The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is pumping another $1 million into Virginia's high-stakes legislative elections this fall, doubling its commitment for the year, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: For Democrats, abortion is on the ballot in Virginia's off-year election, when all 140 seats are up in the state House and Senate.

They want to prevent Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin from winning a majority in Virginia's General Assembly — deny him the ability to enact new abortion restrictions.

For Youngkin, the Nov. 7 election is an opportunity to demonstrate that his brand of conservatism — which includes a plan for a 15-week abortion ban, with exceptions — can appeal to suburban voters in a purple state.

A clear victory for Republicans would revive talk about Youngkin's presidential prospects, although the filing deadlines for some of the GOP's early primaries and caucuses in 2024 will have passed by Election Day 2023.




https://www.axios.com/2023/10/02/dems-flood-virginia-cash-legislative-races-election-2023

Before joining Emily’s List — a political organization dedicated to electing women to political office — she served as director of public policy and campaigns at Airbnb and partnered at the political consulting firm SCRB Strategies — now Bearstar Strategies — whose clients included Newsom, former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and then-Sen. Kamala Harris. The firm is run by the governor’s veteran strategists Ace Smith, Sean Clegg and Juan Rodriguez.

Butler also served for more than a decade as president of Service Employees International Union Local 2015, which represents more than 325,000 nursing-home and home-care workers throughout California. SEIU Local 2015 is the largest union in California and the largest local representing long-term-care workers in the country.

She was also a senior advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

In 2018, Butler was appointed as a UC regent by Gov. Jerry Brown, a post she held until 2021. She has sat on the board of the national child advocacy organization the Children’s Defense Fund, political action committee BlackPAC and the Bay Area Economic Council Institute think tank. She’s a former director for the board of governors of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve System.


https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-01/who-is-newsom-pick-laphonza-butler

Lansing — Amid a financial crunch, Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Kristina Karamo's past secretary of state campaign quietly loaned the GOP $15,000 earlier this year, according to internal bank records, revealing a move that experts say could violate disclosure laws.

Less than two weeks after Republican delegates elected Karamo to the lead the state party, the party's new bank account for spending on federal races had a balance of -$5,669 on March 1, records obtained by The Detroit News show.

That same day, "Karamo for SOS," the chairwoman's campaign committee for secretary of state, transferred $15,000 to the federal account, providing a positive new balance of $9,331. The shift allowed a $6,000 check to an undisclosed person or company to go through with a positive balance remaining on March 1, according to the documents.

After the account's financial picture improved, $15,000 was given back to Karamo's secretary of state committee on April 27, the records show.




https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/29/michigan-gop-bank-records-reveal-contribution-from-karamo-campaign/71006850007/

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Yelp for a completely truthful consumer notice that the reviews website attached last year to listings for crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs. Paxton is alleging that the note was deceptive; Yelp is countersuing.

Yelp originally added a label to CPCs saying that they “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals on-site.” Following threats from Paxton, it changed the notice to “This is a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Crisis Pregnancy Centers do not offer abortions or referrals to abortion providers.” That’s true, but so was the original notice. According to a study that Duke University School of Medicine researchers published in the International Journal of Women’s Health:

The danger of CPCs missing ectopic pregnancies is very real: A Massachusetts woman is suing a CPC after her ectopic pregnancy ruptured, requiring emergency surgery.

Unless Paxton can prove that Texas CPCs are different across the board—for instance, that they have licensed medical professionals on-site—it is truthful to say that they “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals on-site.”


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/1/2196284/-Texas-AG-sues-Yelp-for-being-honest-about-crisis-pregnancy-centers

TWIN FALLS, IDAHO (KMVT/KSVT) — The Jim Risch for U.S. Senate Committee is facing a civil penalty after failing to return excessive contributions on time during his 2020 campaign, according to a negotiated settlement between the campaign and the Federal Election Commission.

Mia Maldonado with the Idaho Capitol Sun reported that according to the settlement, Risch’s committee campaign received $58,000 in excessive contributions from individuals during the 2020 election.

Under the negotiated settlement with the FEC, the campaign must pay $4,325 in fines after failing to resolve the excessive contributions on time.

Jason Risch, spokesperson for Risch’s campaign, said in an email that it has reviewed its procedures and has put policies in place to improve timeliness, which were presented to the FEC and were accepted as appropriate corrective actions.



https://www.kmvt.com/2023/10/01/idaho-us-senator-jim-rischs-campaign-fined-fec-violations/

he Manitoba NDP and Liberal parties rallied supporters Sunday as candidates rounded the final corner of the campaign trail, but Progressive Conservative Leader Heather Stefanson continued to shun the spotlight.

