RandySF
RandySF's JournalPA-15: Rep. Thompson (R) running for re-election, Bilger (D) makes candidacy bid
PENNSYLVANIA (WTAJ) — The race for Pennsylvania’s 15th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is heating up, as two candidates announce their campaigns on Thursday.
Incumbent Republican Glenn “GT” Thompson is running for another term, he announced in a video posted Feb. 12......
Democrat Ray Bilger also announced Thursday he’s running for the seat, and he shared the news at the Bellefonte Art Museum.
Bilger, a native of Bellefonte, Pa., served on the U.S. Air Force and has more than 40 years of public service experience.
https://www.wtaj.com/news/local-news/rep-thompson-running-for-re-election-bilger-makes-candidacy-bid/
Republican battle to repeal Utah redistricting law races to finish line
Utahns for Representative Government, the committee organized by Utah GOP chair Rob Axson, has until 5 p.m. on Sunday to submit enough petition packets to qualify for the November ballot.
This comes after the Utah Supreme Court on Friday denied a request to postpone the signature submission deadline for the Republican effort to repeal Utah’s Proposition 4 redistricting law.
As the clock ticks down, GOP volunteers and paid signature gatherers worked to persuade Utahns to give Prop 4 a second look even as Better Boundaries — the group behind the law — asked Utah voters to remove their signatures from petitions.
Over the past three months, the GOP’s bid to fight one ballot initiative with another has boiled over into a bitter brawl about who should draw Utah’s congressional maps and how citizen-initiated legislation should be implemented.
https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/02/13/utah-redistricting-battle-continues-as-republicans-race-to-repeal-prop-4/
New PAC in March Palm Beach Town Council election sparks debate
A new political action committee has stepped into the Palm Beach Town Council race and is bringing new attention to fundraising and donations in the race for the Group 1 seat.
The Palm Beach Neighbors PAC, formed in December ahead of the March 10 election, had raised $264,655 as of Feb. 11 from a broad coalition of supporters, according to its founders. The PAC has so far spent just under $20,000 on the election.
The PAC recently endorsed incumbent Lew Crampton for Group 1, citing his experience and leadership in an announcement posted on its website, PBNeighborsPac.com. Crampton has spent eight years on the council and currently serves as its president pro tem.
Crampton is challenged by real estate portfolio manager John David Corey, a former member of the Architectural Commission.
https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/news/2026/02/13/new-political-action-committee-sparks-debate-in-palm-beach-florida-election/88579405007/
Local election authorities say a verification tool used in Missouri flagged citizens for removal from voter rolls
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) - Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is asking local election authorities to verify voters' citizenship status after a federal program flagged people for potential illegal status. However, many county clerks have spotted citizens on the list.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said Hoskins sent her a list of 74 voters in November whose immigration status needed to be confirmed.
"We could see just from looking at the numbers and looking at the actual voters that were on it, that many of them were naturalized citizens," Lennon said. "One [voter] we actually registered at their naturalization ceremony."
The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements is a federal program that allows the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to verify a person's status. Hoskins uploaded Missouri voter rolls to the program within the past year.
https://abc17news.com/news/abc-17-news-investigates/2026/02/13/local-election-authorities-say-a-verification-tool-used-in-missouri-elections-flagged-citizens-for-removal-from-rolls/
Local election authorities say a verification tool used in Missouri flagged citizens for removal from voter rolls
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) - Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is asking local election authorities to verify voters' citizenship status after a federal program flagged people for potential illegal status. However, many county clerks have spotted citizens on the list.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said Hoskins sent her a list of 74 voters in November whose immigration status needed to be confirmed.
"We could see just from looking at the numbers and looking at the actual voters that were on it, that many of them were naturalized citizens," Lennon said. "One [voter] we actually registered at their naturalization ceremony."
The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements is a federal program that allows the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to verify a person's status. Hoskins uploaded Missouri voter rolls to the program within the past year.
https://abc17news.com/news/abc-17-news-investigates/2026/02/13/local-election-authorities-say-a-verification-tool-used-in-missouri-elections-flagged-citizens-for-removal-from-rolls/
Recall election in Seaside underway
As of Feb. 11, a recall election was officially deemed underway by the Clatsop County Clerk and Elections office, according to Julia Myers, elections technician.
The recall is concerning Seaside City Councilor Seamus McVey, of Ward 3. McVey was elected in 2024 and his term is set to expire Dec. 31, 2028. McVey has recently come under fire for some of his stances and allegations about keeping his past secret as well as a name change. He has been maligned on social media and during public comments at council meetings. Fellow councilors and Mayor Steve Wright have stood by McVey. He says the allegations are unfounded.
