Check out the website: https://lenspoliticalnotes.com Look at the recent Political Notes and Len’s Letters on the website.
Governor: Political Note #421 Chris Jones Arkansas, Political Note #402 Katie Hobbs Arizona, Political Note #432 Stacey Abrams Georgia, Political Note #358 Laura Kelly Kansas, Political Note #407 Janet Mills Maine, Political Note #381 Gretchen Whitmer Michigan, Political Note # 414 Steve Sisolak Nevada, Political Note #366, Beto O’Rourke Texas, Tony Evers Wisconsin Governor.
Attorney General: Political Note #425 Chris Mann Kansas, Political Note #415 Dana Nessel Michigan, Political Note #360 Aaron Ford Nevada, Political Note #367 Josh Kaul Wisconsin
Secretary of State: Political Note #437 Reginald Bolding Arizona, Political Note #409 Bee Nguyen Georgia, Political Note #435 Jocelyn Benson Michigan, Political Note #436 Cisco Aguilar Nevada
January 4, 2022 Political Note #437 Reginald Bolding Arizona Secretary of State
2022 General Election
Reginald Bolding https://reginaldbolding.com is one of two Democrats running for Secretary of State in Arizona. His primary opponent was not reelected as Recorder of Maricopa County in a close race, losing to a Republican whose slogan was “Let’s make the Recorder position boring again.” Reginald Bolding will not be a boring Secretary of State, but in a good way. He has learned to be an effective politician, to work effectively at using his skills.
Reginald Bolding is the first in his family to go to college and has more than outdone his initial educational goal. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2008 and went to work as a special education math teacher in Phoenix with Teach for America. After getting a Master’s Degree from Arizona State in 2010, he taught there. He founded and directed Future Leaders of Arizona and directed public and community affairs for Teach for American. He got himself elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2014 and was awarded his doctorate in education in 2018. After 2016, he became Co-Executive Director for the Arizona Coalition for Change; Our Voice Our Vote, Arizona.
Reginald Bolding is running for a job that has an impact on democracy in Arizona and the country in the state where Republicans conducted a clownish audit of the 2020 presidential election vote. The person who holds this job registers lobbyists and creates some of the rules for each election. Where legislative action is required, the Secretary of State is a powerful voice. In an interview, he said: “…democracy is under attack, our election systems are under attack. And I’ve been fighting to protect our elections and [to] make sure everyone that has a legal right to vote, that they get to vote and make it easier for them to actually do so,”
Reginald Bolding has said he would support expanding voting hours and creating same-day registration. He promises to improve election security, especially cyber security. One of the organizations he led sued to extend the voter registration deadline, registering enough new voters to possibly have impacted the election.
Reginald Bolding was recently chosen as Minority Leader in Arizona’s very closely divided House. Democrats have 29 seats to the Republicans 31. Democrats are not far from a majority. He could have stayed put to be an important figure in Arizona’s legislating.
Instead, Reginald Bolding is seeking to have a more direct effect on sustaining democracy. He is married to a woman who recalls her grandmother as a civil rights leader. They have named their two daughters Faith and Grace. If they were to name another child to reflect a characteristic of their father, they might name the child Hard Work.
Three Republicans are running to be Secretary of State. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed one of them. Trump must have found it hard to choose. One has focused on the non-existent fraud associated with absentee voting. One has focused on allowing the state legislature to choose Presidential electors regardless of vote results. And one is a member of the Oath Keepers militia.
Reginald Bolding’s participation in this election is part of an American evolution. White people in the United States have gradually become willing to elect Black people to office. In 2008, of course, and again in 2012, Americans elected Barack Obama as President. In 2018, eight majority white Congressional districts elected Blacks as their representative. Black governors, however, have been rare and there are none now.
