Morning Digest: North Carolina GOP comes 'one step closer to stealing an election'
Republican judges just ruled that more than 60,000 valid votes could get retroactively tossed in Supreme Court race
Leading Off
NC Supreme Court
A Republican-dominated panel on North Carolina's Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that as many as 61,588 valid votes in last year's election for the state Supreme Court should be retroactively tossed out. The decision could overturn Democrat Allison Riggs' victory and hand a win to the second-place finisher, Republican Jefferson Griffin.
Riggs, who was confirmed the winner by 734 votes in three separate counts, immediately said she would appeal the 2-1 ruling, which she called a "​​deeply misinformed decision" that "sets a dangerous precedent, allowing disappointed politicians to thwart the will of the people.
Riggs' next stop is likely the Republican-majority state Supreme Court, which signaled a readiness to side with Griffin in a prior decision. She could also ask the federal courts to intervene, though a previous request was rejected in February. A trial court had previously ruled against Griffin.
In the absence of an order by another court blocking Friday's ruling from taking effect, though, election officials must begin contacting two groups of voters who, according to the appeals court, were not entitled to cast ballots in November, even though they complied with all relevant rules at the time.
This includes 60,273 voters whose voter registrations did not include their driver's license or Social Security numbers, as well as 1,049 overseas and military voters who did not include a copy of their photo identification with their ballots. Administrators must give these voters 15 days to "cure" the alleged defects with their registrations or ballots. Any voters who fail to do so would have their votes discarded.
The court also said that 266 voters who are the children of former North Carolina residents but have never lived in the state would have their votes in the Supreme Court race discounted outright. (Such voters are otherwise able to vote in federal elections.)
The panel's lone Democrat, Judge Toby Hampson, issued a blistering dissent excoriating his Republican colleagues, who left their opinion unsigned.
"Every single voter challenged by [Griffin] in this appeal, both here and abroad, cast their absentee, early, or overseas ballot by following every instruction they were given to do so," he wrote.
"Changing the rules by which these lawful voters took part in our electoral process after the election to discard their otherwise valid votes in an attempt to alter the outcome of only one race among many on the ballot is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution," he continued.
Hampson also blasted the idea that affected voters could realistically "cure" their ballots as "a fiction that does not disguise the act of mass disenfranchisement the majority’s decision represents."
The practical problems posed by the court's directive go even further, since it's not clear whether officials segregated any of the challenged ballots. If they did not, it would be impossible to adjust the vote count, since the use of secret ballots precludes tying a particular vote to a particular voter. It's also not clear whether the courts have the power to order a vote count be changed after the fact, as opposed to ordering a new election.
Democrats have long warned that Republican jurists might improperly intervene to overturn the results of the election and transmute the loser into the winner—a warning some prominent North Carolina Republicans have echoed. They again sounded those alarms on Friday.
"The North Carolina Republican Party is one step closer to stealing an election in broad daylight," said state House Minority Leader Robert Reives in a statement.
If the case makes it to the state Supreme Court, and if the federal courts again decline to step in, there's a strong chance those fears will be realized. With Riggs recused, Republicans hold a 5-1 edge on the high court. Riggs would need at least a 4-2 vote to reverse the Court of Appeals, since a 3-3 tie would result in the lower court's ruling remaining in effect.
North Carolina voters can check to see whether their ballots have been challenged on this site created by local activists.
Hey, David Nir here, publisher of The Downballot! We love bringing you the Morning Digest every day, but you won’t be surprised to hear that it takes a ton of work. We’d be immensely grateful if you’d consider becoming a paid supporter to make sure we can keep publishing all this great content!
Senate
ID-Sen
Republican Sen. Jim Risch announced that he would seek reelection on Friday and that he had Donald Trump's support in his bid for a fourth term. No notable Idaho Republicans have expressed interest in challenging the 81-year-old Risch, a longtime politician whose electoral career goes back to 1970, in this dark red state.
MN-Sen
Retired professional basketball forward Willie Burton tells the Washington Post that he's "strongly" considering seeking the Republican nomination to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith in Minnesota. If he enters, he'd be the second former NBA player to join the race.
