South Carolina: Sanford Poised for Comeback in GOP Runoff

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images File Photo)

For a candidate known for one of the past decade’s most colossal political mistakes, former Gov. Mark Sanford has run a nearly flawless campaign for the 1st District.

As a result, Sanford is on track to win the Republican runoff and maintains a solid position in the special election for the coastal, GOP-leaning district.

On Tuesday, voters will determine whether Sanford can proceed with his political comeback over his GOP opponent, attorney Curtis Bostic. Palmetto State Republicans are confident Sanford will win the GOP nomination and continue to face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the May 7 general election.

A runoff victory will show that even after the former governor’s epic political implosion — disappearing from the state for days and admitting to an extramarital affair with a woman from Argentina — solid campaign mechanics can push a candidate to victory.

“The governor has spent plenty of time addressing his personal failures from 2009, and I think anyone who knows him would agree that it was very much at odds with the rest of his political career,” Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said in an interview. Full story

Hawaii: LCV Action Fund Endorses Schatz

With a possible Democratic primary challenge coming, the political action arm of the League of Conservation Voters announced Wednesday its endorsement of Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz.

Schatz is running in the 2014 special election to fill the remaining two years of the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye’s term, and he’s facing a possible challenge from Democratic Rep. Colleen Hanabusa. The endorsement means Schatz is now featured on LCV Action Fund’s bundling website, which helps raise money for candidates who support the group’s environmental causes.

“Brian Schatz is a lifelong environmentalist and a proven leader on climate change policy,” LCV Action Fund President Gene Karpinski said in a statement. “He has championed clean energy initiatives that have put Hawaii at the forefront of utilizing renewable energy and reducing dependence on petroleum. We will need his continued leadership in the U.S. Senate.”

On Dec. 26, Gov. Neil Abercrombie appointed Schatz to the Senate, then the lieutenant governor, instead of Hanabusa, whom Inouye had endorsed to replace him shortly before his death.

Hanabusa is now considering taking on either Schatz or Abercrombie, and she’s likely to decide in the next few weeks.

South Carolina: Pat Boone Endorses Bostic Over Sanford

Republican attorney Curtis Bostic has picked up two high-profile conservative endorsements in as many days, with less than a week to go in South Carolina’s special election GOP runoff.

In the last 24 hours or so, ex-Sen. Rick Santorum and 1950s pop singer Pat Boone announced their support for Bostic in the runoff against former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

“Today I’m singing the praises of Curtis Bostic,” Boone wrote in a press release from the 60 Plus Association. “As a former U.S. Marine, Curtis Bostic can always be counted on to be faithful to his office. And Curtis Bostic can always be counted on to be faithful to those who place him in office.”

Boone’s use of the word “faithful” is a fairly overt allusion to Sanford’s highly publicized marital infidelity.

Meanwhile, Santorum’s endorsement of Bostic on Monday is yet another example of a possible 2016 presidential contender poking around South Carolina in recent days. Full story

South Carolina: 2016 Courtship Boosts Colbert Busch in Special Election

O'Malley visited South Carolina this weekend. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Three years before the South Carolina presidential primary, prospective presidential candidates are courting first-in-the-South Democratic activists — and, in one case this weekend, boosting a long-shot special-election House candidate.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley spent the weekend making overtures to the Palmetto State’s Democratic establishment.

On March 23, O’Malley name-dropped Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch’s campaign for the 1st District special election in his keynote speech to the South Carolina Democratic Party’s Issues Conference. He noted that his daughter, a College of Charleston student, is one of her volunteers, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.

That same day, CNN reported that Biden will attend a fundraising dinner for the South Carolina Democratic Party just days before the May 7 special election — although Biden will not visit the coastal 1st District.

“The vice president will not be coming to the 1st District while he is in the Palmetto State, and Elizabeth will be totally involved campaigning in the 1st District while he is in town,” a spokesperson for Colbert Busch said in an email to CQ Roll Call. Full story

South Carolina: Sanford Still the Front-Runner Heading Into Runoff

(Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

After a first-place primary finish on Tuesday, former Gov. Mark Sanford remains the front-runner to win South Carolina’s 1st District as he heads to a Republican runoff with attorney Curtis Bostic on April 2.

