DDHQ Morning News Spotlight: Election Day in Five States, Plus Redistricting News From Across the Country

Welcome to this morning’s Decision Desk HQ Morning News Spotlight on Elections Daily as part of the Decision Desk HQ News Network.

The midterm primary season continues today with Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Oregon all holding their contests. Be sure to check out our preview looking at redistricting, important races to follow, and key counties to watch tonight.

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Morning Headlines

• It’s Election Day in five states across the country today and there is no shortage of interesting races to watch. In Pennsylvania, the playing field keeps shifting by the day with dark horse candidates and last-minute endorsements. In North Carolina, we have seen relentless interparty battles play out very publicly. In Idaho, we have a Lt. Governor taking on the sitting Governor in a battle that has built up over the course of the Covid-era. You don’t want to miss any of it, and you don’t have to as we will have the most up-to-the-minute results you can find at results.DecisionDeskHQ.com.
• New Yorkers got a first look at their potential new Congressional map yesterday. The map is a huge departure from both the current map that has been in place for the last decade and the map that was passed by the state this year but was eventually struck down by the courts. The map released yesterday draws high-profile House members into the same districts as one another, draws some current members out of their districts, and would create at least six highly competitive seats in a general election. Democrats were hoping New York would be their best chance to gain ground in redistricting, but their overly-ambitious map couldn’t pass court muster and now looks to have backfired.
• The New Hampshire legislature has passed another Congressional map in hopes that their third draft will be the one that gains the approval of Governor Sununu. The latest map would yet again draw the state’s two U.S. House members into the same district, and create one Democratic district and one toss-up district. The state Supreme Court has said that if the Governor and the legislature cannot come to an agreement, they will come up with their own plan.
• The Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments on the Congressional and state legislative maps passed by the state that were then deemed unconstitutional by a district court. Much of the arguments focused on the state’s only current Democratic district which the Republican-drawn plan seeks to split. The state Solicitor General defended this decision citing Wyandotte County’s population growth since the last redistricting.
• The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Senator Ted Cruz yesterday in his challenge to federal limits on the use of post-election campaign contributions to pay off loans a candidate makes to their own campaign. The ruling dismantles part of the McCain-Feingold Act and falls in line with the Court’s previous rulings that have found that restrictions on campaign finance are a violation of the First Amendment. It was a 6-3 ruling that split the Court along ideological lines.

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