Election links: The best strategy to win over DC voters, period

Sean Spicer is raising money for the DC GOP, DC's ballot petition process is a mess, Floreen spices up the Montgomery County Executive race, Larry Hogan is bad on urbanism, Virginia's most prominent Republican candidates are being abandoned by their parties for very different reasons, and more in our election links roundup.

The best strategy to win over skeptical DC voters, period
Trump is wildly unpopular among DC voters. That has not stopped the DC GOP from inviting Sean Spicer to host a fundraiser on its behalf. Spicer disgraced himself as Trump’s Press Secretary and debased his office and the White House by, among other things, spouting painfully obvious lies from the very moment he took his place behind the podium in the press briefing room. Michael Bekesha, who is running against DC Council Member Charles Allen in Ward 6, does not object to Spicer’s presence. That said, he may be busy that particular evening. (Rachel Kurzius / DCist)

DC's ballot petition is a mess
S. Kathryn Allen, who is running for the DC Council at large, announced on twitter that the DC Board of Elections has found that she collected sufficient valid signatures. Councilmember Elissa Silverman announced that her challenge to the validity of Allen's signatures will move forward, and suggested that Allen may be disqualified after all. A final determination should be made on Monday. Regardless of the outcome, DC’s ballot petition signatures system is a bit of a mess. (Janetta Rose Barras / DC Line)

The DC Council isn't enthused about paying for a football stadium
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser recently made clear that she is interested in working to bring football back to the district. So far, she has very little support among the DC Council. Only Vincent Gray and Jack Evans support the idea. Chairman Phil Mendelson signaled his opposition, and councilmembersm David Grosso, Elissa Silverman, Mary Cheh, and Charles Allen all came out against the idea. “We can’t afford the luxury of carrying a billionaire’s water to build a new stadium for a NFL team that will only play eight games a year and leave us with acres of empty parking lots the remaining 357 days,” explained Allen. Silverman, Cheh, Allen, and Mendelson are all up for reelection this year. (Rachel Kurzius / DCist)

Things have gotten interesting in Montgomery County
Nancy Floreen, Marc Elrich's Democratic colleague on the Montgomery County Council, was able to obtain enough signatures to gain a place on the ballot as an Independent candidate for Montgomery County Executive. This will likely complicate Elrich’s previous plans to coast to victory against Republican Robin Ficker. Floreen has already received substantial support from local business and development interests who are wary of Elrich. (Jennifer Barrios / Post)

Actual money against predicted passion in Maryland
As of the most recent campaign finance reports, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has $9.3 million dollars in the bank to support his reelection bid. Ben Jealous has just $386,000. The Jealous campaign believes that it will have enough money to get the message out and stoke an energetic Democratic base in an overwhelmingly Democratic electorate. Despite consistent predictions of passion on the Democratic side, polls favor Hogan. (Martin Austermuhle / WAMU)

Reminder: Hogan wants to spend $9 billion to widen highways
The above is not to say that there’s little at stake for Democratic or liberal-leaning voters — Maryland voters should be fired up. The Hogan administration is moving forward with plans to spend $9 billion on projects to widen three highways. That is a truly breathtaking amount of money being spent on auto-centric development that could be better spent on housing, education, public transportation, or really just about anything else. Oh, and it's unclear how many homes might be razed to make room. (Luz Lazo / Post)

David Trone is being treated for cancer
David Trone, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Maryland’s 6th district, announced that he has been receiving treatment for a cancerous tumor in his urinary tract. Trone says that doctors “confirmed” earlier tests on the day before the Democratic primary. Trone will continue to undergo treatment, including surgery to remove a kidney. He says that doctors are optimistic that he will make a full recovery. Amie Hoeber, Trone’s Republican opponent, reached out with kind words of support. (Bruce Depuyt / Maryland Matters)

Lonely Corey
Republican donors, local party leaders, and congressional candidates are keeping their distance from Corey Stewart. Stewart is the Republican challenger to Senator Tim Kaine who has a passion for preserving Confederate monuments and historically illiterate photo shopping, and has a distaste for immigration. Stewart has appeared with white nationalist Jason Kessler, and he made a campaign video with “pro-white” Republican house primary candidate Paul Nehan, who Stewart described as “one of my personal heroes.” (Antonio Olivo / Post)

The other “lost cause” campaign
The GOP believes that 45 Republican-held House of Representative seats may be at serious risk. Republicans only have a 23-seat advantage in the House. The party therefore must make difficult decisions about funding support. Barbara Comstock is one of the incumbents that is receiving less support than normal from Republican-aligned PACs and may see resources that were set aside for her campaign be diverted to candidates thought to be in more competitive races. Some see her race as “essentially unwinnable.” (Alex Isenstadt / Politico)

Redistricting efforts have stalled in Virginia
Democratic Virginia House Delegates are making one last push to set a firm date to debate new district maps. Virginia Republicans appear to have settled on a strategy to delay, in hopes that a newly-conservative Supreme Court will uphold maps deemed unconstitutional by a federal court due to their use of racial gerrymandering. Without such unconstitutional maps, it is doubtful that Republicans would have retained a majority in the Virginia House. “The fact is, we’ve gone through four cycles with racially unconstitutional maps,” says Del. Alfonso Lopez, an Arlington Democrat. “That’s eight years too long.” (Alex Koma / ARLnow)