Even if they don’t live in one of these four states, voters should keep an eye on gubernatorial elections in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Why?
Each of these races is too close to call with a week to go until the midterms, according to New York Times/Siena College poll results released this week. These races are also poised to reveal truths about the Republican party as it clings to unfounded claims of 2020 presidential election fraud.
Kari Lake, the GOP gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, is an election denier, according to The New York Times. Poll results covering 604 likely voters in the state from Oct. 24 to Oct. 26 showed that she was in a dead heat with Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who has defended Arizona’s election procedures.
In Pennsylvania, state far-right Sen. Republican Doug Mastriano – the Republican gubernatorial candidate – has called President Joe Biden’s victory “statistically impossible,” and led an unsuccessful attempt to uncover election fraud. Per the poll results this week, voters in the state seem likely to reject him. Around 40% of the 620 likely voters were surveyed there from Oct. 24 to Oct. 26 said they would vote for him, compared to 53% who said they would vote for Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
While Lake and Mastriano represent the election denier faction of the GOP (which also includes former President Donald Trump and 70% of Republicans, according to Poynter), candidates in the other tight gubernatorial races are not as convinced.
Republican sheriff Joe Lombardo in Nevada “has walked a line between his party’s moderate and Trump wings,” according to The New York Times.
According to the poll of 885 likely Nevada voters surveyed from Oct. 19 to Oct. 24, he had “a slim lead” of 49% compared to Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak’s 45%.
A win for Lombardo “could push the state firmly to the right,” said The New York Times, “if Republicans win control of the Legislature.”
According to the outlet, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is a “staunch conservative” who has “ignored” Trump’s appeals to overturn the 2020 election. A poll of 604 likely voters surveyed from Oct. 24 to Oct. 27 in Georgia, 50% planned to vote for Kemp, compared to 45% for Democrat challenger Stacey Abrams, who was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, representing District 89 for nearly 10 years until 2017.
Kemp narrowly beat Abrams by 1.4% in the 2018 gubernatorial election.
For more insight into the 2022 midterm elections, listen to Audacy’s original podcast “The Homestretch” hosted by veteran political reporter Doug Sovern of KCBS Radio. The finale, covering all the races to watch in Congress, will launch at 6 a.m. ET Thursday.
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