On January 28, the Colorado Senate passed SB 19-42, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. See this story. The bill passed again on January 29, and so now goes to the House. The vote was 19-16.
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New Jersey State Senator Dawn Addiego has changed her registration from Republican to Democratic. She represents part of Burlington County. She has been in the State Senate since 2010, and was last re-elected in 2017. She is not up until 2021. She is the third state legislator this month to make this switch. The others were in Maine and California. Thanks to Political Wire for this news.
Howard Schultz has hired Steve Schmidt in connection with a presidential run. Schmidt was John McCain’s campaign manager in 2008. See this interview with Schultz on National Public Radio.
Analyst Nate Silver doubts that any centrist independent presidential candidate hurts either major party more than the other. See the link to his tweet near the bottom of this Washington Post story.
On Thursday, January 31, the New Jersey Senate Government, Wagering, Tourism, and Historic Preservation Committee will hear SB 119. This is the bill to require general election presidential and vice-presidential candidates to reveal their tax returns for the last five years. The bill does not apply to the presidential primary. It also forbids presidential electors from voting for a candidate who has not released his or her tax returns.
It is foolish for any state legislature to include minor party and independent presidential candidates in legislation like this, because that provides a pool of potential candidate-plaintiffs who will be eager to challenge the law as an unconstitutional qualification. By contrast, the congressional bill on this topic only applies to the nominees of parties that polled at least 25% of the vote in the preceding election. Thanks to Derek Muller for the news about the bill.