Morning Digest: North Dakota GOP takes aim at progressive ballot measures with a unique rule

But even red-state voters don't like it when Republicans try to limit their rights

Leaders of an anti-corruption ballot measure campaign in North Dakota known as the “Badass Grandmas” (credit: Badass Grandmas Facebook)

Leading Off

ND Ballot

North Dakotans will soon determine the fate of a proposed constitutional amendment to require all future citizen-initiated ballot measures to win voter approval in both a June primary and the subsequent November general election for them to become law. This new rule, however, would not apply to amendments that the Republican-dominated state legislature might put before voters.

Only one other state, Nevada, has a similar requirement, but there, amendments must pass at two successive general elections. North Dakota's plan, by contrast, disproportionately burdens progressive measures because Republicans have greater incentive to turn out in primaries, since winning the GOP nomination is usually tantamount to victory in this deep red state.

Constitutional Measure 2, which legislators approved last year, would also impose other restrictions to make it tougher for voters―but not lawmakers―to change the state's governing document.

One provision would require citizen-backed amendments to adhere to a single subject, a common rule in states that allow ballot initiatives. However, it would be up to the secretary of state to determine whether they do so. Exactly one Democrat, the late Jim Kusler, has ever served as secretary of state (Kusler won his sole term in 1988), and the GOP's continuing dominance of North Dakota politics means that a Republican will likely hold this key office for the foreseeable future.

Another rule would also make it more difficult for citizens to get an amendment on the ballot in the first place by requiring signatures from 5% of the state's residents, compared to 4% now. As Stephen Wolf noted last year, this would mean an increase from roughly 31,000 signatures to 39,000. There would also be fewer people eligible to gather those signatures because Constitutional Measure 2 would ban out-of-state residents from serving as petition collectors.

Voter-initiated amendments have been one of the few options for North Dakotans to pass reforms opposed by the state legislature. In 2018, a bipartisan group of women called the "Badass Grandmas" made national news when they passed an amendment to tackle corruption by creating a state ethics commission and impose restrictions on lobbyists.

When lawmakers then sought to gut the anti-corruption measure, one of the movement's leaders responded by telling Forbes, "These guys are mad, and they're not used to losing. They are not used to losing to old ladies."

The legislature then sought to skew the playing field by placing a measure on the ballot in 2020 that would require it to approve any citizen-initiated amendments; if lawmakers were to reject what voters had signed off on, the amendment would need to pass a second time to go into force.

Voters, however, declined to weaken their own power and rejected the legislature's plan in a 62-38 landslide. Republican efforts to limit direct democracy in other red states have also met with failure in recent years, including in Arkansas, Ohio, and South Dakota.

Senate

AZ-Sen

Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego earned an endorsement on Monday from the Arizona Police Association just days after its leader, Justin Harris, addressed a Donald Trump rally outside of Phoenix. (An impatient Trump instructed Harris to end his speech.) A letter from the association did not mention Republican Kari Lake, whose own lengthy address at the same event also left Trump wanting less.

Governors

NH-Gov

Both of the leading Democratic candidates for governor of New Hampshire, former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Executive Cinde Warmington, have launched their first negative TV ads of the Sept. 10 primary, and they're each arguing that the other has failed to protect Granite State residents from opioids.

The hostilities amped up on Sunday when Craig debuted an ad charging that Warmington had spent more than 20 years "profiting off the opioid crisis."

"As a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, Warmington was paid to defend OxyContin, calling it 'a miracle drug' after we knew it was addictive," a narrator argues.

Warmington quickly hit back with her own spot that she narrates herself. "I know the pain of a family member struggling with opioids," the candidate tells the audience, continuing, "so, I'm disgusted with Joyce Craig and her allies attacking me for legal work I did 22 years ago, long before Purdue Pharma's lies were known."

"I've spent decades helping families devastated by addiction," Warmington adds. "Joyce Craig is smearing me because she can't defend her record in Manchester of homelessness and overdoses."

Warmington, WMUR's Arielle Mitropoulos wrote last year, was a lobbyist for Purdue in 2002 when she informed the state legislature that Oxycontin was a "miracle drug for many patients" that "has very few side effects." She also downplayed concerns about potential abuse.

"I think we can all say that it is a drug of abuse, as are all narcotics," she testified. "It is not the most abused narcotic in the state of New Hampshire." Mitropoulos notes that then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft had told Congress the previous year that Oxycontin was "very, very dangerous."

Warmington, a healthcare attorney, has spent the campaign defending her record and arguing her background will help her battle the opioid crisis. When another WMUR reporter, Adam Sexton, asked her last year if she regretted her work advocating for Oxycontin, she responded that if she knew back then "about the extent of the lies and the fraud, of course I would have done things differently."

Craig, meanwhile, has sought to defend her record as mayor of New Hampshire's largest city, though the attacks up until now have largely come from Republicans.

The GOP frontrunner, former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, recently debuted a commercial declaring that crime and homelessness in Manchester were out of control under Craig, who left office earlier this year. Craig responded with statement arguing that violent crime fell during her six years in office and that she successfully worked to provide more housing.

House

NH-02

Former Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern has released an ad starring retiring Rep. Annie Kuster, who argues that his opponent in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, former Biden administration official Maggie Goodlander, is an unacceptable choice for New Hampshire's 2nd District. 

"Maggie Goodlander hasn't lived in our district for decades," Kuster tells the audience, "and she gave thousands to pro-life Republicans." The congresswoman said in a statement that she decided to film this spot for Van Ostern after Goodlander's allies at VoteVets launched a $400,000 campaign as part of what Kuster called an "unprecedented flood of dark-money false attacks."

