May 20, 2019

Welcome to the Monday, May 20 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Kentucky gubernatorial, Philadelphia mayoral primaries, and PA-12 special, among tomorrow's elections
2. An update about our candidate survey efforts
3. Wisconsin voters to decide on series of crime victim's rights in 2020

Kentucky gubernatorial, Philadelphia mayoral primaries, and PA-12 special, among tomorrow's elections

Tomorrow is Tuesday and I’m tracking elections across five states, including three races we’ve designated as battlegrounds:

Kentucky

Kentucky holds primaries for governor, with four candidates running in each party, and primaries for five other state executive offices—attorney general, secretary of state, agriculture commissioner, state auditor, and state treasurer.

Among Republicans, Gov. Matt Bevin faces challengers state Rep. Robert Goforth, Ike Lawrence, and William E. Woods. In March, Vice President Mike Pence hosted a campaign event for Bevin at which he announced, “I bring the full and total endorsement of the 45th president of the United States of America,” according to The Courier-Journal. Bevin is the third consecutive sitting governor of Kentucky to choose a different running mate in his re-election campaign, opting to run this year with Sen. Ralph Alvarado over incumbent Lt. Gov. Jenean M. Hampton.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidates are Kentucky House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins, state Attorney General Andy Beshear, former state Auditor Adam Edelen, and retired engineer Geoff Young. Through May 6, Edelen has raised $3.41 million, Beshear $2.16 million, Adkins $1.64 million, and Young $54,000. Beshear is the son of Kentucky's most recent Democratic governor, Steve Beshear, who served from 2007 to 2015.

The elections for attorney general and secretary of state are open-seat races as Beshear is running for governor and secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) is term-limited. The other three offices are currently held by Republican incumbents. Of the five, Democrats have contested primaries for every office except attorney general and Republicans have contested primaries for attorney general, secretary of state, and agriculture commissioner.

Philadelphia

Incumbent James Kenney faces challengers Alan Butkovitz and Anthony Williams for the Democratic nomination for mayor of Philadelphia. Since the city adopted its current charter in 1951, every incumbent mayor seeking re-election has won a second term.

A prominent issue in the primary is the 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on soda adopted by the Kenney administration in 2016. Kenney says revenues from the tax have let the city spend more on infrastructure and education. Butkovitz and Williams say that the revenue could come from other sources and promised to repeal it. The American Beverage Association has spent over $600,000 on an ad campaign opposing Kenney. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $1,000,000 to a committee which is spending in support of Kenney.

Through May 12, Kenney has raised $1.1 million, Williams $150,000, and Butkovitz $148,000. The winner of the Democratic primary will face attorney Billy Ciancaglini (R)—who is unopposed for the Republican nomination—and any declared independent candidates in the November 5 general election.

Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District

College professor Marc Friedenberg (D) and state Rep. Fred Keller (R) are running in the special election to fill the vacant seat representing Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House. This will be the first special election of the 116th Congress.

The vacancy occurred after the resignation of former Rep. Tom Marino (R) on January 23, 2019. He beat Friedenberg by 32 points in November 2018 and Donald Trump (R) won the district by 36 points in the 2016 presidential election.

Click the link below to read more about these and the other elections we’re tracking and follow us at @ballotpedia on Twitter for election news and results updates.

Bookmark this page for results

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Learn about Ballotpedia’s efforts to improve candidate survey processes

At Ballotpedia, we want voters to feel confident in the decisions they make. This means providing them with meaningful information about who is on their ballot—information that goes beyond names and party affiliations. But first, we wanted to know what was important to voters. What issues matter to them? What do they want to know about their candidates and representatives?

In order to find out, we began holding community discussions with residents about their local elections. Our first set of discussions was held in 2017 in Des Moines, Iowa in partnership with USATalk and the Interactivity Foundation. Our focus was on their local school board elections that year. The results of these discussions were used to create surveys for school board candidates in order to help them state their thoughtful and heartfelt positions on important issues in the district.

We then held discussions with voters in Chicago in December 2018. These were sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and facilitated in partnership with the Interactivity Foundation and City Bureau. Citizens participated in guided forums to discuss the key issues facing the city, and this was translated into another list of questions for candidates in that city’s municipal elections held earlier this year.

Through these discussions and survey questions, we’ve created a unique way to gather information that matters to voters. The resulting surveys go beyond the issues and inspire candidates to show voters who they are and facilitating greater engagement in the democratic process.

Read more about these discussions here:

Wisconsin voters to decide on series of crime victim's rights in 2020

Wisconsin voters will decide in 2020 whether to approve a state constitutional amendment enacting a series of rights for crime victims known as Marsy’s Law. These provisions have been voted on—and approved—by voters in 12 other states, although it is being challenged in court in two of them

As passed by the Wisconsin Legislature, the amendment would grant to crime victims the right to:

• privacy;
• be treated with dignity, respect, courtesy, sensitivity, and fairness;
• be present at all criminal proceedings and hearings;
• confer with the government prosecutor; and
• restitution and compensation.

Henry Nicholas, whose sister Marsy was murdered in 1983, successfully advocated for the first Marsy’s Law initiative in California in 2008. These provisions have since been approved by voters in 11 other states, with six of those—Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, and Oklahoma—occurring in 2018.

The Wisconsin legislature must approve a state constitutional amendment in two successive sessions for it to make the ballot. It was first approved during the 2017 legislative session. In 2019, the state Senate passed it 27-5 and the state House approved it 82-15. Because Marsy’s Law was the only constitutional amendment voted on during the 2017-2018 legislative session, it is the only constitutional amendment that can appear on the Wisconsin ballot in 2020.

The organization Marsy’s Law for All advocates for the Marsy’s Law constitutional amendment, stating the provisions make crime victims’ rights co-equal with criminal defendants’ rights in state constitutions. The ACLU of Wisconsin opposes Marsy’s Law, saying victims’ rights and defendants’ rights are not legally equivalent. Whereas defendants’ rights are rights against the state, according to the ACLU, victims’ rights are rights against an individual.