Kentucky: Big test for Biden. Democrat incumbent Governor is running for re-election against a black Republican Attorney General whom President Trump heavily supports. Dem Governor Beshear is running away from Biden. Will it work? Kentucky is a red state for whoever is the GOP nominee in 2024, but this election will tell if, for the first time, Biden’s bad polling numbers impact other Dem candidates. It didn’t happen in 2022.
Virginia: Governor Youngkin is not on the ballot by name but by everything else but his name. If Republicans can take control of the one legislative Chamber they don’t hold and keep the one they do have, Youngkin immediately surges onto the national stage as a Trump alternative.
New Jersey: Is all politics local? The heavily blue state has state legislative elections today. While the Middle East crisis, Trump court cases, and skyrocketing interest rates make national news, Jersey has always been a state where all politics is local. In 2023, the issue is state funding for clean energy projects championed by the Biden Administration that have fallen flat on their face and cost Jersey taxpayers billions. As Snooki goes, so goes the country – if local politics trumps (lousy pun) national issues, Dems could be in even more trouble.
