FLIPPABLE: Terra Lawson-Remer for San Diego County Supervisor.

Terra Lawson-Remer is a third-generation San Diegan, who served as Senior Advisor in the Obama Administration developing environmental policies to cut pollution from oil drilling and mining.

As an economist with the United Nations and World Bank, she worked around the world to create jobs, restart businesses, and generate economic activity after a crisis. As an educator and local Community College Advisory Board member, Terra teaches public policy and mentors disadvantaged students. And as a small businesswoman, Terra understands firsthand the challenges facing the business community during the COVID-19 crisis.

Terra puts public health first. She will listen to County health officials, expand coronavirus testing and contact tracing, and mount an evidence-based pandemic response. Terra is the only Supervisor candidate committed to defending the Affordable Care Act and ensuring access to healthcare for every San Diegan.

Terra has a proven track-record of environmental leadership. She will protect our open spaces from sprawl development and our communities from traffic and congestion, and implement a bold County Climate Action Plan to fight climate change and create new economic opportunities for local businesses and workers.

As a single mom, Terra knows the struggles of working parents. Terra will expand access to quality, affordable childcare and preschool education so working parents can earn a living.

Terra has a lifelong track record of bringing people together to solve problems, and will defend San Diego County from Trump Administration attacks on our civil rights, public health and quality of life.

After graduating from Yale, Terra earned a full scholarship to law and graduate school, receiving her PhD and law degree from NYU. Terra is also a certified emergency medical responder (EMT), and in her free time she takes kids on backpacking trips to teach teamwork, personal resilience, and respect for nature.

Terra lives in Encinitas with her daughter Eevkai. Terra is running for San Diego County Board of Supervisors to improve the quality of life for all San Diegans.






https://www.terralawsonremer.org/

This election could give Democrats control of San Diego County, CA, for the first time in 30 years

A single race on Nov. 3 will determine whether Democrats will take their first majority on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors in over 30 years or if Republicans will maintain control of California’s second-most populous county.

Republican incumbent Kristin Gaspar is defending District 3, a coastal seat that supported Hillary Clinton 57-37 before backing Democrat Gavin Newsom 57-43 in the 2018 gubernatorial contest, from former Treasury official Terra Lawson-Remer. Each party has already secured two of the other districts of this five-member body, so it will be up to the voters in District 3 which party will have a 3-2 majority.

San Diego County, which is home to the city of San Diego and many of its suburbs, spent decades as a GOP stronghold up and down the ballot. After backing FDR during his final campaign in 1944, the county would not support another Democratic presidential nominee until Bill Clinton narrowly took it in 1992. The county went back into the GOP column for the following three presidential elections, but Barack Obama went on to carry it during both of his presidential campaigns. Hillary Clinton also scored a 56-37 victory in 2016, which was Team Blue’s best showing since FDR’s 1936 landslide.

Republicans, though, have continued to dominate the county government despite this big shift to the left. Team Red even earned a 5-0 majority in 2016 after Gasper won a four-year term by unseating Democratic incumbent Dave Roberts—whose staffers accused him of impropriety—50.3-49.7.



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/23/1989051/-This-election-could-give-Democrats-control-of-San-Diego-County-CA-for-the-first-time-in-30-years

CO-03: Mitsch Bush pushes collaboration, denounces extremism

Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional District Diane Mitsch Bush touted her history of collaboration during her time in the Colorado Legislature, along with her evidence-based policies, in a virtual town hall with Southwest Colorado counties on Wednesday.

Mitsch Bush said she was “known for working across the aisle” in the legislature during disasters like wildfires, floods and drought, and “supporting evidence-based, science-based policy.”

The online event had about 40 participants.

One of those participants, Hilary Cooper, asked Mitsch Bush what she would do to bridge the urban and rural divide in Southwest Colorado.

“The best way to solve problems is to get everyone to the table and get folks to listen to each other,” Mitsch Bush said. Those conversations then provide the basis for bills in Congress, Mitsch Bush said.