Bostic is less familiar to the electorate than Sanford, a former congressman from that area. The personal-injury lawyer has a smaller fundraising base, plans to eschew negative advertising during the runoff and is seen by operatives as too focused on his social conservatism in a district where fiscal conservatism is paramount.

“It looks pretty good for Sanford. He drew the ideal opponent,” said Will Folks, an influential political blogger in the state who is neutral in the race.

Sanford took 37 percent in Tuesday’s 16-person GOP primary, while Bostic took 13 percent. Because no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers head to a runoff.

Full story

South Carolina: Sanford Heads to Runoff, but GOP Opponent Unknown

(Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

Updated 10:52 p.m. | Former Gov. Mark Sanford will advance, as expected, to the Republican primary runoff on April 2.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Sanford took 37 percent, according to The Associated Press. That was enough to send him to a head-to-head matchup with another Republican, but not over the 50 percent threshold needed to win the nomination outright.

Full story

South Carolina: Elizabeth Colbert Busch Wins Democratic Primary

Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, won the Democratic nomination for South Carolina’s open 1st District on Tuesday, easily beating frequent candidate Ben Frasier in a special-election primary.

Colbert has, so far, run a solid campaign, with significant fundraising and slick television ads. In her first spot, she shared her résumé — director of sales and marketing at a shipping company, director of business development at a former naval shipyard in North Charleston — and hammered home the message that she knew how to create jobs.

What went unmentioned was her political affiliation, which will be her biggest hurdle to coming to Congress. The comfortably Republican district voted 62 percent for then-Rep. Tim Scott in November 2012. After his appointment to the Senate, the seat became vacant, setting up this special election.

One Colbert Busch aide told CQ Roll Call that the general election campaign would be, more or less, “a nonpartisan attack on business as usual in Washington.”

Colbert Busch will face the winner of a Republican runoff on April 2.

The general election is May 7. CQ Roll Call rates the race as Likely Republican.

Massachusetts: LCV Launches Six-Figure Field Program for Markey

Markey is running for Senate (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

The League of Conservation Voters announced on Monday a new, six-figure field campaign to boost Rep. Edward J. Markey’s bid for the Democratic nod in the Massachusetts special election for Senate.

Meanwhile, a source tells CQ Roll Call that Markey will begin a television ad campaign on Tuesday, ramping up his election effort seven weeks before primary voters decide between him and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch.

LCV, a well-funded environmental group, said the organization would spend at least $650,000 on the field campaign by the April 30 primary.

The size of Markey’s TV buy was not immediately available.

Markey led Lynch by significant margins in a series of recent polls. Markey has the backing of the LCV, along with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, among others.

Full story

South Carolina: Sanford, Colbert Busch Raise More Than $300,000

The large field of congressional hopefuls in South Carolina’s 1st District filed pre-primary fundraising reports this week — providing the first glimpse into the financial jockeying in the special election to replace Tim Scott, now a Republican senator.

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, the front-runner in the contest, raised $334,000 between Jan. 1 and Feb. 27. He ended the period with $365,000 in the bank. Sanford faces 15 other Republicans, some of whom also posted relatively strong fundraising periods, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

The filings come two weeks ahead of the March 19 primary. No candidate is expected to get more than 50 percent of the vote, setting up an April 2 runoff  — presumably between Sanford and another candidate. Fundraising for the other Republicans in the race was as follows:

• Teddy Turner, the son of TV mogul Ted Turner, took in $376,000 in receipts during the period, including a $245,000 contribution from himself.

• State Rep. Chip Limehouse took in $540,000, including a $400,000 personal loan. Full story

South Carolina: Colbert Busch Launches First TV Ad (VIDEO)

Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, launched her first television advertisement Thursday as she seeks the Democratic nomination in South Carolina’s 1st District special election.

In the slickly-made spot, she shares her résumé — director of sales and marketing at a shipping company, director of business development at a former naval shipyard in North Charleston — and emphasizes her experience creating jobs.

“I’ve spent 20 years using our ports to create jobs: selling American products made by American workers,” she says. “I know what it takes to create new jobs.”

Illinois: Kelly Plans to Follow Obama’s Lead on Gun Control

Kelly won the Democratic nomination in Illinois' 2nd District. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call)

Democrat Robin Kelly made gun control a central issue in her successful House primary last month, and now she says she will follow the president’s lead on that very issue in Congress.

