Politics: 2020 Attorney General Elections

While I once thought that I would only do one post on one attorney general race throughout all of my blogging time, this will not be the case after all. There is a lot to say about this important but often overlooked office. If you want to know why I’m doing this post, it relates entirely to the upcoming Supreme Court case called California v Texas. The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has made me out for blood (figuratively, of course). For more information on the races for this office this year, read this.

Link: https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_elections,_2020

The elections for attorney general this year are in Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. I do not think that there are any more that are happening that voters can’t vote on. But I do know that there are a lot of the state races where one can vote if one can vote in that state.

The states with attorney generals in favor of Obamacare that are up for reelection this year, according to the litigation for the upcoming Supreme Court case that I told you about, are North Carolina, Washington, Oregon, and Vermont. Would I blindly want these people to stay in the office that they currently have? Maybe. It is hard to be out for blood without blind vengeance.

The states with attorney generals against Obamacare that are up for reelection this year are Missouri, Indiana, Utah, and West Virginia. This does lead to a bit of an interesting thing to note with one of the states. I’ll get to that later. Am I blindly against all of them? No. I do know enough about Missouri’s current attorney general to know that I’m against him in not a blind way at all. And one of them is on their way out now anyways.

It is also important that is seems the attorney generals of the states of Pennsylvania and Montana do not have any role in the Supreme Court case. Thus, there isn’t as much to add about them just yet at the moment. They aren’t the only states not involved in the case.

What’s interesting is that when it comes to the Indiana attorney general race, the incumbent had lost renomination after a scandal which got him disbarred for a month. Thus, Curtis Hill will not be the nominee for the Republican Party as Todd Rokita will be instead. As for the Democratic side, Jonathan Weinzapfel is the nominee. Neither party of that state let the voters pick who would win the primary as that was up to party insiders at a convention.

In Missouri, the attorney general used to be Josh Hawley, but he got elected senator and had to resign from the office as a result. Thus, Eric Schmitt was appointed to the vacant seat. He is a Republican. I don’t like him for a lot of reasons. In addition to the Obamacare issues, he also wants to change the law to allow people to sue China over coronavirus, which is a terrible and short sighted idea. The Democrat in the race is Richard Finneran.

In Montana, the Democratic candidate is Raph Graybill while the Republican one is Austin Knudsen. The Republican incumbent is not in the race itself. That is because this person ran for higher office, but lost the primary.

In North Carolina, the Democratic candidate is incumbent Josh Stein. Meanwhile, when we get to the Republican candidate, it is Jim O’Neill. I feel that Josh should be reelected. He has done other good too such as trying to punish JUUL, prevent robo calls, deal with price gouging, and protect the elderly from scams.

In Oregon, the incumbent is Democrat Ellen Rosenblum. The Republican in the race is Michael Cross. Ellen has done a lot of good, such as working to investigate the illegal “police” that were occupying Portland that I need to do more research into.

In Pennsylvania, the incumbent is Democrat Josh Shapiro. The Republican in the race for this office is Heather Heidelbaugh. I have no investment in this race one way or another. Maybe I should care, but I don’t. But do I really want to learn about this state’s politics? Maybe I would in other races, but not this one.

In Utah, the incumbent is Republican Sean D Reyes. The Democrat in the race is Greg Skordas who I have to endorse since he is not against the Affordable Care Act. I can’t find as much info about Greg as I would like easily.

In Vermont, the incumbent is Democrat T.J. Donovan. The Republican is H Brooke Paige. I am not just in favor of T.J. because of his support of Obamacare, but also because he knows how to improve the law to be in favor of everyone and not just the less fortunate.

In Washington, the incumbent is Democrat Bob Ferguson. The Republican is Matt Larkin. Bob was once on the Time 100. It is hard to say much about the candidate I support named Bob. But one should vote for him.

In West Virginia, the incumbent is Republican Patrick Morrisey. The Democrat is Sam Petsonk. While I can’t find as much information as I would like quickly about Sam, I’d still have to support him in the general election as Patrick is against the ACA.

That is all for this post. If I endorsed a candidate, I urge you to vote for him if you can. If I didn’t, then make whatever decision you want. I’m sorry that I don’t know as much info as I’d want to on some of the candidates, but I can’t care. This is an important, but overlooked job. Thus, one much make sure one knows about these races.