That absence may change. Stacey Abrams, if elected in Georgia, would be the first Black woman governor. And she is not the only African American running for governor in 2022. There are currently eight Black Lt. Governors – 5 Democrats and 3 Republicans; 5 Black Attorneys General – all Democrats and 3 Black Secretaries of State, one of whom is a Republican. This is no march of triumph. Nevertheless, these positions are traditional jumping off spots for election as governor or US Senator. Because Arizona’s current Secretary of State Democrat Katie Hobbs, is running for Governor, that position is open in Arizona. Reginald Bolding https://reginaldbolding.com is the better candidate in the Democratic primary and is taking the risk of running for statewide office. Donate to his campaign. Help ensure a fair election in Arizona in 2024. At the same time, help Reginald Bolding move along in his career.
One more thing.
Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission turned out new Congressional maps that could shift the state’s Congressional delegation from 5 Democrats and 4 Republicans to 5 Republicans and 4 Democrats and possibly 6 Republicans and 3 Democrats. That decision was apparently not contentious as the Commission voted for the plan 5-0.
The redistricting of the State Senate and House of Representatives, however, was contentious. The plan for redistricting the state legislature was adopted 3-2. Currently, the State Senate has a 16-14 Republican majority. The House has a 31-29 Republican majority. Native American interest groups were satisfied with the redistricting changes. A Latino coalition described the entire process as “anything but fair” getting one fewer predominantly Latino-majority legislative district (Legislative Districts contain one State Senate and two House Members) than they expected. Democrats were particularly disappointed in last minute changes in a north Phoenix district. AZ Central reported that of the 30 Legislative districts, 13 were likely to elect a Republican and 12 were likely to elect a Democrat. The 5 remaining districts were described as highly competitive. AZ Central went on to say that 4 of those 5 competitive districts lean Republican.
Democratic legislative candidates need help. One place to start is with the Arizona Democratic Party https://azdem.org . Financial help for them could make a difference.
Incumbents to defend for Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State
Arizona SofS Reginald Bolding (Open Democratic Seat) https://reginaldbolding.com
Kansas Gov Laura Kelly (Toss up) https://www.laurakellyforkansas.com
Maine Gov Janet Mills (Likely D) https://www.janetmills.com/
Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer (Lean D) https://www.gretchenwhitmer.com
Michigan AG Dana Nessel https://www.dananessel.com
Michigan SofS Jocelyn Benson https://votebenson.com
Minnesota Gov Tim Walz (Likely D) https://walzflanagan.org
Minnesota AG Keith Ellison https://keithellison.org
Minnesota SofS Steve Simon https://stevesimonmn.com
Nevada Gov Steve Sisolak (Likely D) https://stevesisolak.com
Nevada AG Aaron Ford https://www.fordfornevada.com
Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro https://joshshapiro.org (Open Democratic seat)
Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers (Lean D) https://tonyevers.com
Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul https://www.joshkaul.org
Wisconsin SofS Doug LaFollette https://www.facebook.com/sosdoug
Democrats who can flip Republican Governors or other state officers
Arizona Gov Secretary of State Katie Hobbs https://www.katiehobbs.org (Toss up)
Arkansas Gov African American Nuclear Engineer Chris Jones https://chrisforgovernor.com (Safe R says Cook)
Georgia Gov Ex State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (Lean R) https://staceyabrams.com
Georgia SofS State Rep Bee Nguyen https://www.beeforgeorgia.com
Kansas AG Chris Mann https://www.chrismannforkansas.com
Maryland AG. Congressman Anthony Brown. https://www.anthonybrown.com (Open Dem Seat)
Nevada SofS Cisco Aguilar http://www.cisconv.co
Texas Ex Congressman Beto O’Rourke https://betoorourke.com
In some states, we don’t know who the Democratic nominee will be
Florida Gov Ex Gov and Rep Charlie Crist, Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried, and State Sen Annette Taddeo are the principal competitors for the Democratic nomination (Lean R)
Ohio Gov Mayors John Cranley and Nan Whaley have announced for this seat where the Republican governor is facing a primary challenge (Likely R)
Maryland Gov 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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Support Democrats. Sadly, Republicans have become enemies of democracy. Reginald Bolding’s candidacy and his opponents are perfect examples of this condition.
