Latest news with #DepartmentofElections
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Youngkin sets Sept. 9 special election to fill Connolly's seat in Congress
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Fairfax, died last month from a resurgence of cancer. At least four Democrats have signaled their interest in filling the vacancy. (Photo by Robin Bravender/States Newsroom) Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday set a special election for Sept. 9, 2025, to fill the congressional seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Gerry Connolly, a longtime Democratic fixture in Northern Virginia who passed away May 21 after a recurrence of cancer. The writ of election, issued by Youngkin's office, triggers a high-stakes contest in Virginia's 11th Congressional District, a region that leans solidly Democratic and is home to a large population of federal workers. Candidates hoping to compete must file by July 11, with eligibility details available on the Department of Elections website. Connolly, 75, died just weeks after announcing he would not seek reelection. First elected to Congress in 2008 after a decade on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, including five years as chair, Connolly became known as a detail-oriented legislator with a focus on government oversight and civil service protections. Before his time in local government, he worked on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and held positions in the private sector with firms like SRI International and SAIC. His death set off a cascade of questions about how and when the seat would be filled. Virginia law requires the governor to call a special election to replace a congressional representative, but offers flexibility on timing. Elections must be held on a Tuesday and cannot occur within 55 days of a regularly scheduled general or primary election — a restriction that ruled out much of the summer due to Virginia's June 17 congressional primaries. Manisha Singh, chair of the 11th District Democratic Committee, told The Mercury last week her group has been preparing for this moment while awaiting Youngkin's decision. She described the task ahead as urgent but clear — to ensure a transparent and accessible nomination process. 'Our voters will have plenty of opportunity to have their voice heard,' Singh said. She added that the local party's role is not to favor any one candidate, but to oversee a fair election process. Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, said last week that the party intentionally held off on finalizing its plans out of respect for the governor's timeline. With the election date now set, he said, urgency will be key. 'I want to see a nomination process that gives voters time and space to be heard,' Bagby said. Democrats are expected to hold a 'firehouse primary' in mid-July to select their nominee. The Fairfax County Democratic Committee has already begun lining up polling locations, with plans to offer at least one site in each magisterial district. Several candidates have already stepped forward or signaled interest in the Democratic nomination. Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw, who once served as Connolly's chief of staff and had already received the late congressman's endorsement, is widely seen as a frontrunner. Also weighing bids are state Sen. Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax; Fairfax Planning Commissioner Candice Bennett; and attorney Amy Roma, a Vienna resident who specializes in global energy policy. Singh acknowledged the difficulty of replacing a lawmaker as experienced and deeply rooted in the community as Connolly. 'It is a humongous void that we are feeling right now, and it's some really big shoes to fill,' she said. Still, she voiced confidence in the emerging field of candidates. 'We have some excellent candidates who I am very sure are up to the challenge.' On the Republican side, Mike Van Meter, a former law enforcement officer who lost to Connolly in 2024 by a 67-33% margin, has announced plans to run again. So far, no other Republican contenders have entered the race. Connolly's legacy looms large over the upcoming contest. In his final message to constituents, delivered just weeks before his death, he reflected on his 30 years in public service and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve: 'My extended family — you all have been a joy to serve.' The full writ of election is available on the Virginia Department of Elections website. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Date for special election to recall Supervisor Joel Engardio announced
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Organizers of a recall effort against San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio have obtained the required signatures to get the recall on the ballot. On Thursday, the Department of Elections for the City and County of San Francisco announced the petition to recall the under-fire supervisor had been certified. The petition, according to officials, was submitted on May 22 and determined to have 10,523 valid signatures. The required threshold was 9,911. AI could lead to 20% unemployment in next 5 years, SF tech CEO warns With the petition deemed sufficient by the department, a special election is now set to take place on Sept. 16, 2025, in accordance with SF Charter Section 14.103 District 4 Supervisor Engardio has become a target of public ire following the permanent closure of a section of San Francisco's Great Highway to traffic. That section is now a beachfront park that was named 'Sunset Dunes' following a monthslong naming contest. September's special election will only be open to voters registered and living in SF District 4. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