Burton played for the University of Minnesota more than three decades ago before getting drafted by the Miami Heat, then played for several different teams in both the NBA and overseas before his career ended in 2004. The developing GOP primary already includes Royce White, a far-right extremist who played just three games for the Sacramento Kings in 2014 and badly lost his bid for the state's other Senate seat last year.
Burton hasn't sought office before, though this isn't the first time his name has surfaced as a potential candidate. Tudor Dixon, who was the 2022 Republican nominee for governor of Michigan, reportedly considered tapping the Detroit-raised Burton as her running mate. Dixon, however, instead opted for former state Rep. Shane Hernandez to fill out a ticket that would badly lose to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist.
Governors
GA-Gov
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she's getting ready to seek the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia, and reporter Greg Bluestein writes that she's planning to announce "within weeks." Several other major Democrats are considering running to replace termed-out Gov. Brian Kemp, but no one has officially entered the primary for an office the party last won in 1998.
SD-Gov
Five prominent Republicans tell The Dakota Scout's Joe Sneve that they're open to running for governor of South Dakota next year, an office that the GOP has controlled since the 1978 elections.
The post is held by Gov. Larry Rhoden, who was elevated from his role as lieutenant governor in January and has not yet committed to seeking a full term. Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem after Donald Trump picked her to be his Homeland Security secretary, informs Sneve he's "humbled by all the support" he's received but will not decide until he finishes an ongoing tour of the state.
Rep. Dusty Johnson and Attorney General Marty Jackley had previously shown interest in running for what they thought would be an open-seat race to succeed a termed-out Noem, and both say they're still thinking about running against the new incumbent.
Johnson, who represents the entire state in the House, tells Sneve he's "expecting to make that decision over the summer or fall." Jackley, who lost the 2018 primary to Noem, did not provide a timeline, though he said he's being encouraged to run again.
State House Speaker Jon Hansen and wealthy businessman Toby Doeden, who last year financed primary campaigns against legislators he deemed "fake Republicans," also are interested. Hansen, a prominent foe of abortion rights, says he'll reveal his plans "in the near future," while Doeden acknowledged that he's "weighing my options."
Finally, there's also been some speculation that Sen. Mike Rounds, who led South Dakota from 2003 to 2011, could seek his old job next year rather than run for reelection. Rounds didn't dismiss the idea in 2023 but has shown no obvious interest since then. The possibility isn't completely dead, though, as Roll Call Daniela Altimari still mentioned him as a potential gubernatorial candidate last month.
Sneve, however, believes that the eventual field won't feature all five candidates. Political science professor Jon Schaff notes that Rhoden, Jackley, and Johnson are all part of "the so-called established Republicans," and that the presence of all three of them on the ballot could benefit a hardliner. Sneve relays that Rhoden and Jackley's camps are both aware of this potential problem and that the two are unlikely to both run.
Doeden also wants his ideological allies united. He vividly insists, "Because if there are any factions that branch off ... you're gonna see the liberals and establishment Republicans waiting in the bushes for us to kill each other."
But if all of these would-be contenders decide to become actual contenders, South Dakota Republicans may need a second round of voting to pick their nominee. The state requires candidates for governor or Congress to win at least 35% of the vote to avoid a runoff, though this scenario seems so remote that Sneve did not mention it in his piece.
Have you joined The Downballot team by becoming a paid subscriber? We’d love it if you came on board today!
VA-Gov
The Republican Party of Virginia announced over the weekend that former state Sen. Amanda Chase failed to turn in enough signatures by Thursday's deadline to appear on the June 17 primary ballot for governor. Chase accepted that her campaign was over and acknowledged to the Virginia Scope that Lt. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is the party's sole candidate, was now "our nominee."
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger has no intraparty opposition on the Democratic side, so the long-awaited general election matchup between Spanberger and Earle-Sears is now set.
House
CA-13
Ceres Mayor Javier Lopez announced Friday that he'd challenge Democratic Rep. Adam Gray in California's 13th District, a move that makes him the first Republican to enter the race for this sprawling seat in the Central Valley.