“I see myself as standing with the president in helping him pass what he wants to pass,” Kelly said about gun control in an interview during her first trip to Washington, D.C., since her victory.

Kelly added that background checks and closing gun show loopholes are realistic policy points that could positively effect the 2nd District. She won the Feb. 26 primary in the south side Chicago district, an area that has been plagued by massive gun violence in recent years.

The 2nd District is a safe Democratic seat, and Kelly is all but certain to come to Congress after the April 9 special election to succeed former Democratic Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. Her Republican rival, Paul McKinley, is a convicted felon, according to The Chicago Tribune.

But Kelly’s primary garnered national attention when New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s super PAC spent $2.5 million to boost her campaign. Her race served as the first test case for the super PAC, which supports candidates who back gun control, after the school shootings in Newtown, Conn.

Kelly noted that she has never spoken with Bloomberg, even after her victory.

“Never talked to him before, never talked to him after [the primary],” she said. “We don’t know each other. He got involved on behalf of the families [affected by gun violence]. That’s how I look at it.”

Full story

Massachusetts: Republican Sullivan Files FEC Paperwork for Senate Run

Former U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, a Republican, filed federal paperwork Monday to run in the Senate special election in Massachusetts, becoming the third GOP candidate to officially enter the race.

“Yes, Washington is broken. Yes, it’s dysfunctional. That much is clear,” Sullivan said in a statement. “What we need now is someone who will stand up and say what’s broken and address how we can start to change it. The voters are looking for substance and real alternatives for reform.”

The Massachusetts Senate race represents a long shot for Republicans, and CQ Roll Call rates it as Likely Democratic.

Sullivan joins a GOP field that already includes state Rep. Dan Winslow and Gabriel Gomez, a private equity investor and former Navy SEAL. All three campaigns said they have collected enough certified signatures to appear on April 30 primary ballot.

The winner of the Republican primary will face off against Rep. Edward J. Markey — who is backed by many national Democrats in Washington, D.C., and influential Democrats in the Bay State — or Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, who has significant organized labor support. Markey is the frontrunner.

The general election will be held June 25.

Illinois: Kelly Wins Democratic Primary to Succeed Jackson

Cook County Chief Administrative Officer Robin Kelly won the Democratic nomination in the special election to replace former Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. on Tuesday and is now poised to succeed him in Congress.

Kelly had 55 percent, former Rep. Debbie Halvorson had 21 percent and Alderman Anthony Beale had 11 percent, with 63 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.

Kelly’s win also marks a victory for New York City Michael Bloomberg, whose super PAC spent more than $2 million in the race. Bloomberg supports gun control, which became a central issue in the race for the district on Chicago’s south side. The area has endured a spike in gun violence in the past few years.

This was Bloomberg’s first foray into congressional races since the elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn., last year. He spent millions of dollars knocking Halvorson, who received support from the National Rifle Association in her previous races, and boosting Kelly. Full story

South Carolina: Turner Launches New TV Ad as Special Election Heats Up (VIDEO)

Congressional candidate Teddy Turner launched a potent new ad Tuesday, looking to differentiate himself from a crowded field of Republicans with South Carolina’s 1st District special election primary just weeks away.

“We’ve come a long way. I know I’ve spent too much, but what’s a few trillion? It was all for you,” a Lothario-looking politician in a candle-lit room says in the spot. “But I’ve changed. I’ll keep my promises this time. It’ll be different. I’m sorry for all the mistakes I’ve made. Sugar, just give me one more chance.”

A female narrator then chimes in as video of framed photos of a number of the other GOP candidates, including former Gov. Mark Sanford, comes on the screen. “Break up with career politicians!” she says. “The right guy: Teddy Turner. Conservative Republican. Economics teacher. Not a politician.”

Illinois: Voters Head to Primary Polls to Replace Jackson

Chicago-area voters head to the primary polls Tuesday to select former Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr.’s successor.

Among the Democrats in the race, Cook County Chief Administrative Officer Robin Kelly is the candidate most political observers expect to win, but special elections are unpredictable. There are narrower paths to victory for former Rep. Debbie Halvorson and Alderman Anthony Beale.

Adding to the uncertainty in the 2nd District special election is a crowded lower tier of candidates. The winner of the Democratic primary is all but certain to win the general election in this heavily Democratic district. Full story