San Francisco Chronicle
24-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Engardio recall to make S.F. ballot with enough signatures verified, organizers say
San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio, who came to prominence by ousting officials through recall campaigns, now appears all but certain to face his own after recall organizers said Saturday that city election officials verified that more than 99% of signatures they sampled Friday were valid. 'I feel like David beat Goliath,' said Albert Chow, one of the organizers of the recall. 'No one told us we had a chance in hell to pull this off.' Campaign organizers needed 9,911 valid signatures from registered voters in District 4 by May 22 to qualify for a recall election. The recall campaign ultimately collected about 14,000 signatures, and by the end of Thursday had submitted just under 11,000 signatures to the San Francisco Elections Department that it had validated internally. 'This was the definition of grassroots effort,' Chow said. 'We went through a ton of effort to prescreen every signature before turning it over' to the elections department. Jamie Hughes, who is running the recall, said the sample narrowly missed immediate qualification because of a duplicate signature. Now, the Department of Elections will have to verify every one of the submitted signatures, Hughes said, which could take several weeks. 'We were pretty confident in our validation process, and we spent a lot of time on it, especially over the past week,' he said, adding that he was 'pretty confident' that after the counting was complete, the signature petition would meet the necessary bar to be placed on the ballot. Engardio, who had angered many of his constituents by endorsing Proposition K, which closes a stretch of the Great Highway to create the Sunset Dunes park, said in a written statement that he understood community concerns and was working with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to improve traffic and pedestrian safety along with other constituent services. Engardio said he was confident that even if the recall measure qualified for a vote, his constituents would oppose it. 'I supported an open and transparent democratic process where everyone had an equal say at the ballot box. And everyone had ample opportunity to campaign for and against the issue,' he said. 'I invite people to explore Sunset Dunes and our coast in new ways. The coast belongs to everyone and now it's more accessible to people than ever.' Engardio also criticized the recall effort, which he said would not reopen the Great Highway and sets a 'bad precedent' for recalling elected officials over policy disagreements. 'If there's a recall every time we disagree with one issue, we won't have a functioning government,' he said. Engardio, a former journalist, was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2022, after capitalizing on his support for the successful 2022 recall of several school board members and District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Engardio won the District 4 seat after three previous unsuccessful campaigns for supervisor. A former journalist, he campaigned on a platform of public safety and transparency. But Engardio infuriated many in his district after sponsoring and voting for the initiative to close a 2-mile stretch of the city's westernmost coastal boulevard, the Upper Great Highway, to cars to create a park. Prop K was opposed by a majority of voters in the Sunset and Richmond districts, the neighborhoods closest to the Great Highway, although it passed with more than 54% of the vote citywide. The measure spurred a lawsuit even before the park opened on April 12, and west side residents called the closure of the highway a 'war on cars' that would harm their quality of life and increase commute times. Engardio previously defended his vote by arguing that voters across the city deserved to weigh in on the proposition to close the Upper Great Highway and make it a park and argued that attempting to recall an elected official over a single vote wasn't 'helpful to us moving forward as a city.' That argument, Chow said, missed the point. 'We're firing Engardio because he messed with the community,' Chow said. 'He went against the community even when he was told not to do so.' Chow and others were particularly angered after seeing Engardio's financial backing, including high-profile support from Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, who donated $125,000 to the supervisor's cause. 'His constituency is tech billionaires, not D4 residents,' Chow said. 'This is about taking out someone not working for the community who voted for him.'
