1. Twelve Democratic presidential candidates to debate in Ohio
2. Louisiana Republicans maintain state legislative control after Saturday’s primary
3. 62% of Brew readers have attended a borough, town, or city council meeting

Twelve Democratic presidential candidates to debate in Ohio

The fourth Democratic presidential debate takes place tonight at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, which is primarily located in Franklin County. Ohio has nine Pivot Counties, which are counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Franklin County is one of eight counties that voted for the Democratic nominee in each of the last three presidential elections. Sixty-five counties in Ohio voted for the Republican nominee in the last three presidential races.  

The following 12 candidates will participate: 

    •    Joe Biden
    •    Cory Booker
    •    Pete Buttigieg
    •    Julián Castro
    •    Tulsi Gabbard
    •    Kamala Harris
    •    Amy Klobuchar
    •    Beto O’Rourke
    •    Bernie Sanders
    •    Tom Steyer
    •    Elizabeth Warren
    •    Andrew Yang

Here are five facts about tonight’s debate: 

• Gabbard and Steyer are the only candidates who did not also participate in the third Democratic debate in Houston on Sept. 12.

• This debate will feature the most candidates on stage of any single presidential primary debate. The Republican Party held the previous record when 11 candidates debated at one time on September 16, 2015.

• CNN and The New York Times are hosting the event. Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, and Marc Lacey are the moderators.

• Candidates who did not qualify for this debate can still qualify for the next one, which has different polling and fundraising criteria. The Democratic National Committee announced this week that the fifth primary debate will take place in Georgia on November 20.

• The previous Democratic debate was held on September 12 in Houston and featured 10 candidates. Since then, one Democratic candidate—Bill de Blasio—has withdrawn from the race.

In other presidential debate news, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced last week the schedule of next year’s presidential and vice presidential debates ahead of the general election. 

Three 2020 presidential debates have been scheduled: 

• Sept. 29 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, 

• Oct. 15 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and 

• Oct. 22 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. 

A vice presidential debate is scheduled for October 7, 2020, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. 

The CPD also said in a press release that it will invite candidates to participate in these debates who meet three eligibility requirements. They must (1) be constitutionally eligible to run for president, (2) provide evidence of ballot access in enough states to win an Electoral College majority, and (3) demonstrate 15 percent support in national polling.

Louisiana Republicans maintain state legislative control after Saturday’s primary 

Our Brew story Monday covered the outcome of Saturday’s gubernatorial primary in Louisiana. Incumbent Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) and businessman Eddie Rispone (R) advanced to the November 16 general election as the top two finishers out of six candidates. 

One other statewide executive office will be decided in the general election as none of the four candidates received a majority of the vote. Incumbent Kyle Ardoin (R) finished first in the secretary of state primary with 41% and will face Gwen Collins-Greenup (D), who finished second with 34%. Ardoin and two other Republicans received a combined 66% of the vote; Collins-Greenup was the only Democrat in the race. Ardoin defeated Collins-Greenup in a 2018 special election—59% to 41%—after Ardoin assumed office in May 2018 following the resignation of Tom Schedler (R). Ardoin is one of 25 Republican secretaries of state nationwide.

All 39 Louisiana’s state Senate seats were up for election. Although four seats advanced to a general election, partisan control of each is already determined in those districts—three had a pair of Republicans advance while the fourth had a pair of Democrats. Republicans will have a 27-12 majority—a net gain of two seats—which gives them one seat more than the 26-seat threshold required to override gubernatorial vetoes.

Here are Saturday’s other key results:

• Six statewide executive offices, including the lieutenant governorship and attorney general’s office, were won outright by Republican incumbents.  

• Voters decided all eight seats on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education—currently under a 6-2 Republican majority. Seven races were decided with none resulting in a change in party control. The results of the District 6 seat—an open seat previously held by Kathy Edmonston (R)—is considered too close to call. 

• In Louisiana’s state House elections, Republicans are assured of winning at least 63 seats, Democrats 33 seats, and one was won by an independent. This includes races that were decided in the primary as well as those where both of the top two finishers are from the same party. Control of eight seats will be determined in the November 16 general election. A veto-proof majority in the state House requires 70 seats. In Louisiana, congressional and state legislative districts are drawn by the state legislature during redistricting.

• Since Republicans have maintained control of both houses of the state legislature, trifecta control of state government will be at stake in the gubernatorial election. The state will maintain divided government if Edwards wins re-election. If Rispone wins, Louisiana will become a Republican trifecta.

• Louisiana voters approved two constitutional amendments and rejected two, according to unofficial election night results. 

62% of Brew readers have attended a borough, town, or city council meeting

Over the last few weeks, our What’s the Tea? questions have been part of a series asking Brew readers whether they’ve ever participated or done certain things related to politics and policy, such as attending or speaking at governmental meetings or signing candidate or initiative petitions. 

Remember that our weekly survey question appears in the Brew every Friday, and we don’t tabulate responses until Monday afternoon. So if you don’t get a chance to answer the survey until the weekend, go ahead and respond then – it’s not too late to hear from you!