News & Brews September 2, 2024
Get News & Brews in your inbox each day: Subscribe here!
Pa. sees ‘massive’ campaign ‘spending surge’
The Post-Gazette reports that per political ad-tracking group AdImpact, the Democrat and Republican presidential campaigns, along with the super PACs that back them, have already spent more on political ads in the Keystone State than the $336 million that was spent in Pa. during the entire 2020 election season. This figure “includes $147 million in reserved air time for the coming months — a number that’s likely to rise.” For added context, in 2020, “almost two-thirds of all ad spending in Pennsylvania happened after the [Labor Day] holiday.” The vast majority of this season’s spending (more than $150 million) has been in the Philly media market. Pittsburgh is next at about $83 million, followed by the Harrisburg region at around $48 million, Wilkes Barre-Scranton at about $36 million, Johnstown-Altoona at about $22 million, and Erie at just shy of $5 million.
Court agrees with Dem groups on mail-in ballots
In yet another ruling in yet another case challenging Pa. law that requires mail-in ballots to be properly dated, the Commonwealth Court agreed with a slew of liberal groups and ruled the existing state law can simply be ignored. Dissenting Judge Patricia McCullough said the ruling was “a wholesale abandonment of common sense.” The AP reports, “Tom King, a lawyer who represent[s] the state and national Republican Party groups in the case, said he was disappointed in the decision and ‘absolutely will appeal.’”
WSJ: Why Pa. and Ga. are ‘must-win’ states
The Wall Street Journal writes that in this year’s presidential race, “[e]ach campaign has a state that is arguably ‘must-win’ in its path to 270 electoral votes, which explains why both nominees are expending so much time, energy and money in those two places—to secure their own prize and block the other.” Not surprisingly, the story notes that if Trump wins Pa., the presidency is likely his. “Based on the results of the 2020 map and internal assessments by the Trump campaign, Trump could return to the White House by simply recapturing the swing-state trifecta of Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.”
GOP questions response after Dem state senate candidate involved in car crash
PennLive reports that Republicans are “demand[ing] answers” after Democrat state senate candidate Nicole Ruscitto—who is challenging incumbent state Sen. Devlin Robinson in Allegheny County—was involved in a single-car crash last evening. Thankfully, Ruscitto is ok, but Republicans say that per witnesses, she had been seen drinking and “stumbled” on her way out of the restaurant. Her campaign denied the stumbling but did not comment on the drinking. Also, the GOP says that per witnesses, no breathalyzer was administered. There’s also a dispute over whether the local mayor was called to the scene, with Republicans saying he was and the Ruscitto campaign saying he was not there.
Pa. gets a ‘D’ in public sector labor laws
The Commonwealth Foundation recently released the latest edition of The Battle for Worker Freedom: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws, which looks at how well (or poorly) state labor laws uphold worker freedom in relation to unionization. Unfortunately, Pa. continues to fare poorly, earning only a “D.” See the full report here, or click here to read the key findings.