Chief Recall Petitioner Andi Toombs filed the petition with the City of Seaside on Oct. 29, 2025 and petition signature sheets were approved for circulation on Dec. 9. On Jan. 27, 2026, the signature sheets were presented to the City of Seaside. On Feb. 5, the signatures were verified and counted by county officials. Ninety-six signatures were needed — the clerk’s office received 118 signatures and determined that 105 were valid. Toombs and McVey were notified of the results.
McVey declined to resign by the Feb. 10 cut off date, so the March 17, 2026 Recall Election commenced.
https://dailyastorian.com/2026/02/13/recall-election-in-seaside-underway/
Maricopa County recorder finds 60 noncitizens who voted in elections This ad will end in 21 seconds You can skip this
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office said Friday a review uncovered five dozen people who voted in prior elections despite not being citizens.
In a news release, the department said it made the discovery while confirming ballot eligibility for 61,681 county residents impacted by an administrative error discovered in 2024 involving the Motor Vehicle Division.
When looking through the voter rolls, elections officials said they found 137 people who were registered to vote who are not U.S. citizens. Of those, they said 60 voted in prior races.
“The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office is referring the identified non-citizens who have cast ballots to both the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for further review and any appropriate action,” the recorder’s office said.
https://www.azfamily.com/2026/02/14/maricopa-county-recorder-finds-60-noncitizens-who-voted-elections/
Kristi Noem was unable to cite single election fraud case during secretive Arizona visit
Late this week, chatter began to circulate of an impending visit by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to discuss “election security.” On the heels of a raid late last month in Fulton County, Georgia, it sparked rumors of a similar raid in Maricopa County to search for non-existent widespread voter fraud.
Noem’s visit ended up being far more pedestrian, even as the agency went to extreme lengths to shroud nearly everything about the trip — and its purpose — in secrecy.
Reporters hoping to attend had to RSVP to Noem’s press conference at an undisclosed location nearly a full day in advance. Early Thursday evening, journalists who were approved were told to arrive at the main Homeland Security office in downtown Phoenix so they could be shuttled to an undisclosed location 30 minutes away. A slew of brand new 2026 all-wheel drive Dodge Durango GTs, some still with the dealer window sticker in the backseat, created a convoy that drove reporters to a Homeland Security Investigations field office in north Scottsdale.
In the days preceding, sources had sent the Arizona Mirror and other media outlets screenshots of a media advisory claiming Noem would be in Phoenix to discuss “election security” with local officials. The Mirror did not receive the initial advisory and did not receive a response to questions about it from DHS until the night prior to the event.
https://azmirror.com/2026/02/13/kristi-noem-was-unable-to-cite-single-election-fraud-case-during-secretive-arizona-visit/
NC-04: Bernie Sanders' Durham visit highlights political divide in primary
DURHAM — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders took the stage to roaring cheers as hundreds of people in the Durham Convention Center rose to their feet.
The independent from Vermont visited the Tar Heel State as part of his Fighting Oligarchy Tour. He spoke in Greensboro on Thursday, addressing wealth inequality and universal healthcare.
But the Durham stop on Friday wasn’t just for him to meet more North Carolinians. Sanders took advantage of the opportunity to stump for Nida Allam — a current Durham County commissioner and former state political director for Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
Allam is mounting a progressive challenge to incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Valerie Foushee, a fixture in Orange County politics. Foushee, who has represented the district for two terms, was a former state senator and Orange County commissioner.
https://ncnewsline.com/2026/02/13/bernie-sanders-durham-visit-highlights-political-divide-in-nc-04-primary/
NC-SD30: Berger (R) campaign accuses Democrats of interfering in his primary
As early voting began in the 2026 primary, the campaign of Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) bashed “Democrat-aligned dark money groups” for running ads supporting his opponent, Sheriff Sam Page.
Page, the longtime sheriff of Rockingham County, Berger’s home, is by any measure the most serious primary challenger the powerful Republican Senate leader has faced in more than 20 years. Polls have shown the two in a close race since late 2025, despite Berger’s huge money advantage and relentless negative advertising.
Berger’s campaign alleged in a press release Thursday that groups tied to Democrats have “dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars to rescue Page.” The campaign cited two groups running attack ads against Berger — N.C. Families for Prosperity and the N.C. Partnership for Good Government — that were incorporated by Chapel Hill attorney Josh Starin.
Starin, who is registered as an unaffiliated voter, did not respond to a request for comment.
https://ncnewsline.com/2026/02/13/berger-campaign-accuses-democrats-of-interfering-in-his-primary/
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