by Garrett Frisk Image credit: Bob Ferguson When Washington governor Jay Inslee announced he'd retire after three terms in office, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson quickly became the apparent frontrunner to succeed him. As Diamond Eye Candidate Report detailed in May, Ferguson launched his campaign with the support of a long list of elected officials; since then, that list has grown to include both Inslee and his predecessor as governor, Christine Gregoire. Today, Ferguson's path became even clearer when his biggest intra-party opponent, state Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, dropped out of the race to run for Congress instead. However, although Ferguson is likely to win, he still faces opposition from Democratic state senator Mark Mullet and two prominent Republicans, former U.S. Representative Dave Reichert and recently-recalled Richland school board member Semi Bird. Additionally, there are several other minor candidates in the race who have yet to receive media attention.  Image credit: William Combs One of those candidates is William Combs, a Navy veteran running as an independent. Combs, who is formerly homeless, says "equality starts with civility and respectfulness towards each other." Combs does not appear to have a campaign website, but his campaign Facebook page can be found here. Another independent in the race is Leon Lawson, a believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory. Lawson previously ran for governor in 2020 and U.S. Senate in 2022, both times using "Trump Republican Party" as his ballot label; he polled 0.9% of the vote in the former race and 3.1% of the vote in the latter. Lawson's website can be found here. There is also another Democrat in the race: artificial intelligence engineer Chayton Inman. Inman, a climate activist, recently ran 70 miles from Seattle to the Washington capital building to "give RIGHTS to the Earth and end exploitative systems". Inman's website can be found here.  Image credit: Ambra Mason Additionally, design company owner Ambra Mason is running under the Constitution Party. Mason says she will "protect our God given individual rights to life, liberty, and property, including Bill of rights protected freedoms." Her website can be found here. Other candidates include independent government transparency advocate Bobbie Samons, Democratic community college graduate Cassondra Hanson, Democratic retired King County Metro worker and frequent candidate Don Rivers, Democratic state-owned bank advocate Edward Cale, Republican anti-tax activist Kristine Schuler, and Democratic communications professional Reggie Grant.
by Garrett Frisk Image credit: Christy Kelly Last month, Diamond Eye Candidate Report profiled the candidates running for Arizona's Corporation Commission, the five-member body that regulates public utilities in the state. Since then, a new candidate has filed to run; Christy Kelly, a lawyer who owns a mediation business, has joined the Republican primary. Kelly says that if elected, her priorities would be "maintaining affordable utility rates, safeguarding the interests of Arizonans, combating unsound regulations, and upholding the Arizona Constitution." She is a big fan of Vivek Ramaswamy and even recorded a podcast with him earlier this year. Kelly is the fifth Republican in the race; there are three seats up for election in 2024, so Republicans will nominate three candidates. At least one of those candidates will be a non-incumbent, as one of the three seats is currently held by Democrat Anna Tovar, who has yet to announce whether she'll seek re-election. Kelly's campaign website can be found here.
by Garrett Frisk Image credit: Michael McGill In 2022, scandal-plagued Mississippi congressman Steven Palazzo was unseated by Jackson County sheriff Mike Ezell, who easily defeated the longtime incumbent in a Republican primary runoff. Now, Ezell faces primary challenges of his own, both from 2022 foe Carl Boyanton and from a new challenger, Army veteran Michael McGill. McGill says he now "plays the role of Disaster Manger with state-level organizations that provide rescue and recovery to devastated areas" during hurricane seasons. McGill, who lives in Long Beach, faces steep odds against Ezell, who has not generated any major controversies during his first term in the House. McGill's campaign website can be found here.
