2020 Gubernational elections: Who is running megathread

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Perriello is IN. Reportedly called Northam to confirm.

ENDORSED

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Interesting parallels between OK-Gov and KS-Gov emerging. Both states in a budget crisis, both have a likely strong Dem primary (Brewer and probably Svaty in Kansas & Edmonson and Inman in Oklahoma), and both have an outsider GOP businessman running as a populist (Hartman in Kansas and Richardson in Oklahoma).

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Keep your eyes on Kansas today. I'll edit this post once it happens.

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Former Kansas Agriculture Commissioner and State Rep, (currently a farmer) Josh Svaty announced his campaign for governor in Black Wolf Kansas today. The first article covers his announcement, while the second one discusses reactions to it, including that of yours truly.

http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article150832357.html

http://www.salina.com/news/local/crowd-pleased-to-hear-svaty-plans-to-run/article_e75a4fce-1251-5554-8910-1ec8ccec1b77.html

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Former Kansas Agriculture Commissioner and State Rep, (currently a farmer) Josh Svaty announced his campaign for governor in Black Wolf Kansas today. The first article covers his announcement, while the second one discusses reactions to it, including that of yours truly.

http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article150832357.html

http://www.salina.com/news/local/crowd-pleased-to-hear-svaty-plans-to-run/article_e75a4fce-1251-5554-8910-1ec8ccec1b77.html

Who is better between Svaty and Brewer? As far as i see it - we have relatively rural candidate (Svaty) against very urban (Brewer) here. But what abouth geography, ideology and so on? Brewer is from Wichita.Svaty - ?

Svaty is from Ellsworth County, a rural central Kansas county. He remains popular in his old district and in much of Central Kansas as a whole. The KDP has a divide between rural and urban Democrats and it shows in various races, this one included.

Brewer seems to be quite moderate, having even endorsed and fundraised for Pat Roberts in 2008!! It's tough to know exactly where he is on the issues though because as mayor he didn't have to deal with lots of national issues. He was a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and close to the business community during his terms. Also called for police body cameras. Overall Brewer did a good job in Wichita.

Svaty is moderate on social issues (voted pro-life in the legislature) but relatively mainstream Dem on economic issues. He has a strong record on environmental and energy issues that I think can help him with progressives. However, Svaty's already being attacked (just hours after announcing) on his abortion stance. Some of the attacks are quite exaggerated, and as we saw in KS-04's nomination race, that issue will likely create a grueling primary season.

Brewer is not nearly as charismatic as Svaty but he does carry more name recognition and as of now would win Sedgwick County and probably Wyandotte and Johnson too. As Svaty raises money and becomes more known we'll see how that dynamic changes. He explained today that he has family in many counties and plans to campaign in every county in the state. I think that Brewer has weaker organization of his campaign at this point but if others stay out of the race maybe some people will flock to him.

The real wild card is whether or not State House Minority Leader Jim Ward, a fiery progressive from Wichita, will jump in. Rumor has it he is considering but in the past few days I've heard he is leaning no. Personally, I am a huge fan of his but I believe he would be most effective in the legislature. I also hear that the mayor of Lawrence, KS may run but I don't think he would have much appeal outside of Douglas County.

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So, the Crawford County Democratic Party held a picnic and invited a bunch of Dems, from local to state level. Josh Svaty and Carl Brewer were invited to speak as gubernatorial candidates, and Jim Ward was invited as minority leader. However, according to my friends who were at the event, Ward got up and gave a gubernatorial speech. So, odds are he's in.

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Nebraska may see an Independent - Bob Krist- mounting a campaign against Pete Ricketts:

http://columbusnewsteam.com/local-news/dems-playing-wait-and-see-on-krists-governor-talk/

Catch is, Krist would like the Dem to not run a nominee. I live there and it works for me.  Ricketts has been 'Brownback Lite'. Krist wold be a lot better.

Sounds like a Greg Orman type. Didn't work out so hot in Kansas...

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State Sen. Jack Latvala (R) is presumably in in Florida, though he's decided to wait a month to formally announce.

he's a relatively moderate Republican, right?