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Unclear if Virginia will hold GOP primary for governor after last minute filing
It's unclear whether Virginia will hold a Republican primary for governor this year, but at least one candidate is out of the race after failing to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Dave LaRock said as of Thursday's deadline that he had not gathered enough signatures to appear on the GOP primary ballot in June. Amanda Chase said she submitted signatures to the Department of Elections, but it was not clear if her campaign had the 10,000 signatures required. The two former legislators expressed their intent to run last month, a tight turnaround. Both candidates were running to the right of Republican frontrunner Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who they said was not loyal enough to President Donald Trump. If Chase and LaRock both failed to meet that benchmark by Thursday's deadline, there will be no primary in the governor's race for either party. Earle-Sears will face Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger in November. LaRock said Gov. Glenn Youngkin's endorsement of Earle-Sears made his cause more difficult. General Assembly sustains bill vetoes, sends some amendments back to Youngkin Virginia General Assembly grounded to halt in apparent conflict over judicial nominee's religion Should Virginia Beach have at-large council members? Election system may be put to a vote General Assembly to reconvene on Youngkin's amendments, vetoes Hampton Roads cities keeping close watch on federal cuts as they roll out budgets 'It is with regret that I announce that, despite an enormous outpouring of support which I received over a short period of time, our campaign collected over 9,000 signatures of the 10,000 petition signers needed to be on the Republican primary ballot for Governor,' LaRock said in a statement posted to social media. 'The current Governor jumping in early to designate his successor did not make it easy for us to give the Republican voters a real choice in the primary — but we came close.' Chase did not respond to a request for comment as of Friday morning, but posted on her website that she had turned in all of the signatures her campaign gathered late Thursday afternoon. 'It's been a scramble to say the least,' she wrote. 'We've tried hard to keep the faith but we knew with entering the race 5 weeks before the deadline, time was not on our side. I truly believed that if I was supposed to be on the ballot, God would make a way. Then, the Fed Ex envelopes starting arriving just as we were ready to head out the door. On top of that, several of you dropped off your petitions at the State Board of Elections ahead of us. I was still counting signatures in the back seat of my car on the almost two hour trip from Appomattox to Richmond.' Chase said the campaign officially submitted all of the petitions with 20 minutes to spare, but she has not yet commented publicly on whether that number amounted to 10,000. Meanwhile, Earle-Sears reported Thursday she had raised $3.1 million in campaign funds during the first-quarter reporting period. 'The threat of radical change that would turn our Commonwealth in the wrong direction is real and demands we fight back directly and aggressively,' she said in a statement. 'These record-breaking investments speak volumes about the enthusiasm to do just that and position us to both compete and win in November.' Spanberger also officially qualified for the ballot Thursday. 'Thank you to every Virginian who has shared with me their vision for our Commonwealth's future since I launched my campaign,' she said in a statement. 'As the Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia, I look forward to having many more meaningful conversations with all Virginians — across our communities and regardless of who they've cast their votes for in the past — about the issues that matter most to them.' Kate Seltzer, 757-713-7881,
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Trump megadonor leans into a tight swing-state Democratic primary
Republican money is flowing in a Democratic primary election in Pittsburgh, even if conservative values aren't. MAGA Republicans would be hard-pressed to find something to love in the Pittsburgh mayoral race. With the state having awarded Donald Trump its electoral votes in 2024, Pittsburgh remains a stubbornly blue holdout, standing defiantly against the state's reddening suburbs and rural districts. A Democrat is widely expected to win — one lone Trump supporter is battling an openly gay Republican for the GOP nomination, having already run and lost the race before. So why is Pennsylvania's richest man, who was one of the biggest by-dollar supporters of the GOP in the last election cycle, putting his money behind the primary opponent of Pittsburgh's embattled Democratic mayor, Ed Gainey? For starters, he's always involved. Jeffrey Yass is quickly becoming the most important name in Pennsylvania politics, even without running for office himself. The billionaire businessman doubled his net worth with an investment in TikTok's parent company in 2024, but even before that windfall had been bankrolling politicians in a notable number of races across the state — particularly in Allegheny County, home to the state's second-largest city. His involvement has infuriated Democrats in the region for years. For starters, Yass does not live there: He resides in Lower Merion Township, a mere 4-hour drive from the center of Pennsylvania steel country. And then there's the obvious issue — his Republican leanings. Yass was a top contributor to GOP candidates and causes in the last election cycle, shelling out around $100 million to various groups and Republicans around the country. That includes Donald Trump, in whom he found an ally willing to reverse a ban on TikTok weakly pursued by the Biden administration (but a ban that previously had the support of many Republicans). 