2024 Sierran Senate election in Tahoe
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The 2024 Sierran Senate election in Tahoe was held on March 3, 2024, in order to elect a representative to the Senate for the province of Tahoe. Incumbent senator Gary Newsom of the Democratic-Republican Party ran for re-election to serve a second term in the Senate. Newsom was elected in 2018 to succeed Able Brown, winning the election by a total of 59% of the popular vote.
Unlike most other Senate races, the Royalist Party had chosen to endorse the Democratic-Republican nominee in a sign of bipartisan solidarity and support for the Cornflower coalition government alongside the Libertarian Party while the Social Democrats fielded their own candidate against Newsom, ultimately nominating former MP Denim Landon as their candidate after a moderately competitive primary. The Green Party ultimately chose to endorse Landon as well in a sign of support for a progressive and left-wing alternative to Newsom.
The general election was held on March 3 and ended with Newsom being re-elected by a margin of 55.1% of the total popular vote. While there were concerns of the race possibly being competitive given the Social Democrats presence within provincial politics, Newsom's win re-affirmed the Democratic-Republican Party's position as the dominant party within the province and continued momentum seen in 2022 with the recapture of nearly all parliamentary seats from the Social Democrats.
Background
Tahoe is a politically liberal province with the Democratic-Republican Party holding majorities in both chambers of the Tahoe Provincial Legislature. In the 2022 Sierran federal election, the DRPS won supermajorities in Tahoe's delegation to the House of Commons and presently holds all three seats in Tahoe's delegation to the Senate as of 2023. Newsom himself was elected in 2018 and won in a landslide, a victory that was viewed as predicable by experts. Since being elected, Newsom has been a prominent party figure in the Senate, emerging as a notable party leader and was later made the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the Democratic-Republican victory in 2020.
In late 2022, a falling out between the Democratic-Republican Party and Social Democrats occurred as a result of the former withdrawing from the Second Kwon ministry along with the Democratic Party of Bajaría over credible reports of foreign involvement by the United Commonwealth in support of Susan Kwon in the 2021 federal election. The fallout lead to a similar controversy in Tahoe, resulting in the creation of a Cornflower coalition government between the Tahoe Royalist and Democratic-Republican parties on the provincial level. In response, the Social Democrats declared in February 2023 that they would run their own candidate against Newsom in 2024 with the backing of the Green Party.
Despite concerns over the Social Democrats decision, the race is expected to heavily favor Newsom according to political exports given the province's strong liberal political leanings, favoritism towards the DRPS, and relatively positive approval ratings within Tahoe.
Democratic-Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
- Gary Newsom, incumbent K.S. Senator (2018–present)
Endorsements
- Executive officials
- Maggie Chan, K.S. prime minister (2022–present)
- Kenneth O'Conner, K.S. deputy prime minister (2022–present) (Royalist)
- Rihanna Salas, K.S. attorney general (2022–present)
- Isabelle Huynh, K.S. Foreign Minister (2022–present) (Royalist)
- K.S. Senators
- Malcolm Siegel, Flagstaff (2018–present)
- Marco Murillo, Santa Clara (2006–present)
- Organizations
Social Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
- Denim Landon, former MP for Central Incline (2016–2022)
Eliminated in primary
- Tommy Gatto, progressive activist and community organizer
Endorsements
- Executive officials
- Susan Kwon, Leader of the Opposition (2022–present) and former K.S. prime minister (2020–2022)
- Members of Parliament
- Ian Calderon, former Speaker of the House (2020–2022)
- Organizations
General election
Predictions
Polling
See also
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