Washington, Oct. 21 – While the presidential election has taken up much of the news cycle, attention also is shifting to who will control the Senate. As such, RespectAbility has reached out to candidates running for Senate as well as Governor in the 2016 elections with the #PwDsVote Disability Campaign Questionnaire for Senate and Gubernatorial Candidates for people with disabilities.
Twenty-six candidates for Senate, as well as 11 candidates for governor, from both sides of the aisle(22 Democrats, 14 Republicans, 1 Green Party) have responded so far, showing that disability rights is a nonpartisan issue. An additional nine candidates responded that they are not completing any questionnaires during this campaign season. The responses also are geographically-diverse, coming from states all around the country, as politicians are paying more and more attention to the disability community.
A recently released Pew poll shows that voters with disabilities span the political and demographic spectrum and can determine who wins the elections.
According to a new report from Rutgers University, 35.4 million people with disabilities will be eligible to vote in the November 2016 elections, representing close to one-sixth of the total electorate. That’s an increase of nearly 11 percent since 2008.
Key Senate race outcomes could be changed by outreach to the disability community, including the races in Maryland, North Carolina and Wisconsin, where at least one candidate in the race has enacted legislation that has impacted people with disabilities.
Since disability does not discriminate, voters with disabilities are every race, age, ethnic group, religion and gender. As the presidential election has become polarized around racial and ethnic lines, disability issues can create the difference between winning and losing.
This is the first time down-ballot candidates have been asked to complete a questionnaire about disability-related issues on such a wide scale. The answers to these questionnaires are being posted on The RespectAbility Report and being used for individualized state voter guides.
Below are links to detailed answers to the questionnaire. RespectAbility and The RespectAbility Report are nonpartisan and do not endorse candidates. The questionnaire is purely for educational purposes.
State | Gubernatorial Candidate | View Full Answers |
Delaware | Colin Bonini (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteBonini |
Delaware | John Carney (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteCarney |
Missouri | Chris Koster (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteKoster |
Montana | Steve Bullock (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteBullock |
Montana | Greg Gianforte (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteGianforte |
New Hampshire (lost primary) |
Derek Dextraze (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteDextraze |
Oregon | Bud Pierce (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVotePierce |
Utah | Mike Weinholtz (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteWeinholtz |
Vermont | Sue Minter (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteMinter |
Vermont | Phil Scott (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteScott |
Washington | Bill Bryant (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteBryant |
State | Senate Candidate | View Full Answers |
Alabama | Ron Crumpton (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteCrumpton |
California | Kamala Harris (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteHarris |
California | Loretta Sanchez (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteSanchez |
Florida (lost primary) | Dwight Young (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteYoung |
Hawaii | John Carroll (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteCarroll |
Illinois | Tammy Duckworth (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteDuckworth |
Illinois | Mark Kirk (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteKirk |
Kansas | Patrick Wiesner (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteWiesner |
Louisiana | Foster Campell (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteCampbell |
Louisiana | Caroline Fayard (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteFayard |
Louisiana | Abhay Patel (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVotePatel |
Maryland | Kathy Szeliga (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteSzeliga |
Maryland | Chris Van Hollen (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteVanHollen |
Missouri | Jason Kander (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteKander |
Nevada | Joe Heck (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteHeck |
Nevada | Catherine Cortez Masto (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteMasto |
New Hampshire | Kelly Ayotte (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteAyotte |
New Hampshire | Maggie Hassan (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteHassan |
North Carolina | Richard Burr (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteBurr |
North Carolina | Deborah Ross (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteRoss |
Ohio | Joe DeMare (Green) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteDeMare |
Oregon | Mark Callahan (R) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteCallahan |
Pennsylvania | Katie McGinty (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteMcGinty |
South Dakota | Jay Williams (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteWilliams |
Vermont | Patrick Leahy (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteLeahy |
Wisconsin | Russ Feingold (D) | http://bit.ly/PwDsVoteFeingold |