by Garrett Frisk Image credit: Jon Svitavsky Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders still has yet to announce whether he'll seek a fourth term in 2024, but that hasn't stopped other contenders from entering the race. Diamond Eye Candidate Report previously wrote that frequent candidate Cris Ericson was in the running, but now there's a second contender, and he's a familiar foe for Sanders; social worker Jon Svitavsky, who challenged Sanders in the Democratic primary in 2018, is running once again. In his 2018 campaign, Svitavsky accused Sanders of causing Donald Trump's victory by "dividing" the Democratic Party, and alleged that he was not a real Democrat. Svitavsky, who has started several homeless shelters, ended up dropping out before the primary. He has not officially launched his 2024 campaign yet, but he has confirmed that he will run, recently saying that he needed to raise another $570 before he could "make the National Announcement of my Candidacy for the US Senate against Bernie Sanders." Svitavsky's campaign website can be found here.
by Garrett FriskArizona's Corporation Commission is a five-member body tasked with regulating public utilities, similar to the offices of Public Service Commission and Public Utilities Commission found in other states. Although the Corporation Commission is relatively obscure, it has launched political careers in the past; Kris Mayes, the current Arizona Attorney General, was once chair of the Corporation Commission. Three seats on the Corporation Commission will be up for election in 2024; here's who has declared their campaign:  Image credit: Jonathon Hill Among Democrats, engineer Jonathan Hill and attorney Derek Faraldo are in the race. Hill, who works at Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility, ran for a seat on the corporation commission in 2022 but dropped out before the primary. Faraldo, meanwhile, is a former teacher who now works for the U.S. Army Reserve as a judges' advocate. Hill's campaign website can be found here, while Faraldo's website can be found here. Anna Tovar, the only Democrat on the Corporation Commission, is up for re-election in 2024, but has yet to declare her candidacy.  Image credit: Rene Lopez Declared Republicans in the race include Rene Lopez, a former at-large member of the Chandler city council, and Bryce Miller, a field engineer. Lopez, who also served as Chandler's vice mayor, ran for Arizona's 4th congressional district in 2022, polling 14.21% of the vote for a third-place finish in a field of five candidates; Kelly Cooper won with 28.39% of the vote ahead of a 56-44 loss to Democratic incumbent Greg Stanton in the general election. Meanwhile, Miller declared his candidacy on LinkedIn several months ago. It appears that neither candidate has established a campaign website, though Lopez does have a campaign Facebook page.  Image credit: state of Arizona Additionally, Republican incumbent Lea Márquez Peterson has confirmed that she will run for re-election. Márquez Peterson's website can be found here. However, she may face a tough fight in the primary after a fellow Republican commissioner, Jim O'Connor, endorsed a different candidate, Mesa school board member Rachel Walden. O'Connor, the current chair of the Corporation Commission, is up for re-election in 2024, and does not appear to have publicly said if he's running. If he does run, that would mean he's trying to box out Márquez Peterson; the two have sparred publicly in the past, with Márquez Peterson refusing to vote for O'Connor as chairman earlier this year because she objected to his claims of election fraud. Walden was also endorsed by two other Republicans on the commission, Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers, as well as former commissioner Justin Olson, state senator David Farnsworth, and state representatives Justin Heap, Barbara Parker, and Jacqueline Parker. Her campaign website can be found here.  Image credit: Richard Grayson Finally, there's Richard Grayson, an author and frequent candidate who has run for office in multiple states and under multiple parties. Grayson, who once served as co-chair of the Pinal County Green Party, is now a Democrat, but is running under the No Labels Party as a "performance art piece" intended to protest No Labels, which he sees as an effort to pull votes away from Joe Biden and get Donald Trump elected. Under Arizona election law, No Labels has no authority to prevent Grayson from running under their party's banner, even though the party does not want to run candidates for any office besides president. Grayson does not seem to have established an online campaign presence.
