USApp Managing Editor, Chris Gilson, looks at the week in U.S. state blogging. Click here for our weekly roundup of national blogs. 

Northeast

Daily Kos reports from Maine this week, writing that residents of the Pine Tree State are looking at this year’s three-way gubernatorial race strategically, with the main aim of getting rid of Tea Party Governor Paul LePage. They say that LePage is not breaking 40 percent in the polls, which is unusual for a Governor.

On Monday, the Brennan Center for Justice writes on what they say is the continuing bias of the New York Police Department against Muslims. They say that as despite Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s assurance ahead of Ramadan that Muslims’ rights will be protected, the NYPD is continuing its program of systematically targeting Muslim men for questioning about their religious beliefs with the ultimate aim of convincing them to spy on their friends and neighbors. Staying in the Empire State, The Daily Signal says that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio should abandon his ‘outdated’ talk of inequality and instead reduce regulation and red tape at city hall in order to make it easier for people to start businesses. Daily Kos reports on Wednesday that New York’s ‘renegade’ Democrats have announced that they will work with the state Senate’s Democrats. They say the Independent Democratic Conference is in reality just trying to head off primary challenges from ‘real’ Democrats in September.

Moving on to New Jersey, Crooks & Liars says that Governor Chris Christie may well be facing a second ‘Bridgegate’ scandal. This case involves possible securities law violations over the financing of the elevated Pulaski Skyway road between Newark and Jersey City.

South

Recent months have seen Virginia’s Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe pushing to expand Medicaid in the state. On Friday, Daily Kos reports on the GOP’s attempts to block the expansion, including potentially bribing a Democratic legislator with a deciding vote to leave office, and ‘essentially’ breaking into the Governor’s office to give him less time to review and sign the state budget.

This week saw a much anticipated GOP runoff for Mississippi’s Senate seat, between incumbent Thad Cochran and Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel. On Monday, and before the vote, Crooks & Liars reports that conservative organisations working to defeat Cochran were planning to deploy poll watchers to monitor whether or not election law was being followed, after Cochran courted African-American Democratic voters. Cochran went on to win the election, with the help of African-American voters, something that The Atlantic says shows that Republicans are not beholden to the Tea Party wing of their party. Staying in the Magnolia State, Y’all Politics reports that nearly a day after the final election tally, Chris McDaniel had refused to concede, and called for scrutiny of the election’s irregularities.

Moving south to Georgia, FreakOutNation writes on Monday that House candidate, Jody Hice believes that the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty does not apply to Muslims.

This week SaintPetersblog reports that Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, has decided not to visit Cuba until after the election this fall, despite saying the he planned to earlier this year when he stated that the U.S. should scrap the embargo.

This week in Arkansas, The Political Carnival writes that a top school official in the Grand Canyon state, John Huppenthal, is under pressure to resign after his anonymous blog posts came to light which stated that there should be no Spanish in the state, and that English only should be spoken. Staying In the state, the Arkansas Times writes on Sunday that equal rights for gay people are being imperiled by the state’s judicial politics. They say that a State Senator and leader of a conservative group have made it clear that they will put a judicial recall law onto the next ballot initiative if the Arkansas Supreme Court upholds an earlier ruling that gay people have equal rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Midwest

On Tuesday, PoliticusUSA reports that a coalition to promote water as a basic human right filed an appeal to the UN Commission on Human Rifts on behalf of tens of thousands of poor Detroit residents who are being denied access to water. They say that the report alleges that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has shut of resident’s water who have not paid their water bills for 60 days. They say the policy is a symptom of Detroit Emergency Manager Kevin Orr’s drive to privatize the city’s water system.

Moving over to the Badger State of Wisconsin, FreakOutNation says that a man has been charged with more than a dozen counts of illegal voting, including casting five ballots in GOP Governor Scott Walker’s 2012 recall election.

In the Hooiser State this week, Indy Politics writes that reaction to a court ruling that Indiana’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the U.S Constitution has been mixed, with reaction falling along predictable partisan and religious lines.

This week in South Dakota, PoliticusUSA reports that the state’s Republican Party has passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Obama, which states the President ‘violated his oath of office in numerous ways’.

Wonkblog says that tax cuts in Kansas have cost the state money, and have had little benefit on job growth, despite the recent claims to the contrary from Governor Sam Brownback.

West and Pacific

This week Smart Politics looks at Utah’s ‘third party revolution’. They say that more third party and independent candidates have run for Congress in the state in the past 25 years than during the previous 93, and that in the 13 election cycles since 1990 84 third party and independent candidate have run in just 41 races.

Moving west to California, Fox & Hounds writes on Democratic state legislators’ recent support for tax cuts in the Golden state. They say after years of lawmakers voting for tax hikes any sign that previous tax and spend legislators may be seeing the error of their ways is a cause for hope. They say in supporting these measures and other to encourage business investment in California, Democrats are agreeing with Republicans that tax policy directly impacts on the state’s ability to compete for jobs and investment. Staying in California, Capitol Alert writes that Moody’s Investor Service, one of the country’s largest credit rating organizations has upgraded its rating of the state’s $86 billion debt obligation, citing California’s ‘improving financial position.

Finally this week, Hit & Run writes on Friday that Washington State is facing a looming shortage of marijuana for sale, due to the state’s slow licensing for producers and the difficulty in obtaining local approval for growing operations.

Featured image credit: Bill Kwok (Creative Commons BY NC SA)

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Note:  This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USApp– American Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.

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