(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Morning Digest: An old scandal resurfaces for Texas attorney general one week ahead of GOP primary [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2022-02-22 Four of Paxton’s senior aides also filed a lawsuit, which is still ongoing, saying they were fired after they reported this behavior to law enforcement: Among other things, this group claims that Paul helped their former boss remodel his home and, upon the attorney general's recommendation, hired a woman Paxton was involved in an affair with. In August of last year, the attorney general's office released its own report exonerating him from the whistleblower allegations; the FBI, for its part, has not commented on the reported probe. Paxton was asked about the lawsuit by a conservative radio host a few weeks ago and responded by claiming that the whistleblowers "didn't come to him" with their concerns before contacting the FBI and argued that "no one has ever disputed" the conclusions of his in-house document. The incumbent also used a separate interview to make the evidence-free accusation that the FBI had "infiltrated" his office before the four senior aides even spoke to the Bureau, adding, "I was investigating the FBI for corruption, so it's kind of convenient." The whistleblowers, though, said Monday they'd repeatedly talked to Paxton before going to the FBI in September of 2020, and that they didn't believe it was looking into him before then. They also pushed back on Paxton's characterization of his own office's report, which they said "selectively ignored some of the most troubling allegations we reported to the FBI, like Paxton providing blatant political favors to a campaign donor – the same campaign donor who has admitted in sworn testimony to hiring a woman at Paxton's behest, a woman with whom media reports reveal Paxton had an extramarital affair." The group also went after their former boss for suggesting that they were the ones who had broken the law, saying, "Paxton is under criminal investigation, not the whistleblowers." This development comes at a time when Paxton is in a competitive primary for renomination against four opponents, and a poll conducted days before showed him below the majority he’d need to avoid a second round. UT Tyler, working on behalf of the Dallas Morning News, has the incumbent taking 39% of the vote, while Land Commissioner George P. Bush holds a 25-13 lead over former state Supreme Court Justice Eve Guzman for second as Rep. Louie Gohmert brings up the rear with just 7%. The only other survey we've seen this month was from YouGov for the University of Texas, and it showed Paxton in stronger shape with 47% as Bush outpaced Guzman 21-16. All three of Paxton's intra-party opponents have attacked his ethics, but for now, Bush, who has plenty of longtime conflicts with the GOP base, is focused on making sure he's the candidate who gets to be in a runoff. In his new ad, Bush's narrator says the candidate "will finish the wall" while Guzman "won't protect Texas." Redistricting ● WY Redistricting: The Wyoming state House has passed a new map that would increase the number of House seats from 60 to 62 and Senate seats from 30 to 31, which would make it the first state this cycle to change the number of members it elects to its legislature. The legislation now goes to the upper chamber for consideration. Senate ● WA-Sen: Public Policy Polling (D) for the Northwest Progressive Institute: Patty Murray (D-inc): 50, Tiffany Smiley (R): 41 (Nov.: 50-37 Murray) Governors ● CA-Gov: 2018 Republican nominee John Cox, a perennial candidate who got plenty of attention, but few votes, by campaigning in last year's recall with a 1,000 pound black bear, said over the weekend that he would sit this year's election out. ● Nebraska: The deadline for any sitting office-holders seeking to be on Nebraska's May 10 primary ballot, regardless of whether they were seeking re-election or another office, passed on Feb. 15, while the deadline for everyone else is coming up on March 1. You can find a list of people who have filed so far here; we'll have a comprehensive rundown after March 1 of the races for governor and the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts. ● NV-Gov: Better Nevada PAC has launched a TV commercial attacking Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak and promoting Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo ahead of the June Republican primary, and the Nevada Independent says it's running for six-figures. The spot begins by portraying Sisolak as weak on crime and, citing the conservative Heritage Foundation, claims the governor "made our elections less secure, now the worst in the nation." (Among the categories that Heritage gives the Silver State scores of 0 for in its "Election Integrity Scorecard" are "Restriction of Same-day registration" and "Restriction of Automatic Registration.") The narrator goes on to say Lombardo will make the state "safer" and will "require voter ID to vote and make ballot harvesting a crime again." ● PA-Gov: Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano belatedly submitted campaign financial disclosures that record him raising $360,000 in 2021 and finishing the year with $550,000 on hand, but the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that his report "left some GOP insiders scratching their heads — and raised questions about whether his campaign is following the rules." Most notably, the senator said he spent less than $15,000 for that entire period, all of it in January of last year, while he didn't report spending anything on several subsequent events. ● TX-Gov: UT Tyler's latest poll for the Dallas Morning News finds Gov. Greg Abbott easily defeating former state party chair Allen West 60-7 in