Check out the website: https://lenspoliticalnotes.com Look at the recent Political Notes and Len’s Letters on the website.
Governor: Political Note #402 Katie Hobbs Arizona Governor, Political Note #358 Laura Kelly Kansas Governor, Political Note #407 Janet Mills Maine Governor, Political Note #381 Gretchen Whitmer Michigan Governor, Political Note # 414 Steve Sisolak Nevada Governor, Political Note #426 Josh Shapiro Pennsylvania Governor, Political Note #366 Tony Evers Wisconsin Governor.
Lt. Governor: Political Note #419 Matthew Dowd Texas Lt. Governor
Attorney General: Political Note #425 Chris Mann Kansas Attorney General, Political Note #415 Dana Nessel Michigan Attorney General, Political Note #367, Political Note #360 Aaron Ford Nevada Attorney General ,Josh Kaul Wisconsin Attorney General
Secretary of State: Political Note #409 Bee Nguyen Georgia Secretary of State
November 13th, 2021 Political Note #426 Josh Shapiro Pennsylvania Attorney General
2022 General Election
One of the most disappointing Democratic losses on November 2 was Maria McLaughlin — the Democratic candidate for a seat on the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. She would have been a thoughtful and valuable addition to the state supreme court. Her loss is not a political disaster. The Republican who won 52-48 replaces a Republican. The configuration of the Court remains 5 Democratic appointees, 2 Republican appointees.
The extremely light turnout in 2021 in Pennsylvania is not an omen for what will happen in 2022. This mid-term election is important. Pennsylvania needs to continue to elect a Democratic governor. Governor Tom Wolf was term limited. Attorney General Josh Shapiro succeeded in discouraging every Pennsylvania Democrat to leave him alone in the race for Governor. Without a primary opponent, he can hold on to the $10 million he has raised for the general election and as hecontinues to raise more. Eventually, he will face one of the eight candidates now running for the Republican nomination.
Josh Shapiro is the child of a medical doctor. He was born in Kansas City where his father was stationed before the family moved to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He began his political career early. Well before his Bar Mitzvah, he started a pen pal letter writing campaign to children of refuseniks in the Soviet Union, children whose parents sought to emigrate but were not allowed. His own pen pal, Avi Weisberg from Tblisi, Georgia, and his family was granted permission to leave in 1986. They made a detour to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania where Avi joined Joshua as they became Bar Mitzvah together.
Josh Shapiro attended Jewish religious schools as a child and graduated from what was then the Akiba Hebrew Academy. He went to the University of Rochester where he demonstrated his political interests and skills running successfully for president of the student body as a freshman. After graduation, he went to work on Capitol Hill – initially in Michigan Congressman Carl Levin’s office. Eventually, he became Chief of Staff for Joe Hoeffel, who represented Josh Shapiro’s home district in Montgomery County. Nights, Josh Shapiro went to Georgetown Law School, getting his JD in 2002, seven years after leaving the University of Rochester.
In 2004, home Pol Pennsylvania, he flipped a Republican Pennsylvania House of Representative seat. Josh Shapiro was reelected to that seat for three more terms. In 2006, he was a crucial figure brokering a deal to elect a moderate Republican as Speaker when neither the Democrats or Republicans alone could get elect a Speaker. Not immediately, but soon afterwarfds, Josh Shapiro was named Deputy Speaker. In 2011, he was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, flipping the Commission for the first time from Republican to Democrat. As Chair of the Commission, he focused on strengthening the County’s budget and finances.
Governor Tom Wolf appointed Josh Shapiro as Chair of the state Commission on Crime and Delinquency in 2015, which made him well positioned to announce his candidacy for Attorney General in 2016. Running for Governor, he points to his successes as Attorney General. He describes an atmosphere of integrity in the office, not a small feat since his predecessor resigned, charged with and convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Other successes include dealing with child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the arrest of more than 6,500 drug dealers, negotiating a deal to ensure the availability of health insurance in Western Pennsylvania while preserving the operations of Planned Parenthood throughout the state. He charged a state rep with perjury and theft in connection with her abuse of a charity she was in charge of. He charged another state rep for fraudulent per diem requests. One case he did not bring involved Philadelphia police officers who killed a man. The case was referred to him by Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner. Josh Shapiro’s argued that violating police procedures did not, in this case, warrant criminal charges. .
He lined lined up a slew of endorsements for his run for Governor – from Tom Wolf, the current Governor; Ed Rendell, a former Democratic Governor; State Senator Anthony Williams who is a leading figure among African Americans; Marcel Groen a former Chair of the state Democratic Party and of the Planned Parenthood political action fund. You cannot criticize Josh Shapiro for a lack of organization. He promises he will campaign for governor with goals of protecting voting rights, reproductive rights, and a setting $15 minimum wage.
Josh Shapiro’s religious education and family traditions have had a lasting effect. His high school, which currently has a female head of school, is now known as the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy. An historic Jewish religious institution, it describes itself as the oldest pluralistic Jewish Day School in the country. Josh Shapiro met his wife at this co-ed high school. He and his wife are part of the Conservative Jewish movement. They keep a Kosher home as his parents did. He commits himself to having a family shabbat meal on almost every Friday night.
Let’s commit ourselves to getting Josh Shapiro elected. Whichever Republican is the nominee, the Republicans will fund that candidate well. Josh Shapiro https://joshshapiro.org , without a primary to deal with, will have a head start. Help him to sustain that head start. He’s bright, competent, well organized, and has been successful in every role he has taken on. Don’t wait for 2022. Donate now.
Help elect a few Democratic Governors in 2021
Incumbent Governors to Support
Kansas Laura Kelly (Toss up) https://www.laurakellyforkansas.com
Maine Janet Mills (Likely D) https://www.janetmills.com/
Michigan Gretchen Whitmer (Lean D) https://www.gretchenwhitmer.com
Minnesota Tim Walz (Likely D) https://walzflanagan.org
Nevada Steve Sisolak (Likely D) https://stevesisolak.com
Wisconsin Tony Evers (Lean D) https://tonyevers.com
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro https://joshshapiro.org to keep Tom Wolf’s seat Democratic (Toss Up)
Republican Governors to flip.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs https://www.katiehobbs.org will be the nominee against any of 5 Rs now running (Toss up)
Georgia Ex State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams should be the nominee (Lean R) against Inc Brian Kemp or one of his challengers
Texas Ex Congressman Beto O’Rourke (no website yet) will probably be the nominee (Likely R)
Arkansas Chris Jones https://chrisforgovernor.com is an interesting opponent for Sara Huckabee Sanders for this open Republican seat (Safe R)
In some states, we don’t know who the Democratic nominee will be
Florida Ex Gov and Rep Charlie Crist and Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried are the principal competitors for the Democratic nomination (Lean R)
Ohio Mayors John Cranley and Nan Whaley have announced for this seat where the Republican governor is facing a primary challenge (Likely R)
Maryland I count eight candidates so far for this formerly Republican open seat (Lean D)
Organizations to support
The Democratic National Committee (DNC). https://democrats.org
The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) https://www.dscc.org
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) https://dccc.org
The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) https://democraticgovernors.org
The Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) https://dems.ag
The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS) https://demsofstate.org
The Democratic (State) Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) https://dlcc.org
Fair Fight https://fairfight.com Stacey Abrams organization to support fair elections
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