SGA report previews pros and cons of battleground gubernatorial races
AFSA’s State Government Affairs (SGA) team this week published its White Paper on the 2018 Gubernatorial Elections Preview, examining the races in states that will hold elections.
In 36 states with elections, Republican governors hold 26 seats; Democrats hold nine; and Alaska has an independent governor. A total of 20 incumbent governors are running for re-election while 16 are not, either because of term limits or retirements.
The SGA White Paper does a comprehensive deep dive into the races looking at factors such as independent polling, key endorsements and campaign fundraising.
“We feel this is an important outreach to AFSA membership to present an unbiased, fact-based assessment of the 2018 gubernatorial races,” said Danielle Fagre Arlowe, Senior Vice President at AFSA and head of the SGA team. “With the tone of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shifting to a more pragmatic, all-inclusive approach to regulating the consumer finance industry at the federal level, more states are paying attention to consumer financial issues, whether in the office of the governor or the attorney general.”
From an historical perspective, the midterm elections usually favor the opposite party of a first-term President and serve as a national barometer on leadership in Washington DC in both the executive and legislative branches.
Due to the current political environment, this year’s gubernatorial elections have received significant attention and “are seen as a test of the strength of President Trump’s support in key swing states, namely Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida” the white paper says.
September 26th, 2018 by Dan Bucherer