next week's Republican primary. House ● CA-22 (special): The state has released a list of candidates for the April 5 all-party special election to succeed Devin Nunes, who resigned last month to lead Donald Trump's new social media app (the rollout is not going well), and four Republicans and two Democrats are competing here. If no one earns a majority, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, would compete in the June 7 general election that would take place the same day as the regular statewide primary. Trump carried this Central Valley seat 52-46, but Republicans have done better down the ballot. The eventual winner probably won't be in Congress long, however, because there really isn't a plausible district where any of them could campaign for a full term. One Republican, businessman Michael Maher, has said he'll run in the new 21st District against Democratic Rep. Jim Costa, but he'd face a very difficult race in a seat that Joe Biden would have carried 59-39. By contrast, fellow Republican Connie Conway, a former state Assembly minority leader who appears to be the special frontrunner, has promised not to run anywhere this fall. The GOP side also includes Elizabeth Heng, who challenged Democratic Rep. Jim Costa in the 2018 race for the old 16th District and lost 58-42; and businessman Matt Stoll, who identifies as pro-choice. The two Democrats are Marine veteran Eric Garcia, who took 3% in the 2020 top-two primary as an independent, and Lourin Hubbard, who is an official at the California Department of Water Resources. Both Garcia and Hubbard were running against Nunes before he bolted, but neither of them had more than $18,000 on hand at the end of last year. ● CA-42: In her deep look at the June top-two primary for this open seat, the Los Angeles Times' Seema Mehta notes that Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia earned an endorsement last month from retiring Rep. Alan Lowenthal, a fellow Democrat who represents 38% of the new 42nd District. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, who is also not seeking re-election, represents a 48% plurality of the redrawn seat, but she has not yet taken sides in the intra-party contest between the mayor and Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (the two candidates do not appear to be related). This constituency, which includes Long Beach and cities to its north, would have backed Joe Biden 72-26, so it's very possible two Democrats will advance to the November general election. Both Robert Garcia and Cristina Garcia entered the race in late December, but only the former started fundraising in 2021; Robert Garcia brought in $323,000, and he had $312,000 on hand at the end of the year. The Long Beach mayor, whom Mehta writes “has been accused of being too beholden to powerful donors,” is a former Republican who served as a state youth coordinator for George W. Bush in 2000 and founded the Long Beach Young Republicans five years later. Garcia, who registered as an independent in 2007 and a Democrat in 2010, argues he's long ago left behind his GOP past and now has a progressive record: Both Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla agree, as they quickly endorsed his campaign shortly after he announced. Cristina Garcia isn't so convinced her opponent is a liberal, saying, "Everyone needs to run as a progressive these days. But is that what our record has shown?" The assemblywoman, Mehta notes, has her own potential liabilities, however. While she was one of the women leaders featured on the cover of Time for its 2017 Person of the Year issue for her advocacy for sexual harassment victims, she was soon investigated herself after a staffer accused her of making unwanted advances. Mehta writes, "Two Assembly investigations found that, although she had violated the Assembly's sexual harassment policy and was 'overly familiar' with a staff member while intoxicated, her behavior was not sexual." Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon responded in 2018 by stripping Garcia of her committee assignments, though he's now backing her campaign for Congress. Around that same time four years ago, news also broke about a pair of offensive comments Garcia made earlier in her tenure. Several sources recounted to Politico that in 2014, after a group of Asian American activists successfully lobbied to defeat legislation to end the state's ban on affirmative action in college admissions, Garcia told the Assembly Democratic caucus, "This makes me feel like I want to punch the next Asian person I see in the face." After the remarks became public, the assemblywoman said her words were taken out of context and that she was talking about how the matter created "unhealthy" divisions among people of color. Also in 2018, she acknowledged that she'd called then-Speaker John Pérez, who is gay, a "homo" in 2013, saying, "I did make that remark in a moment of anger … However, in no way was my use of that term meant to belittle Mr. Perez for his sexuality." Perez, notes Mehta, is supporting Robert Garcia. ● FL-10: Orlando City Commissioner Bakari Burns has announced that he won't enter the Democratic primary for this open seat. ● GA-10: Businessman Matt Richards declared Monday that he was exiting the May Republican primary for this open seat and endorsing businessman Mike Collins. ● IL-01: Primary School flags that real estate executive Nykea Pippion McGriff has filed FEC paperwork to seek this safely blue seat, though she does not appear to have made an announcement yet. ● MI-03: The Democratic group EMILY's List has released a mid-January survey from Impact Research arguing that Rep. Peter Meijer is in real danger of losing his August Republican primary to conservative commentator John Gibbs. Meijer starts with a 26-13 edge, but Gibbs