On June 9, voters of Portland, Maine elected a Commission to consider revising the city charter. Although the election was non-partisan, most voters were aware that three Greens were running. Ben Chipman was elected in a two-person contest in district 1, with 62.2% of the vote. Anna Trevorrow was elected to one of the at-large seats. Eight candidates were running for the at-large seats and four were to be elected. Trevorrow received 51.1%.
On June 9, attempts to pass bills in Congress to expand the size of the U.S. House were abandoned. D.C. Delegate to the House Eleanor Holmes Norton removed HR 157 for consideration by the House this year. See this story in the Washington Examiner.
On June 9, Nova Scotia held an election for its provincial legislature. For the first time, the New Democratic Party won control of that body. The results are: 31 seats for New Democrats, 11 for the Liberals, 10 for the Progressive Conservatives. The Progressive Conservatives had been the majority party until this election.
The share of the popular vote was: New Democratic 45.3%, Liberal 27.2%, Progressive Conservative 24.5%, Green 2.3%, other .7%. Thanks to Rick Kissell for this news.
On June 9, Virginia Democrats held a primary to choose a gubernatorial candidate. Terry McAuliffe, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, placed a distant second to a Virginia state legislator, Creigh Deeds. See this story. McAuliffe spent the most money, and had been endorsed by former President Bill Clinton, and had once been considered the front-runner.
But McAuliffe received bad publicity less than two weeks ago, when Theresa Amato’s book about the Nader 2004 campaign was published. The book, “Grand Illusion: the Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny” revealed that McAuliffe had told Nader in early 2004 that Nader must not get on the ballot in 19 particular states, and that if Nader agreed, McAuliffe would steer campaign contributions to him for his campaign in 31 other states. The press asked Nader to corroborate the story, and he did so, and that made the news.
On June 8, the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 1123 by 6-1. It would change Tucson city elections from partisan to non-partisan. The bill doesn’t actually mention Tucson, but it says all cities must use non-partisan elections. Tucson happens to be the only city in Arizona that now uses partisan elections. Thanks to BallotBoxNews for this news.
