Celia Cohen on why Ken Simpler sat out this year

In short: The Dem primary is the election in Presidential years. Team Simpler will be back in two years with the "I'm not really a Republican" theme they used to great effect last time, and will probably give Lisa Blunt Rochester a decent run for her money. Has LBR started fundraising for 2018 yet? Sad to say, but she better get on that.

BHL win sets stage for SD10 special election(s)

Does anyone know DEGOP Special Election Specialist, Tom Kovach's, whereabouts? Too soon? El Som lays it out in a comment:
I am worried about what will happen in SD 10 once Bethany Hall-Long is elected Lt. Governor in November. Late fall/early winter special elections are not exactly D strong suits. Looks like Quin Johnson and Earl Jaques are in that district, so maybe it’ll be one of them. Which, of course, would necessitate a House Special Election should one of them win…
While I agree Dems have sucked in specials, I think Jaques is seasoned enough to not get caught with his pants down. The ensuing 27th RD special if Jaques moves up, who knows? The district seemed a bit of a toss-up until Jaques started consolidating votes as the incumbent. He got 65% against Republican nominee Jay Galloway in 2010 and was unopposed in 2012.

The 9th sat out last night’s primary

My takeaway from the Johns/Griffiths result is that the 9th was largely ignored by the marquee races and the lack of effort by the well moneyed campaigns (eg. no house meetings, no neighborhood association meetings, no door knocking, etc.) left the 9th to stay in and watch The Big Brother Finale (or whatever it is you people watch on Tuesday).

Bonini crushes Lafferty

I'm surprised. The one thing that wingnuts typically do well is turnout for primary elections. Not this time. While John Carney is still the next Governor, this result is interesting.…