pulls ahead after respondents are told that the congressman voted for impeachment and that Trump is endorsing the challenger. The poll was taken weeks before 2020 Democratic nominee Hillary Scholten, whom EMILY supported last time, launched her second campaign. ● MI-13: Detroit city official Adrian Tonon, who had been raising money for a bid against Republican Rep. Tim Walberg in the old 7th District, announced Friday he would campaign for the new and safely blue 13th instead. The Detroit Metro Times writes that Tonon, who ended 2021 with $162,000 on hand, was the "city's first 24-hour economy ambassador to lead music, film, and nighttime initiatives," a post nicknamed the "night mayor." Meanwhile another Democrat, Michigan Human Rights Commissioner Portia Roberson, filed FEC paperwork last week for a potential bid for this open Detroit-based constituency. ● MN-01, MN-Gov: State Rep. Jeremy Munson on Saturday did not rule out running in the May primary to succeed Rep. Jim Hagedorn, a fellow Republican who died the previous day. Munson told his local party convention that he wouldn't seek re-election to the legislature and said that his "immediate focus will be on ensuring a conservative is elected to represent" the 1st Congressional District. Axios' Torey Van Oot responded by tweeting that Munson is "seen as a likely candidate." Minnesota Public Radio's Brian Bakst also reports that Austin City Council member Jason Baskin is considering. Morning Take’s Blois Olson and Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier also listed plenty of Republicans who could compete here: Former state party chair Jennifer Carnahan Former state Rep. Brad Finstad State Rep. Barb Haley 2014 candidate Aaron Miller State Rep. Nels Pierson State Sen. Julie Rosen State Sen. Dave Senjem Carnahan is Hagedorn’s widow, while Miller lost the 2014 primary to the late congressman. State Sen. Carla Nelson, whom Hagedorn defeated for the nomination in 2018, was also mentioned, but she quickly said no. There were reports last year that Nelson was thinking about running for governor, but her declaration Monday that she would seek re-election finally closes the door on that possibility. Olson also reports that state Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller has also declined a House bid. On the Democratic side, state Sen. Nick Frentz didn't quite reject the idea of running in the special, but he sounds very unlikely to go for it. "I don't think it's right for me," he told Bakst, adding that he thought the party had "better options." ● MO-07: Pastor Alex Bryant announced last week that he was joining the crowded Republican primary for this safely red open seat, proclaiming, "I have come to realize that the radical secularists are not satisfied with merely promoting their ideas, rather they are using ridicule and intimidation to silence any voice opposed to their agenda." Bryant would be the first African American Republican to represent Missouri in Congress. ● NY-22: Nonprofit executive Vanessa Fajans-Turner, who leads what WAER characterizes as "an initiative aimed at persuading major banks to phase out financing for fossil fuels and to adopt climate-friendly financing policies," announced earlier this month she was joining the Democratic primary for the new 22nd District, an open seat that Joe Biden would have carried 58-40. ● TX-03: The Congressional Leadership Fund is spending $150,000 on advertising, mail, and get-out-the-vote efforts to boost Rep. Van Taylor ahead of next week's Republican primary in a race that hasn't attracted much outside attention. Taylor's most prominent intra-party foe is former Collin County Judge Keith Self, who has attacked the incumbent for voting to accept Joe Biden's Electoral College victory in the hours after the attack on the Capitol and for supporting the creation of the Jan. 6 commission. Taylor, though, has enjoyed a massive financial advantage from Jan. 1 to Feb. 9, which is the time the FEC defines as the pre-primary period: The incumbent outspent Self $495,000 to $56,000, and he had a $827,000 to $92,000 cash-on-hand lead for the final weeks. A few other Republicans are also running, so it's possible no one will earn the majority needed to avoid a May runoff. The eventual nominee should have no trouble in the fall in a seat the GOP legislature's new gerrymander has made safely red for the foreseeable future. Legislatures ● Special Elections: We're following one race in Connecticut on Tuesday: CT HD-71: Two candidates are competing to succeed former state Rep. Anthony D'Amelio, a Republican who announced late last year that he was resigning to focus on his restaurant, in a seat that includes part of Waterbury. Democrats control the state House 96-53, with one Democratic-held seat also vacant. The GOP is fielding Bill Pizzuto, who recently stepped down as campus director for the University of Connecticut Waterbury, while the Democratic nominee is former Waterbury Parks & Recreation Supervisor John Egan. Donald Trump won 55-41 here in 2016, though our preliminary data shows his margin dropping to 52-47 in 2020. There's also a special election on tap in Kentucky for HD-42, which is safely blue. Mayors ● Washington, D.C. Mayor: Our first poll of the June Democratic primary comes from Abt Associates for the Washington Post, and it finds Mayor Muriel Bowser leading Councilmember Robert White 47-19, with 17% going to Councilmember Trayon White (the two challengers are not related). It only takes a plurality to win the Democratic nod, which is tantamount to election in the District of Columbia. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/2/22/2081548/-Morning-Digest-An-old-scandal-resurfaces-for-Texas-attorney-general-one-week-ahead-of-GOP-primary Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/