Goodlander grew up in the 2nd District, which is based in the northern and western parts of the state, but Axios' Andrew Solender notes she last voted there in 2008. Goodlander later purchased a home in 2018 in Portsmouth, which is located in the 1st District.

Solender also says that, while Goodlander has overwhelmingly donated to Democratic candidates, she made two exceptions during the 2020 cycle. She contributed to Dan Driscoll, a North Carolina Republican who ended up taking sixth place in the packed primary for the 11th Congressional District—a race that was ultimately won by none other than Madison Cawthorn.

The other donation in question was to Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, who at the time had recently left the GOP to become an independent but rejoined the party in time to wage a failed Senate bid earlier this year.

NJ-09

State Sen. Nellie Pou earned endorsements from all three county Democratic Party chairs in New Jersey's vacant 9th District on Monday, leading the New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein to call her the "frontrunner" to replace the late Rep. Bill Pascrell on the November ballot. Pou, who launched her campaign on Friday, would also be the first Latina to represent the state in Congress.

But she's not a lock to win the Democratic nod for this reliably blue seat. As influential as party chairs might be, when local committee members meet to pick a new nominee on Thursday evening—the legal deadline for them to act—they'll vote by secret ballot.

In addition, as the Globe notes, the gathering will take just before Labor Day weekend, making turnout "unpredictable" since many county committee members may not be in attendance. A majority of members must show up for the three parties to achieve a quorum; if that doesn't happen, says Wildstein, leaders might need to ask a court to delay their deadline.

Other Democrats running to represent this solidly blue North Jersey seat include Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter and Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly. Another local officeholder, Paterson Mayor André Sayegh, entered the race on Friday but dropped out Monday due to what he called “current political circumstances.” Several other politicians are also not running, including Assemblyman Gary Schaer, Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese, and Bergen County Commissioner Tracy Silna Zur.

Mayors & County Leaders

Tulsa, OK Mayor

Oklahoma Democrats hope to take control of the mayor's office in Tulsa for the first time in 15 years, and Tuesday's officially nonpartisan primary will likely determine who their candidate will be in this fall's race to succeed retiring Republican incumbent G. T. Bynum.

Seven hopefuls are facing off in the race, and, unless one unexpectedly wins a majority, the two contenders with the most votes will advance to the Nov. 5 general election. The trio of frontrunners consists of two Democrats, state Rep. Monroe Nichols and Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith, while businessman Brent VanNorman is campaigning as an ardent Republican.

Nichols, who would be Tulsa's first Black mayor, has the endorsement of Kathy Taylor, whose 2006 victory marked the last time that a Democrat won this office. Taylor retired after a single term that lasted three-and-a-half years due to a shift in the timing of elections, though Nichols ran her unsuccessful comeback bid in 2013. (Tulsa's elections are now nonpartisan and take place in presidential years after yet another schedule change, with mayoral terms once again a full four years.)

Former Gov. Brad Henry, who is Oklahoma's most recent Democratic governor, also supports Nichols. Keith, for her part, has the backing of the local police and firefighter unions. 

VanNorman, meanwhile, is doing what he can to inform voters he's a hardline Republican. VanNorman is arguing that, by declaring itself a "Welcoming City," Tulsa is marketing itself as a haven for undocumented immigrants, a claim Bynum rejects. VanNorman has the backing of GOP Rep. Kevin Hern, who represents the entire city in the U.S. House, though Bynum told News On 6 earlier this month that he wouldn't take sides in the contest to replace him.

While Oklahoma has long been one of the nation's most Republican states, Tulsa is more evenly divided. Donald Trump, according to VEST data from Dave's Redistricting App, carried the city 49-45 in 2016, but Joe Biden took it 51-46 four years later.

Grab Bag

Where Are They Now?

The Colorado Republican Party's central committee voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to remove state party chair Dave Williams, whose tenure had been defined by infighting and homophobic attacks. His ouster came two months after he lost the primary for the conservative 5th Congressional District to Jeff Hurd in a 65-35 blowout, even though it was Williams who had Donald Trump's endorsement.

The state GOP also tapped Eli Bremer, who unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022, as interim chair. (Bremer is the nephew of diplomat L. Paul Bremer, the viceroy of Iraq following the U.S. invasion in 2003.) While Williams denounced the moves as "illegal," the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo in the 8th District, quickly said it looked forward to working with the party's new leadership.

Poll Pile

• MI-Sen: TIPP Insights (R) for American Greatness: Elissa Slotkin (D): 49, Mike Rogers (R): 39 (48-46 Harris in two-way, 47-45 Harris with third-party candidates) 

• MT-Sen: Public Opinion Strategies (R) for the Montana Republican Party: Tim Sheehy (R): 51, Jon Tester (D-inc): 44 (June: 46-46 Senate tie), 

• PA-Sen: SoCal Strategies (R) for On Point Politics and Red Eagle Politics: Bob Casey (D-inc): 47, Dave McCormick (R): 41 (48-47 Trump in two-way) (July: 50-40 Casey)

Ad Roundup

• MI-Sen: Elissa Slotkin (D)

• WI-Sen: Eric Hovde (R) - anti-Tammy Baldwin (D-inc); Hovde

• NC-Gov: Josh Stein (D) - anti-Mark Robinson (R) 

• AZ-06: Kirsten Engel (D) - anti-Juan Ciscomani (R-inc)

• MN-02: Angie Craig (D-inc)

• NH-01: Hollie Noveletsky (R)

• OR-05: Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-inc)