RandySF
RandySF's JournalVA: Anti-redistricting side calls in reinforcements
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The “No” side is calling in reinforcements to help oppose Virginia’s redistricting referendum that could give Democrats the power to redraw Virginia’s congressional map.
Former Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin is set to hit the campaign trail in Lynchburg on April 11 to oppose the redistricting referendum, alongside Republican Congressman John McGuire (VA-05) and Republican members of the General Assembly.
“Youngkin’s voice, I think, still matters to Republicans and Youngkin wasn’t brought in here to try to get Democrats to vote ‘No’ — he was brought in here to drive Republican turnout,” Randolph-Macon Political Science Professor Rich Meagher told 8News.
Meanwhile, on that same day, U.S. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04) will headline a fundraiser in Great Falls for Virginians for Fair Maps, the main campaign opposing redistricting in Virginia.
https://www.wric.com/news/politics/capitol-connection/anti-redistricting-side-calls-in-reinforcements/
Florida man gets prison for Michigan campaign signature fraud scheme
Mount Clemens — A Florida man has been sentenced to spend at least two years in prison for his role in a signature fraud scheme that kept the names of multiple judicial and gubernatorial candidates off the August 2022 primary ballot.
Willie Reed was sentenced Tuesday to two to 15 years in prison and will have to pay more than $333,000 in restitution to Perry Johnson's campaign strategist and candidates Ryan Kelley, James Craig and Michael Markey, but he will not have to serve the sentence until his appeal works its way through the courts.
Reed was found guilty Feb. 9 of forging or allowing the forgery of signatures on nominating petitions and defrauding the August 2022 Republican gubernatorial campaigns of Johnson, Craig and Markey. He also was convicted of stealing from Kelley's gubernatorial campaign.
His codefendant, Shawn Wilmoth, was sentenced to four to 20 years in prison for similar acts. Wilmoth's wife, Jamie Wilmoth, was acquitted of all charges.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/macomb-county/2026/03/31/florida-man-sentenced-in-michigan-campaign-signature-fraud-scheme/89399710007/
PA-01: Can Bob Harvie (D) End Brian Fitzpatrick's Tenure in Congress?
Ten years ago, a supervisory special agent for the FBI ran for Congress for a seat previously held by his brother and won.
Over the last decade, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, younger brother of Mike, has been a target for Democrats in a primarily purple Bucks County district. And four times since he has won reelection, defeating Scott Wallace (2018), Christine Finello (2020), and Ashley Ehasz (2022, 2024).
Now, Bucks County commissioner Bob Harvie is taking a run at the former attorney and special forces veteran. And Democrats are feeling as good as ever about the 54-year-old’s chances.
An internal poll obtained by PoliticsPA says that Fitzpatrick is struggling against Harvie with his numbers fading significantly since that 2018 race that the incumbent won by fewer than 8,000 votes.
https://www.politicspa.com/can-bob-harvie-end-brian-fitzpatricks-tenure-in-congress/146005/
Sherrill job approvals at 58%, new FDU poll shows
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has a 58%-34% job approval rating after two months in office, a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released this morning shows.
The poll has Sherrill sitting on a 88%-7% approval rating among Democrats, results that closely mirror a poll conducted last month by powerbroker George E. Norcross III.
Sherrill is at 85% among liberals and 88% with progressives. The fledgling governor is at 50%-40% among independents, and upside-down at 22%-71% among Republicans; Sherrill is at 25%-65% among conservatives, and 14%-75% among MAGA voters. Among moderates, Sherril has a 63%-27% job approval.
“As the governor starts having to make tough choices, these numbers are going to go down,” said Cassino. “The question is what Sherrill does with her high support while she has it.”
https://newjerseyglobe.com/governor/sherrill-job-approvals-at-58-new-fdu-poll-shows/
NJ-08: Ali (D) seeks to make AIPAC an issue in campaign
After a huge influx of spending from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee reshaped the Democratic primary in one New Jersey congressional district, an underdog challenger in a neighboring district is trying to make the pro-Israel group into a top campaign issue.
Mussab Ali, who is challenging Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) for renomination in his urban North Jersey district, has released several statements in recent weeks calling on Menendez to disavow AIPAC and reject their funding. Ali, a former school board president in Jersey City, told the New Jersey Globe that AIPAC’s past and present support for Menendez should give voters serious pause about supporting him again.
“AIPAC is being funded by billionaire MAGA donors who have made it explicitly clear that their mission is to take down anyone who is even remotely critical of the state of Israel,” Ali said. “The majority of voters do not want someone who is putting the interest of a foreign government ahead of the people of their own state.”
Menendez responded that he has not been afraid to break with pro-Israel groups and criticize Israel when he believes they’re wrong. If AIPAC and its donors want to continue supporting him anyway, he said, that is their choice.
https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/ali-seeks-to-make-aipac-an-issue-in-nj-8-campaign/
NJ-12: Sue Altman (D) to stay on ballot after petition challenges fall short
A trio of petition challenges against Sue Altman have fallen short, allowing Altman to remain on the ballot and keeping the wide-open Democratic primary for the 12th congressional district on track.