This was her strategy when she worked with Republican colleagues on a local bill to make it easier for constituent communities to have micro-hydropower systems, which produce electricity using the natural flow of water, she said.

“Tackling climate change will increase economic opportunity,” not stifle it as some conservatives have suggested, Mitsch Bush said.

Colorado State Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango, expressed her support for Mitsch Bush during the town hall, saying Mitsch Bush has “thoroughly read the bills she has talked about.”




https://the-journal.com/articles/191648

MO-02: Fears of lawlessness and disgust with Trump clash in suburban St. Louis toss-up race

Lynn Schmidt, a part-time nurse with a disabled child who lives in suburban St. Louis, was appalled when Donald Trump mocked a reporter with a disability just months before the 2016 election. She voted third party that year.

Schmidt, 51, has voted for Republican Rep. Ann Wagner three times since 2012. She appreciated Wagner’s anti-abortion stance and hoped that the former state party chair could somehow help curb the president’s worst instincts.

This year, she voted for Wagner’s Democratic challenger, state Sen. Jill Schupp, in a race most political professionals consider a toss-up.

“I was hoping the institution of the Republican Party would’ve stopped (Trump), but they didn’t,” Schmidt said.

In Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, the state’s wealthiest and most educated, many white suburban women view another vote for Wagner as a vote for more Trumpism. Wagner’s votes aligned with Trump 94.3% of the time, according to polling site FiveThirtyEight.



https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article246557238.html#storylink=cpy

Young voters seem energized.

NC-11: A website for a G.O.P. House candidate flings a racist attack at a journalist.

Madison Cawthorn, a Republican candidate for the House from North Carolina, created an attack website accusing a journalist of leaving a job in academia “to work for non-white males, like Cory Booker, who aims to ruin white males running for office.”

The journalist, Tom Fiedler, who had written favorably about Mr. Cawthorn’s opponent, is a former dean of the Boston University College of Communications. He volunteered for the 2020 presidential campaign of Senator Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey.

Mr. Fiedler has since written articles and fact-checks about Mr. Cawthorn for a nonprofit news website in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district, where Mr. Cawthorn is facing Moe Davis, a former Air Force prosecutor.

The attack on Mr. Fiedler was reported by The Bulwark, which called it “a despicable smear” echoing racist remarks by Mr. Trump.

In a statement, Mr. Davis said Mr. Cawthorn had “proven time and time again that he is unfit for public office.”

“Revelations about Madison Cawthorn’s blatantly racist comment come days after over 150 former classmates at Patrick Henry College — more than half the entire student body during his time there — signed a letter and posted it online calling Mr. Cawthorn a ‘sexual predator’ who lied and vandalized property while attending the college for a little over a semester in 2016-17,” Mr. Davis said.




https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/us/elections/a-website-for-a-gop-house-candidate-flings-a-racist-attack-at-a-journalist.html

NY-24: Dana Balter, John Katko each raise $200K in two weeks as election nears

The money continues to flow into the 24th Congressional District race.

In their pre-election filings, which covers the period from Oct. 1-14, Republican U.S. Rep. John Katko and Democratic challenger Dana Balter each reported raising more than $200,000 in two weeks.

Balter, D-Syracuse, outraised Katko, R-Camillus, with a $275,707 haul. Katko had $211,391 in total receipts. But Katko has the cash-on-hand advantage, with $891,453 to Balter's $119,720.

Most of Balter's funding came from individual donors. Donations from individuals accounted for $229,326, or 83.2%, of her total receipts. Katko received 47% of his total contributions from individuals ($99,392).

Katko received a majority of his money from political action committees or other groups ($111,000). Balter collected $18,250 in donations from PACs and other committees.

Notable donors to Balter's campaign included Edward Norton, an actor known for his roles in several films, including "American History X" and "Fight Club." Norton gave $1,555.56, records show.

Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, donated the maximum amount — $2,800 — to support Balter's congressional bid. She also received $1,000 from Steve Williams, a Syracuse attorney who is technically one of her opponents in the 24th district race. Williams will appear on the Working Families Party line, but he's not campaigning for the seat. He has endorsed Balter for Congress.



https://auburnpub.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/dana-balter-john-katko-each-raise-200k-in-two-weeks-as-election-nears/article_9879dd83-c9fd-518c-91ff-139c87958ee8.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest

About third of Florida voters have already cast their ballots in election

About one-third of Florida’s registered voters have already participated in the Nov. 3 elections, according to figures posted Friday morning by the state Division of Elections.

More than 4.77 million ballots had been cast by mail or at early voting sites, including 2.11 million by Democrats and 1.68 million by Republicans. The state has 14.4 million registered voters for the election.

Early voting started Monday in most of the state and was available Friday in all but seven counties. Those counties — Bay, Glades, Gulf, Hamilton, Suwannee, Union and Walton — will start Saturday.

Counties are required to hold early voting through Oct. 31 and have the option to continue on Nov. 1.

As of Friday morning, Democrats had returned 1.61 million mail-in ballots, while Republicans had returned 1.04 million. Republicans were up over Democrats in early voting by a margin of 641,324 to 499,802. Floridians with no party affiliation had cast 687,692 vote-by-mail ballots, and 234,115 had gone to early voting sites. The remainder of ballots were cast by third-party voters.





https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/state/2020/10/23/almost-5-million-floridas-14-4-million-voters-have-already-cast-their-ballots-election-trump-biden/3743524001/

Souls to the Polls, #walkthevote plan 'massive' weekend events throughout Central Florida

As the 2020 campaign season enters its final stretch, two nonpartisan efforts to get out the vote will be holding parades and prayer services this weekend, hoping to urge Central Florida residents to drop off their absentee ballots in person.

Souls to the Polls, the annual voter-turnout initiative led by Black churches, is retooling in the age of COVID-19 to a drive-in “Park and Praise” event on Sunday.

The Equal Ground Education Fund, a Black-led non-partisan and nonprofit organization, is hosting events at Orlando’s Amway Arena and Sanford’s Allen Chapel AME Church. The Amway event, expected to be one of the largest in the state, will feature Pastor Derrick McRae, founder of The Experience Christian Center, radio personality and stand-up comedian Rickey Smiley, community leaders, gospel choirs, elected officials and political candidates — all while attendees remain in their own vehicles.

“Park & Praise” — financed in large part by actor, director and producer Tyler Perry — is targeting over 250,000 Black voters across 25 Florida counties, organizers said.



https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/2020-election/os-ne-2020-election-souls-to-the-polls-orlando-20201024-is3ijxhkeze5djt6kpslxju65u-story.html

A mayoral campaign ad includes Miami's police chief. The department wants it dropped

Miami police are asking Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Esteban “Steve” Bovo Jr. to take down a TV ad that includes an image of the county commissioner standing with the city’s police chief.

Deputy Chief Ronald Papier said the department first notified the Bovo campaign verbally earlier this week and that on Friday it forwarded an email explaining how using their likeness to insinuate supporting a political candidate was against department policy.

As senior police administrators “for a major American city, we are not only public officials, but also, public figures. Therefore, it is imperative that we remain both explicitly and implicitly impartial during all elections for public office,” the department said in an email sent to Bovo by Assistant Chief Armando Aguilar Jr.

“We will review the letter,” Bovo said Friday afternoon.

The video in question, which can be found on YouTube, is an endorsement by Miami’s Police Benevolent Association, the county’s police union. In it, PBA President Steadman Stahl says the union fears Bovo’s challenger, Daniella Levine Cava, would cut resources for police. Levine Cava has denied this, pointing to past votes for budgets increasing the county police budget.



https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article246662088.html#storylink=cpy