Stefanson did not hold any media events on the weekend, and has not held a news conference in Winnipeg for more than a week. But the Tory leader is expected to appear before reporters on Monday, when she will release her party’s fully costed platform at the PC’s campaign headquarters on the eve of election day.

So far, 200,790 voters — a new record in advanced polling in the province — have cast ballots for the 43rd Manitoba legislature.

“We’re pleased with how many Manitobans have voted in advance. It’s great to see people coming out,” said Mike Ambrose, communications director for Elections Manitoba.





https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2023/10/01/manitoba-parties-hit-final-campaign-stretch

BOISE, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Idaho law makers will not gather in Boise for a special session to fix an errant error in Idaho’s president primary election, as Sunday was the deadline for the Republican National Committee to finalize primary plans.

The lack of lawmaker action, or willingness to compromise at the statehouse, means that voters from Idaho’s two major political parities will caucus next year to select nominees for president. Due to the fact that the bill what was passed earlier this year by Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane errantly omitted Idaho’s presidential primary election.

Last week at the statehouse, Idaho’s elected officials couldn’t come to an agreement over two competing proposals that would have caused a special session to reinstate the presidential primary.

Idaho Republican and Democratic parties have opted for a state-run presidential primary in March, but without a legal mechanism for the state to run the elections, both parties have made plans to caucus.



https://www.kmvt.com/2023/10/02/no-presidential-primary-idahoans-2024-rnc-deadline-was-sunday-oct-1st/

Warren — In a city torn by division between longtime Mayor Jim Fouts and the City Council, two candidates are seeking to replace Fouts, with one touting his experience and knowledge of the city, and the other emphasizing her ability to respond to community needs.

For four years, Fouts and the council have fought and deadlocked on issues such as the budget, a fire cadet training program and the creation of a new downtown area through a proposed town square adjacent to city hall with retail, dining, apartments, a food market and a hotel. Some of the issues have ended up in court.

George Dimas, the city’s human resources director, and Lori Stone (D), a state representative from Warren, are both vowing to heal the divide while vying for the top spot in Warren city government after voter-approved city term limits stopped Fouts from running for reelection. The 16-year mayor is appealing his case in the federal courts while the Nov. 7 election is approaching without him.

Warren residents are looking for a new direction of "coming together as a community" and an end to the polarization, said Southfield-based political consultant Mario Morrow.






https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/10/01/george-dimas-lori-stone-to-face-off-in-nov-7-warren-mayoral-election/70921494007/

Bruce Cummings was having a hard time sleeping, when just the opposite should have been the case.

He’s 64 — the new 44. In December he retired, after selling the family hardware business — the one he spent his life building up — for a nice profit. I’ve known Bruce for a long time; he skis, bicycles, fly-fishes, plays golf, has season tickets to the nationally ranked Utes, loves to travel. His and Michelle’s kids are grown and squared away. Their last one, Audrey, enrolled at the U. this year and moved into the dorms, eager to be independent.

So what’s the problem?

It’s his country.

He thinks the divisiveness, the polarization, the discord, the partisanship, the extremism, the anger and demonization of those who don’t have similar views, the direction our democracy is headed — all of that — is worse than he’s ever seen it.



https://www.deseret.com/utah/2023/10/1/23884012/utah-closed-primary-elections-people4utah

The local and regional elections that will take place on October 8 – and the 15th for runoffs – were supposed to be of limited importance, following the ruling conservative New Democracy’s triumph in the May and June national elections.

Successive natural disasters – wildfires in August and floods in September – along with the election of an unconventional political neophyte as opposition leader have added more than a dose of suspense. Will the government be punished for its management of the disasters? Will the new left-wing SYRIZA party leader excite the voters?

New Democracy controls 11 of 13 of Greece’s regions; in one, the North Aegean, the incumbent is a conservative dissenter; and in Crete, a former socialist lawmaker is running as the heavy favorite to win a fourth term. In 2019, Stavros Arnaoutakis was backed by SYRIZA and the socialist PASOK. This time, New Democracy, opting for the “if you can’t beat them, join them” strategy, has decided to endorse him, while SYRIZA is running its own candidate.

With recent opinion polls, the first ones since the double elections and also since the natural disasters, not showing much of a dent in support for New Democracy and no lift for SYRIZA, the danger to New Democracy’s dominance comes from three dissenters, in the regions of the Ionian Islands, the Peloponnese and Western Macedonia. It is also unknown how the recent flooding will affect the candidacy of the incumbent conservative governor of Thessaly, Kostas Agorastos, who, until a month ago, appeared to be a shoo-in for a fourth mandate. His main challenger has the support of both PASOK and SYRIZA, one of only three regions in which both parties support a common candidate.



https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1221384/local-elections-to-test-conservatives/