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3 Blacks Running For Governor Continue Their Uphill Race

By Rosaland Tyler

Associate Editor

New Journal and Guide

Registered Democrats in Maryland will make up just 57 percent of voters by Election Day as Ben Jealous runs for governor against incumbent Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

While recent polls have shown gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous losing by double-digits to Hogan, the number of registered Democrats represent the same percentage of Democrats that cast ballots when Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley won the office in 2006, according to news reports. It’s also the same percentage of Democrats who were in the electorate when Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich won in 2002 – and it’s only 3 percentage points more than when Democrats made up 54 percent of the electorate during Hogan’s win in 2014.

Jealous campaign manager Travis Tazelaar said the campaign doesn’t believe polling that shows Hogan getting nearly 40 percent of Democrats’ votes.

“Over and over and over again, we see that the polling is just wrong,” Tazelaar said. “A lot of our Democrats are being introduced to Ben Jealous even now. I expect those Democrats will come home by Election Day.”

A recent Gonzales Research poll had Hogan beating Jealous by 18 percentage points with a model of an electorate in which 55 percent are Democrats. Goucher College’s recent poll had Hogan up by 22 points with an electorate in which 61 percent are Democrats.

Tazelaar said the Democrats plan to attract much more actual support from voters than they are currently getting.

In Georgia

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In  Georgia, gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams had raised $12.6 million as of Sept. 30, according to some reports, while another report said Abrams raised  $16.2 million as of Sept. 30.
While many of her contributions were from outside of Georgia, the city that has contributed the most to Abrams as of Sept. 30, is Atlanta, where she lives, according to news reports. As of the most recent reporting period, almost 10,000 named donations had come from Atlanta, worth about $3.2 million, according to a report that covers a three-month period from July 1 through Sept. 30.
Outside of Atlanta, the most popular city that has contributed to Abram’s campaign has been New York City: More than 2,000 donations from New York, worth about $1.2 million. Second was Washington, with about 1,200 contributions worth $581,000, and third was San Francisco, with 802 contributions worth $429,000.
Hollywood – including North and West Hollywoods – has given her far less than, say, Macon – about $14,000. That’s a bit misleading, because Hollywood isn’t that big: she received almost $300,000 from L.A.
The figures don’t include “independent groups” and political action committees that have been spending big on Abrams’ campaign and have been almost solely funded by out-of-state donors.
Among her big-money donors were actors and entertainers such as Chris Rock ($5,000), Jada Smith ($5,000), Regina Hall ($5,000), Heather Thomas ($6,600) and Kate Capshaw ($6,600), Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts ($6,600), DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife ($13,200), and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ($6,600).
The Republican reported having about $6.6 million on hand for the final stretch, while Abrams had about $4.9 million as of Sept. 30.
Her opponent, Republican Brian Kemp said he raised $11.7 million over the past three months in his bid to become Georgia’s next governor.
New financial reports put the overall amount raised by candidates in the race, so far, at about $56.5 million, a sum that makes the contest by far the costliest of its kind in state history.

In Florida

In Florida, where Democrat Andrew Gillum is running against Republican Ron DeSantis, the two exchanged views in their first debate on Oct. 21, in Tampa.
Gillum, who has served as Tallahassee’s mayor since 2014, dismissed DeSantis as Mr. Trump’s “stooge, according to The New York Times. But DeSantis, a former three-term congressman, named areas where he had disagreed with the president – such as when the administration briefly moved to open Florida’s coast to offshore oil drilling.
From the start, DeSantis went on the offensive, characterizing Mr. Gillum as a “failed mayor.” “He’s presided over a crime-ridden city,” DeSantis said. “He’s involved in corruption. He’s not the guy to lead our state.”

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