December 5, 2018

Welcome to the Wednesday, December 5 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Raffensperger (R) defeats Barrow (D) in Georgia secretary of state runoff election
2. Facts about Chicago’s mayoral office
3. Speaking of Chicago… Did you know the Illinois statewide filing deadline for 2018 was a year ago today?

Georgia Republicans maintain the state's triplex

On Tuesday night, Brad Raffensperger (R) won the runoff election for Georgia's secretary of state with 52 percent of the vote to John Barrow's (D) 48 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

Barrow and Raffensperger advanced to the runoff following the November 6 general election in which neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. Brian Kemp (R) did not seek re-election as Georgia's secretary of state in 2018; he ran for and won the governorship.

In 2018, Georgia is a Republican triplex, meaning the governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are all Republicans. The party will maintain that status following the runoff election; Republicans won the gubernatorial and attorney general elections.

Election 2018 gave Democrats a net gain of five state government triplexes and reduced the number of Republican triplexes by four. These 2018 results trim the GOP advantage to 18 triplex states versus 17 for Democrats. Going into the election, Republicans held a 22-12 advantage. Triplexes matter because states where these officers are not all from the same party, differing political views often bring them into direct conflict with one another.

Find out which issues defined this race

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Facts about Chicago’s mayoral office

As you know from the past few weeks, we are excitedly digging into our coverage of Chicago's 2019 elections, including the race to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Twenty-one candidates filed to run for the open seat, which comes not only with considerable influence over the third-largest city's operations but a spot on the national stage. I was looking over some of the coverage yesterday, and a few fun facts jumped out at me.

Here's a taste of the national political significance Chicago and its mayors have demonstrated over time:

• Anton Cermak, elected mayor in 1931, was an influential campaigner for Franklin D. Roosevelt in Cook County, which FDR won along with the 1932 presidential election overall. Cermak met with FDR in Miami ahead of the inauguration to discuss Roosevelt's appointments and New Deal funding for Chicago. Cermak was shot in a failed assassination attempt on FDR and died weeks later.
   
• "In 1992, Chicago and Illinois were crucial to Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party," said David Wilhelm. "The Democratic nomination for all intents and purposes was won here." Wilhelm served as Clinton's campaign manager in 1992 and as campaign manager to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1989 and '91. Bill Daley—a 2019 mayoral candidate and the brother of Richard M. Daley—worked on his brother's campaigns and was named campaign chair for Al Gore's presidential bid in 2000.
   
• Rahm Emanuel held a number of top positions within the Democratic Party before running for mayor, including: White House senior adviser under Pres. Bill Clinton; U.S. House Democratic Caucus chair; chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and White House chief of staff under Pres. Barack Obama.

Speaking of Chicago… Did you know the Illinois statewide filing deadline for 2018 was a year ago today?

We already have our eyes out for 2020 deadlines and will update you as we have these figures, but we’re still also doing retrospectives on what happened in 2018.

Here are a few numbers we pulled today:

• For all of the offices we covered in 2018 (including the top 200 cities) 26,777 candidates were on a primary ballot, made it to a party convention, or participated in the general election.
   
• Looking at congressional candidates, 45 political parties had a candidate participate in an election.
   
  • The top three third-party/affiliation totals?
    • Libertarian
    • Independent candidates
    • Green Party