'Jeffrey Yass is the richest man in Pennsylvania, and he's funded one out of every three of our legislators here in Pennsylvania since 2017 in an effort to push his agenda,' Mary Collier, developer of the 'Yass Tracker' told a local news outlet in January. Her tool tracks the spread of his money across state politics. On Monday, Gainey, a progressive and Pittsburgh's first Black mayor, is set to open up a new line of attack: His opponent, Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor, is the latest recipient of Yass's largesse — and perhaps one more cog in the effort to reshape the state's politics. His team, at a press conference, is set to frame the race as a battle against this latest invasion of Trump-aligned GOP money. Filings with the state Department of Elections reviewed by The Independent indicate that O'Connor has taken donations this cycle from several major Republican donors who've funded GOP candidates like Trump — and bankrolled any challenge to candidates aligned with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. One of those donors is Kent McElhattan, venture capitalist and founder of the nonprofit McElhattan Foundation, who was a top supporter of Dave McCormick in his successful bid to oust incumbent Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey last year. Another is Herb Shear — yet another venture capitalist — who gave hundreds of thousands in support of Trump's 2024 election and nearly $50,000 to a PAC supporting a Democrat, Bhavini Patel, who was ultimately defeated in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District, the same year. Patel's campaign was described at one point as representing an 'onslaught of far-right cash' against incumbent Summer Lee, a congresswoman and member of 'The Squad.' An email provided to The Independent also indicated that O'Connor was due to meet in February with two GOP operatives closely tied to Yass, Jeff Kendall and Kent Gates. The email suggests that Gates, an operative with a national GOP consulting firm, was to present a strategy aimed at unseating the incumbent Mayor Gainey at the meeting. A spokesperson for O'Connor's campaign told The Guardian that the O'Connor campaign 'had no involvement in the planning' of that event, but did not deny that O'Connor attended. They also argued that Gainey has been the recipient of money from GOP-aligned donors in past cycles. 'Corey spoke about his record of progressive reform and his plans to make housing more affordable, expanding before and after school programming, and reopening [recreation] centers,' a spokesperson told The Guardian. 'This is the same stump speech that he has shared with hundreds of residents and dozens of community organizations across Pittsburgh. The campaign did not know who would be in attendance in advance.' One Pennsylvania-based Democratic operative described the group to The Independent as a network of wealthy conservatives who 'meddle in Democratic primaries to replace people-powered leaders who've stood up to Trump and won with corporate-bought politicians willing to bend to MAGA billionaires' and their right wing agenda.' The influx of money tied to the GOP is making a clear impact on the Pittsburgh mayoral primary: Lee and another target of Yass's operatives, County Executive Sara Innamorato, have lined up in Gainey's camp — while O'Connor enjoyed his best fundraising month of the race in January, and outraised the incumbent 20-to-1. 'We knew going in that we (weren't) going to have the big donors,' Gainey told a news outlet last month. He added to NPR affiliate WESA: '"The reality is — when your buddies are corporate developers, union busters, and hospital CEOs, you're going to raise a lot more money than a campaign fighting for nurses, teachers, and firefighters. I was elected after being outraised four to one because of the people-powered coalition that has only grown as I've delivered for the regular people of this city as Mayor — and we're ready to do it all over again.' A few factors do differentiate the two Democrats politically. O'Connor supports funding more cops on the street, while Gainey has touted support for alternative methods, including putting social workers on some police calls. In 2024, a number of Gainey's staffers supported a ballot measure that would have called on the city to divest from the Israeli government. O'Connor's allies have attacked progressives as uninterested in governing. 'There is no vision coming off of Grant Street anymore,' O'Connor said at his campaign launch in December. 'Instead, as I look around, I see a mayor and administration that's managing decline instead of working to grow Pittsburgh.' But even if he unseated Gainey for the Democratic nomination, O'Connor would be no ally of Donald Trump in office. And so it's not totally clear why else MAGAworld would take a strong interest in O'Connor, who like Gainey repeated a pledge to resist ICE detention efforts in the city at a candidate forum several weeks ago, if not to merely punish progressives. In recent weeks, O'Connor has picked up an endorsement from the Young Democrats of Allegheny County, which backed his opponent in 2021, as well as a sizable chunk of union support. Gainey, meanwhile, has the support of the thousands-strong United Steelworkers and a slate of other left-leaning organizations, and retains close ties to the SEIU, which supported his last run. Should O'Connor win, this primary election could end up encouraging Democrats to take another look at not just the Democratic Party itself but its primary election — and the growing willingness of conservatives to use them as opportunities to put a thumb on the scale.
