Hello everyone, my name is Frank Driscoll and welcome to Driscoll's Election Dissection,
your election analysis for across the circus.
I hope you all are doing well today wherever you are.
So we were off the last couple of weeks because there weren't any major battleground elections
going on.
I do want to apologize though to our friends in Massachusetts, whom I kinda skipped over
on the last program.
I should have mentioned that primary elections were on Tuesday, September 3rd, but unfortunately
there wasn't much to talk about as all the incumbents in the house were running for re-election
with token opposition, if any opposition at all.
So I apologize for our friends in Massachusetts for not getting the word out about election
day.
But moving forward, we are now in the final week of primary elections on the election
calendar for 2024.
Can you believe it?
We started all the way back in March and not every week, but every so often there'd be
ones to talk about and here we are on the last one.
So Tuesday, September 10th is primary election day for three US states, those states being
Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
Now we're gonna be talking about two states today and we're talking about Democratic primaries
only.
So let's not waste any time and let's pack our bags and head over to the first state,
the state of Delaware.
Now it's a big year for Delaware politics, an open Senate seat as Senator Tom Carper
is retiring.
However, we won't talk about that because there's only one major Democratic candidate
and it's a safely Democratic seat, so there's Schuen.
We'll discuss that in a minute because that candidate is elevating from a seat that we'll
be talking about.
But first, we head to the governor's mansion, talk about the gubernatorial election in the
state of Delaware.
Now, the current governor of Delaware is Democratic governor John Carney.
He was first elected in 2012, re-elected in 2016.
He is term limited and therefore cannot run for governor.
However, his name will still be on the primary ballot in Delaware.
Yes, in fact, governor John Carney is running for mayor of the city of Wilmington.
Yes, it's not every day the current governor decides to run for a mayoral office, but hey,
you know, you have to see it at least once in your life, I'm assuming.
So the governor's seat is open.
There are three major Democratic candidates, those being Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall
Long, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation
Colin O'Mara.
Now, this race seems to be very close for the top two candidates.
In the polls that have been made in the last month, some have shown big leads for either
candidates and some even, in fact, a poll from early July from Slingshot Strategies
sponsored by Citizens for a New Delaware PAC, which has endorsed the Meyer campaign, by
the way, showed Hall Long and Meyer tied at 27%.
However, earlier in August, the same PAC and the same pollster made a poll and it showed
Meyer leading by four points.
Not long before that, in mid-July, there was a poll sponsored by the Democratic Lieutenant
Governor's Association from Public Policy Polling that showed Hall Long leading Meyer
by a much larger margin, by 12 points.
The governor's office in Delaware is safely Democratic, whoever wins this primary will
very likely win in November, so it's going to be one to watch.
And as we know, the only poll that matters is the one on election day.
So now we go to the US House election in Delaware for the congressional district.
Now Delaware has a relatively small population.
As a result, there's only one seat in the US House of Representatives, and it's their
at-large congressional district.
Now the current holder of this seat is Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester.
She was first elected in 2016 and she is running for the open Senate seat and she's the only
Democrat in the primary there, so she's all but certain to win the primary.
So with that, this seat is now open.
And judging with how Representative Rochester's campaign is going, whoever holds this seat
could hold it for a long time, maybe use it as a springboard for higher political office,
we don't know.
So there are three major candidates in this race, and they are professional golfer Earl
Cooper, state senator Sarah McBride, and accounts payable supervisor Elias Weir.
Now there hasn't been a recent poll for this race.
In fact, the last poll that was made was all the way in October, sponsored by the Citizens
for Judicial Fairness, and it showed McBride with a good 12-point lead.
Now it's not one to say if her lead has gone down or if it's gone up since then.
We don't have much of a view.
However, despite that, still keep an eye on this race.
And now from there, we leave Delaware and we head not that far away to DeGranite State,
the state of New Hampshire.
Now New Hampshire is set to have a very close gubernatorial election this year.
We will discuss that at a later time because the primaries here aren't exactly battleground.
But we are talking about the Democratic primary for New Hampshire's second congressional district.
Now the current representative for New Hampshire's second congressional district is Democratic
Representative Annie Custer.
She was first elected in 2012 and has served ever since.
She is retiring this year, choosing not to run for re-election.
And according to the Cook's Partisan Voting Index, Democrats are favored in this seat
by two points.
So the Democrat candidate will have an advantage, but not a big one.
But still, it's still a battleground for this partisan primary.
There are two major candidates, and they are former Biden White House aide Maggie Goodlander
and former state executive counselor Colin Van Oster.
Now Goodlander seems to have been doing well in the polls.
The most recent poll was from mid-August.
And the pollster was the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
And Goodlander led Van Oster by six points.
And in another poll, around the same time, from Public Policy Polling and sponsored by
the Principled Veterans Fund, which has endorsed Goodlander's campaign, Goodlander led by ten
points.
So Goodlander seems to be in a good position, but Van Oster's not that far behind.
It's important who Democrats choose in this election, because they will have to do quite
a bit of campaigning.
It's not all but certain, like the seats in Delaware.
They're going to have to do some real campaigning if they want to keep this seat.
But they do have an itch.
So those are primaries to watch in Delaware and New Hampshire for Tuesday, September 10th.
This may be our last primary edition of the show, but in the weeks leading up to Election
Day, we will be talking about toss-up races throughout the country.
We'll be talking about close Senate races, close Governor's races, close House races.
Okay, you're not going to want to miss that.
So we're going to go into real overdrive heading into Election Day.
And as always, if you're willing to learn more about elections in your area, be sure
to check out politics1.com as well as ballotpedia.com.
And if you're willing to look at recent polls, be sure to check out 538.com.
So those elections are for September 10th.
And as always, I say if you are a registered voter in Delaware, New Hampshire, or Rhode
Island, I don't care who you vote for, but I do care that you vote.
So please do.
Thank you for listening to Driscoll's Election Day section.
If you would like to learn more about the show, go online to algidproductions.com slash
across the circus and be sure to listen to us on any podcasting form you like.
Thank you all for listening and I will see you all very soon.
This episode was brought to you by Algid Productions LLC. Thank you for listening!