Altman, a progressive activist and former top staffer to Senator Andy Kim, filed to run for the Central Jersey district with 1,022 signatures, more than double the 500 she needed. A series of issues with her petition circulators, however, prompted several rival campaigns to attest that she had in fact fallen below the signature threshold and needed to be removed from the June 2 primary ballot.
During a nearly 14-hour hearing that took up all of yesterday and continued into this morning, Administrative Law Judge Michael Stanzione evaluated hundreds of individual challenges to Altman’s petitions. Stanzione ultimately ruled that 358 of the signatures were invalid, keeping Altman well above the 500-signature threshold; he’s now set to issue an advisory opinion to that effect, though the ultimate decision about ballot access rests with Secretary of State Dale Caldwell.
“I think this is yet another piece of evidence that we’re the frontrunner,” Altman told the New Jersey Globe after the challenges failed. “These are absurd and desperate attacks, and it’s because we’re going to win this thing.”
https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/sue-altman-to-stay-on-nj-12-ballot-after-trio-of-petition-challenges-fall-short/
Hochul leads Blakeman by 13 points in latest Siena poll
While Gov. Kathy Hochul still holds a double-digit lead over her likely GOP gubernatorial opponent Bruce Blakeman, the latest poll from Siena College shows that lead has continued to dwindle.
According to the new poll, Hochul would beat Blakeman, the current Nassau County executive, by 13 points among registered voters. That’s down 7 points from Siena’s previous poll released at the start of the month, and an even bigger dip compared to the 26-point lead the governor had in an early February survey. The latest poll, which had Hochul beating Blakeman 47-34%, is also the first time this year Hochul has not won the support of a majority of registered voters. While Democrats and Republicans remained largely split along party lines, Blakeman now has more support among independents, taking the group after Hochul previously held a slim plurality.
“While Hochul maintains very narrow leads upstate and in the downstate suburbs, her lead in New York City fell from 46 points, 63-17%, last month to 29 points, 54-25%, today,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said. “Is that movement or merely noise? Let’s see what happens next month after the budget and as the campaign unfolds.”
A recent poll from Tusk Strategies reported in Politico New York came to a similar conclusion as the Siena poll. According to that poll, Hochul holds a 15-point lead over Blakeman.
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/03/hochul-leads-blakeman-just-13-points-latest-siena-poll/412505/?oref=csny-category-lander-featured-river
Alabama becomes the 24th state to prohibit foreign nationals or governments from contributing to ballot measure committe
Lawmakers in 36 states acted on 520 election-related bills over the past week. Thirty-five state legislatures are in regular or special sessions. In the last week, 20 bills were enacted, 22 bills passed both chambers of a state legislature, and no bills were vetoed.
Of the bills acted on this week, 207 (39.8%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 160 (30.8%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 153 (29.4%) are in states with divided government. The most active bill categories this week were campaign finance (161), election types and stages (125), and ballot measures (99).
Ballotpedia is currently tracking 4,285 election-related bills across the country. We are actively processing bills filed since March 21.
The chart below breaks down the status of those 4,285 bills by where they stand in the legislative process:
https://news.ballotpedia.org/2026/03/31/the-ballot-bulletin-alabama-becomes-the-24th-state-to-prohibit-foreign-nationals-or-governments-from-contributing-to-ballot-measure-committees/
CA-GOV: California sheriff used 'non-existent' quotes in legal defense of ballot seizures
In the filing, Bianco’s attorney argued that the voters didn’t have standing to file suit, citing a ruling in the case Common Cause v. Board of Supervisors that standing requires “a grievance shared in substantially equal measure by all or a large class of citizens.”
But that quotation “appears nowhere in the opinion,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys noted. And they argued it was part of a “concerning pattern” throughout Bianco’s brief.
“Several cases cited in the brief reference real cases but point to non-existent quotes and made-up holdings. Several citations are to cases that do not stand for the proposition Respondent represents,” they wrote.
In fact, the Common Cause ruling cited in Bianco’s brief actually demonstrates that the voters do have standing, they noted.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/california-sheriff-used-non-existent-quotes-in-legal-defense-of-ballot-seizures/
PA-GOV: Pennsylvania governor candidate Stacy Garrity says GOP was correct to let health care tax credits expire
Stacy Garrity, the Republican frontrunner in Pennsylvania’s 2026 gubernatorial race, says congressional Republicans were “absolutely correct” to let the premium tax credits for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expire.
Garrity made the comments during a Christmas party with the Monroe Council of Republican women on Dec. 17, 2025, weeks after Republicans in Congress decided to allow the tax credits to expire and increase health care costs for millions of Americans. According to audio provided to Heartland Signal, after an audience member asked for her thoughts about health care, Garrity said that her party is going “down the right path to fix it” and that they will solve the health care crisis.
“So I think they’re going down the right path to fix it. I think that’s absolutely the right thing to do,” Garrity said. “Don’t give money to the insurance companies. Give it to the people. I mean, I get it. But, so I think I have 100% confidence that Republicans are going to solve this, and they’re starting to go down the right path. We just need a little bit more time.”
Garrity’s campaign did not respond to requests to comment for this story.
https://heartlandsignal.com/2026/03/30/pennsylvania-governor-candidate-stacy-garrity-says-gop-was-correct-to-let-health-care-tax-credits-expire/
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