DDHQ Morning News Spotlight: April 8, 2022

Good morning, and thank you for stopping by the DDHQ Morning News Spotlight. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is now Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson after her nomination was confirmed by the Senate yesterday, and why early voting numbers are so low in one of Ohio’s largest counties.

Morning Headlines

• The Senate has confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court by a vote of 53-47. Republican senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney broke with their party to support the confirmation. Jackson will be the first black woman, as well as the first former publican defender to serve on the Supreme Court.
• A New York appeals judge will likely rule today on whether to block a lower court ruling that says the state’s new congressional and state legislative district maps are unconstitutional. A state Supreme Court judge ruled that the maps were an unconstitutional gerrymander and need to be redrawn by April 11 or the court would bring in an outside expert to come up with new maps.
• The House passed a $55 billion bill meant to provide assistance to restaurants and small businesses that are still struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic. The bill replenishes the Restaurant Revitalization Fund created by the American Rescue plan last year. The Senate delayed the passage of a $10 billion Covid relief bill meant to fund treatments for future variants yesterday. The bill was stalled by Republicans over the ending of pandemic era border restrictions limiting migrants who can enter the country.
• The latest Covid variant seems to be spreading rapidly around DC. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tested positive yesterday, as well as a number of cabinet secretaries and White House officials. The Gridiron Club Dinner seems to be the common denominator between these high-level officials in this latest outbreak.
• Early voting is underway in the Ohio primary right now, but some counties are reporting participation numbers are way down. Cuyahoga County is reporting that they have only received 6,500 absentee ballot applications, compared to about 40,000 by this time in previous midterm primaries. This isn’t for a lack of a competitive race, the Democratic primary for Ohio 11th Congressional District is expected to be a hotly contested race in Cuyahoga County. Questions around when the primary would actually take place and what the district boundaries would be were still up-in-the-air right up to the beginning of early voting, which may be contributing to the low numbers.
• Elections Daily take a look at the New Jersey Congressional races. While it’s an extremely favorable map for the Democrats, it is not without its intrigue.
• ICYMI: Check out Nick Field’s recap of Tuesday’s special election night. California had the national race, but there were four states across the country that had elections we were tracking.
• The latest episode of Elections Weekly is up. The guys discuss the Maryland Congressional map, Alaska’s top-four primary, updates on the Texas 24th Congressional District special election, and the Ohio primary.
• Republican Eric Brown emerged victorious in last night’s special election for the vacant seat in New York’s 20th State Assembly District. He continued the rightward trend the southwest Nassau County district has seen in the last decade.

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