The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of the States

After a lengthy (if unintentional) hiatus, the Politics of the States is back. Without further ado, the Badger State.

Wisconsin’s long-running recall nightmare has a new twist. With a recall election for Governor Scott Walker coming up this summer,  money is pouring in from all sides– pro-Walker forces including Americans for Prosperity are spending massive amounts of cash on ads from the right, while his opponents on the left are being funded by labor groups. Small, passionate donors are caught in the middle. [The Washington Post]

Ending an unnecessarily long saga of redistricting, a federal court last week set in place new congressional district lines for the state of New York. After endless months of wrangling, the state finally produced new state legislature lines a few weeks ago, and only through the judiciary’s intervention was a new Congressional map drawn. New York lost two seats in the most recent round of reapportionment, and redistricting had become wildly contentious in the state. [Albany Times Union]

More redistricting drama in Florida, where the state Democratic party has filed a lawsuit after the state supreme court rejected a Republican, legislatively-drawn map that critics alleged was not constitutional. The Democrats’ map has 11 Democratic districts, 13 Republican, and 3 swing, while the current map favors Republicans 16-9-2. Additionally, this new map proposes 7 minority majority districts, most south of the I-4 corridor. [The Tampa Bay Times]

Because it’s California, a Sacramento-area candidate may have just set himself up to endorse another candidate– while he’s still in the race. Andy Pugno, a lawyer running for State Assembly, pledged to support whichever Republican gets the most votes in this June’s Republican primary for the seat. The catch? Under 2010’s Proposition 14, California has a non-partisan blanket primary, meaning that the top two vote-getters advance, regardless of party, and in the heavily-Republican 6th district, it’s entirely feasible that Pugno and incumbent Beth Gaines will both be in the runoff. Leaving Pugno having pledge to endorse his competitor. [Sacramento Bee]