Super Tuesday’s Down-Ballot Aftershocks

The Texas legislature is poised to turn even harder right, labor flexes some power in an unlikely state, and more.

Mar 08, 2024

By Paul Blest, More Perfect Union

Much of the focus on Super Tuesday’s elections in 15 states was on whether former President Donald Trump would wrap up the Republican nomination for the third time (he did, soundly), how many Democratic voters would cast uncommitted ballots (hundreds of thousands, and sizable shares in Minnesota and North Carolina), and who California’s next senator will be (Adam Schiff, almost certainly).

But many states where voters went to the polls Tuesday also held primary elections for key down-ballot races, including gubernatorial and state legislative seats. And what happened on Tuesday—in Texas particularly, where there is no regular legislative session this year—could have a huge impact on policy priorities when lawmakers return following the November election.

Anti-voucher bulwarks suffered huge losses

At a time when more states are moving to slash public education funding and reappropriate it to mostly religious private schools, Texas has bucked the trend. And for good reason: as Arizona is finding, these programs are much more expensive than advertised and disproportionately benefit wealthy families that already send their kids to private schools, rather than working families who’ve never had the money to do so.

What shielded Texans from school vouchers was, as we covered last year, the Texas House, where Democrats have coalesced for nearly two decades with rural anti-voucher Republicans whose districts would be underserved without public schools. This coalition rejected a universal voucher program multiple times last year, first during the regular legislative session and then in multiple special sessions called by voucher enthusiast Gov. Greg Abbott.

In response, Abbott reached into his deep campaign war chest — aided by $6 million from Pennsylvania billionaire voucher booster Jeff Yass, the largest campaign donation in the history of Texas — and plowed into Tuesday’s primaries, endorsing right-wing challengers to incumbent Republican House members who opposed vouchers. On Tuesday night, five of those incumbents lost their primaries, while four more will head to a runoff with their challengers in May. Just two won their primaries outright.

Additionally, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan — who has been locked in an all-out political war with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton — will face a runoff with a challenger David Covey. While publicly supportive of Abbott’s push for vouchers, Phelan backed out of a deal Abbott had announced during a November special session to pass the voucher funding, and many Texas conservatives have viewed Phelan as an impediment to right-wing agenda items.

Three-term state Rep. Steve Allison of San Antonio was one of those who lost to an Abbott-endorsed candidate. He told Austin radio station KUT that he doesn’t regret his vote. “I have a long history of being opposed to private school vouchers,” Allison said. “It's devastating to public education that we have a constitutional requirement to provide.”

An anti-labor Democrat gets dumped in North Carolina

In a state where Republicans hold virtually all legislative power despite Democrat Roy Cooper occupying the governor’s mansion, and where right-to-work has been the law of the land since the 1940s and doesn’t look to change anytime soon, labor flexed some muscle Tuesday.

The most shocking upset came as conservative Democratic state Rep. Michael Wray lost to public school teacher Rodney Pierce. Wray has been in the legislature since 2005 and was the last Democrat left who voted for HB 2, the anti-trans “bathroom” bill that sparked a wave of boycotts against the state.

But Wray’s time in office has been notable more for his backing of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s agenda; last year, he was named a “jobs champion” by the Chamber because he voted for their priorities more than 80 percent of the time. Both Wray and fellow state Rep. Cecil Brockman, a Greensboro Democrat, were aided in their re-election campaigns by a conservative group that sent mailers on their behalf.

But Wray ultimately lost re-election, in part thanks to work by UNITE Here Local 23. The hospitality workers union spent more than $100,000 on a canvassing and mailer operation on behalf of Pierce and knocked on 15,000 doors in the district during the lead-up to the primary. The state AFL-CIO also endorsed Pierce, who ultimately won the contest by 42 votes.

“I knocked on doors for Rodney Pierce because we need more funding for our public schools and more high-paying union jobs,” Local 23 member Bobby Kirkpatrick said in a statement. “It's time for a change."

Brockman, meanwhile, won his primary by less than a hundred votes, fending off a challenge from former local NAACP president James Adams. Brockman responded to his close call by admonishing progressives celebrating Wray’s defeat. (In addition to Wray, Durham state Sen. Mike Woodard lost to a liberal challenger, Sophia Chitlik.)

Because of the GOP’s grip over the redistricting process, producing some of the most gerrymandered maps in the country, Democrats’ chances to retake the legislature in November are slim. But if UNITE Here and other unions can build on Pierce’s win in coming elections, it could change the state’s political landscape.

A prominent California junk fee opponent is poised to head to Congress

State Assemblymember Laura Friedman was part of a group of California lawmakers last year who pushed legislation cracking down on junk fees, sponsoring a bill — AB 8 — that would force companies like Ticketmaster to be transparent about pricing. The bill passed the Assembly but died in the Senate.

Friedman, who also has close ties to labor, appears after Tuesday to be the frontrunner for the safe Democratic U.S. House seat currently occupied by Schiff, though mail-in ballots will continue to be counted for weeks.

With nearly 70 percent of the vote counted, Friedman has clinched a spot in the runoff, according to the Associated Press, and her district went for President Joe Biden by 40 points in 2020. It appears labor and working families will have another ally in Congress, while Ticketmaster just picked up yet another opponent.

What else is happening in the states

Oregon’s legislature has passed one of the strongest right-to-repair laws in the country, over the objections of Apple. The bill now awaits the signature of Gov. Tina Kotek.
The Florida Senate passed a bill that would eliminate the ability of local governments to require water, shade, and rest breaks for outdoor workers beyond what state law provides. And state law provides nothing, as Sen. Jay Trumbull admitted Wednesday.
Oregon is advancing legislation that would greatly restrict corporate and private equity ownership of doctors’ offices and other primary care facilities. “Supporters say the bill, HB 4130, could be a model to counter large companies and private equity firms investing in medical practices, cutting staff, and increasing costs for patients and payers.”
The Indiana Senate passed a child labor bill allowing employers to schedule kids as young as 14 who’ve completed 8th grade, or who have kids of their own, for work without adhering to restrictions on child labor during school hours. During debate, one Indiana Republican said that “sleep is overrated.”
Delaware is considering a bill to offer free breakfast and lunch to all public school students.
The conservative South Dakota legislature has passed a bill requiring districts to raise teacher salaries, and setting a statewide floor at $45,000 per year.
Payday lenders said they’re prepared to leave Michigan as the legislature debates a bill to cap interest rates on predatory loans.
The Colorado House passed a bill banning the use of algorithms that leverage “nonpublic competitor data” to determine rent prices, which could become the first law of its kind in the country.
An Alabama Senate committee has given approval to an anti-ESG bill, one of the latest fronts in conservative culture wars that could mark a serious disruption to state pension funds.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is very, very mad at the legislature for not backing his plan for a taxpayer-funded arena for D.C.’s basketball and hockey teams.