by Garrett Frisk Image credit: Peter Christofides The race to replace embattled Rep. George Santos has attracted numerous candidates from both major parties, and the Republican primary just gained a new entrant. Liberty University graduate student Peter Christofides has announced that he will challenge Santos, saying "I am running for Congress in 2024 to prevent the Federal Government from destroying the Liberties of Long Islanders!" Christofides previously worked as a barback, a floral delivery driver, and a cotton factory worker. He was also an intern for former Rep. Lee Zeldin in the summer of 2019. Christophides's campaign website can be found here. He is the 9th candidate to join the Republican primary; the high number of candidates increases the possibility that Santos will win renomination with a plurality of the vote. However, Santos appears to be negotiating with the Department of Justice ahead of his upcoming wire fraud trial; he may be negotiating a deal that would include a resignation, which would trigger a special election.
by Garrett FriskCalifornia's Senate primary continues to barrel onwards, and even though the primary is less than 6 months away, there are still new candidates entering the race. Here are some of the California Senate candidates who have yet to receive coverage from other media sources:  Image credit: David Peterson
 Image credit: John Rose
 Image credit: James Bradley
 Image credit: Mark Ruzon
 Image credit: Perry Pound
by Garrett FriskOur effort to ask every U.S. Representative if they are running for re-election in 2024 is still ongoing. Earlier today, Rep. Greg Casar's office forwarded us a press release that they sent out on September 5 announcing that Casar would seek a second term in 2024. It doesn't appear that any news outlets picked up on the story, so we've included the press release here in full. BREAKING: Congressman Greg Casar Officially Launches Re-Election Campaign “This is our state, this is our home, and we’re not going anywhere.” AUSTIN, TX – Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas) officially announces his re-election campaign for Texas Congressional District 35. “Our work for everyday Texans, and for all Americans, is just getting started,” said U.S. Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas). “Together, we can build an economy that works for working people, not just big corporations. We can restore civil rights and abortion rights. We can save our planet and our democracy for generations to come. That’s why I’m running for re-election.”
Casar is endorsed by U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), and many other elected officials, community leaders, unions, and progressive organizations. View Casar’s new campaign video here. by Garrett Frisk Image credit: Greg Whitten Arizona's 8th congressional district is quite red; Republican incumbent Debbie Lesko running unopposed in 2022, while Donald Trump carried the district with 56% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election. Despite this, the 8th district Democratic primary is becoming increasingly crowded. The newest entrant into the race is Greg Whitten, a biosecurity consultant who formerly worked for the U.S. Department of Defense; Whitten declared his candidacy with a launch video on September 7. Whitten promises to "put people over partisan politics and work to ensure every Arizonian feels safe and secure — safe from threats from at home and from abroad, secure in a retirement that’s been put at risk, all as part of an Arizona economy that’s creating jobs." His campaign website can be found here.
by Garrett Frisk Image credit: U.S. Congress Up until now, Michigan Republicans have failed to attract a high-profile candidate to run for U.S. Senate seat left open by incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow's retirement, as Democrats have largely coalesced behind U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin. However, that all changed today when former U.S. Representative Mike Rogers formed a campaign committee to run for Senate and launched a Mike Rogers for Senate campaign website complete with a launch video. Rogers first entered the politician scene in 1994 with his election to the state senate, before joining the U.S. House in 2000 by flipping the seat that Stabenow left behind to run for Senate with a narrow 111-vote win. After that race, Rogers never had trouble holding down his 8th congressional district seat. In 2014, Rogers, then the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, retired to launch a radio show. He largely disappeared from the political scene after that, but he re-emerged earlier this year when he expressed interest in running for president. However, Rogers decided against joining that race and is instead running for U.S. Senate in his home state of Michigan, despite the fact that he now lives and is registered to vote in Florida (Rogers is reportedly "scoping out property in Michigan"). Ironically, he is once again seeking to flip Debbie Stabenow's seat. Rogers joins a primary that includes Michigan State Board of Education member Nikki Snyder and Berrien County commissioner Ezra Scott, though former U.S. Representative Peter Meijer has also formed an exploratory committee to run and national Republicans are reportedly urging New York Stock Exchange vice chair John Tuttle to enter as well.
|