Gray unseated Republican incumbent John Duarte 50.04-49.96 in the closest House race in the country last year even as Donald Trump, according to calculations by The Downballot, carried the 13th 51-46. Duarte is supporting Lopez, who was first elected in 2020 to lead his 50,000-person city.
IL-07
Democratic Rep. Danny Davis all but announced to Politico that he'd seek a 16th term even as the 83-year-old maintained he was "not ready to announce."
The Illinois congressman, who has a fundraiser set for this week, told reporter Shia Kapos, "We are facing some of the most serious challenges this country has faced since I have been alive, and I’m going to be in the fight for a long time." Davis' 7th District, which is based in Chicago's West Side and downtown, is safely Democratic turf, so the winner of next year's primary will have no trouble holding it.
The longtime Windy City congressman, though, has had trouble winning that primary in recent years. Davis secured renomination in 2022 by just a 52-46 margin against gun safety advocate Kina Collins, whose side faulted him for absenteeism. Davis again scored 52% of the vote last year, but this time, a fractured field kept the race from being close: City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin scored a distant second with 21%, while Collins trailed with 19%.
IN-07
Democratic strategist George Hornedo tells Punchbowl News that he may announce a primary challenge to Indiana Rep. Andre Carson this week. Hornedo said in January that he was forming an exploratory committee for the Indianapolis-based 7th District, which is the only safely Democratic House seat in the state.
MI-10
Former prosecutor Christina Hines, a Michigan Democrat who'd reportedly been considering a bid for Congress, kicked off her campaign for the competitive 10th District on Monday morning. This constituency in the Detroit suburbs is likely to be open because Republican Rep. John James has reportedly told people he's running for governor.
Hines launched her bid with an endorsement from former Judge Carl Marlinga, a longtime fixture of local politics who was the Democrats' unsuccessful nominee for this seat in both 2022 and 2024. Marlinga had reportedly informed supporters he was preparing for a third try, so his support for Hines takes him out of the running.
Hines' entry makes her the second notable Democrat to enter the race following Army veteran Alex Hawkins, who jumped in in February. Both have run for office once before, in both cases last year: Hines lost a bid for Macomb County prosecuting attorney to the Republican incumbent 57-43, while Hawkins lost 53-47 in the Democratic primary for a competitive seat in the state House.
The Democratic primary could grow further still, as several other names are in the mix. The 10th voted for Donald Trump by a 52-46 margin last year, and James' departure to run statewide would make it an even more alluring target for Democrats.
NH-01
Businesswoman Hollie Noveletsky, who took a close second in last year's Republican primary for the 1st District, tells the conservative New Hampshire Journal she'll decide in the "coming months" if she'll run again now that Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas is seeking a promotion to the Senate. Noveletsky said she'd "will make my decision as I evaluate my options over the coming months."
The site also mentions Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern as a possible Democratic candidate for this open seat, though he has not said anything about his interest. McEachern took less than 3% of the vote against Pappas in the 2018 primary, a year before he was first elected to the City Council.
This piece incorrectly stated the advantage Republicans hold on the North Carolina Supreme Court with Justice Allison Riggs recused. Republicans hold a 5-1 edge with Riggs recused and 5-2 advantage overall.
It is now more than a month since the death of Congressman Sylvester Turner, and Governor Greg Abbott still has not called a special election to fill the vacant seat representing Texas's 18th Congressional District. Abbott is now blaming "election problems" in Harris County for his delay, though Teneshia Hudspeth, the county's chief elections officer, calls that excuse "nonsense." Abbott's true election problem is that the district will almost certainly elect a Democrat.
"Administrators must give these voters 15 days to "cure" the alleged defects with their registrations or ballots… North Carolina voters can check to see whether their ballots have been challenged on this site created by local activists."
If I understand correctly, the curing process will now be the decider. I hope NC’s terrific Dem Party Chair, Anderson Clayton, has everyone ready to roll. Sounds like this will be quite the competition to see which party can cure the most votes!
To paraphrase: It’s not over until the fat White House resident sings his plaintive song.