short-term benefit goes long-term.”
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Trump’s post-arraignment plans
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Donald Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday afternoon was an uncharacteristically reserved affair for the former president; there was a solemn motorcade from Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue to the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building in Lower Manhattan and no grand speech before he walked into the courthouse. Just a post on his social media site, Truth Social:
“Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”
But in typical Trump fashion, the former president is set to fly back down to Palm Beach, Fla. Tuesday evening to deliver remarks at Mar-a-Lago. The exact nature of that speech remains a mystery, but Trump has already signaled that he plans to use his indictment as a central piece of his campaign messaging.
Of course, just what Trump says on Tuesday night is an open question. The judge in his case is weighing whether to impose a gag order that could limit what the former president can say about the matter.
Yet Trump hasn’t been deterred yet by the indictment. He warned of “death and destruction” if he were charged; dubbed Justice Juan Merchan, who’s presiding over the case, a “Trump Hating Judge”; and called over the weekend for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to be indicted himself.
Trump has also said that he plans to continue on with his 2024 presidential bid, regardless of the charges against him.
Follow along with The Hill’s coverage of Trump’s remarks at Mar-a-Lago tonight. He’s scheduled to speak at 8:15 p.m EDT.
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
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Former President Trump holds a 13-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) among New Hampshire voters, according to a new poll released on Monday. Trump is leading the pack of current and potential Republican candidates in the key primary state, with 42 percent of voters saying they would support the former president in the GOP primary, according to the poll from the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. DeSantis, …
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court election on Tuesday will be Democrats’ first major test going into 2024 of whether the party can continue to galvanize voters over abortion rights and the fall of Roe v. Wade. The race has been one of the most expensive and consequential this year, as the justices could weigh in on issues like abortion, redistricting and possible legal battles over contested election results. With conservative Justice …
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Local and state headlines regarding campaigns and elections:
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Voters will choose Brandon Johnson or Paul Vallas as city’s next mayor, with a tough job awaiting the winner (The Chicago Tribune)
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Tim Scott super PAC hires 2 SC political operatives as senator eyes presidential bid (The Post and Courier)
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Election news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
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We’ve seen this story before’: Dems grow anxious of a Trump ’16 redux (Politico)
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Right-Wing Media Splits From DeSantis on Press Protections (The New York Times)
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Key stories on The Hill right now:
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Former President Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts in connection with concealing hush money payments, multiple outlets are reporting. Trump entered the plea before Judge Juan Merchan during the brief proceeding in Lower Manhattan, becoming the first former president to be arraigned on criminal charges. Trump is expected to return … Read more
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Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty as he was formally charged with 34 counts Tuesday, appearing in court for the first time since being indicted in connection with concealing hush money payments, multiple outlets reported. Trump became the first former president to be arraigned on criminal charges, appearing before Justice … Read more
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Opinions related to campaigns and elections submitted to The Hill:
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You’re all caught up. See you next time!
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