Election results mixed for marijuana allies in US House

One of the U.S. House of Representatives’ most outspoken advocates of marijuana legalization, Dina Titus of Nevada’s 1st Congressional District, found herself locked in a race that, as of Wednesday, was too close to call.

Titus led her Republican opponent, Mark Robertson, by 2.9 percentage points with 80% of the ballots in Nevada counted.

Robertson’s position on marijuana is largely unknown, so he has not been graded by advocacy group NORML.

Titus, who spoke at MJBizCon in 2015, received an A+ rating from NORML for her stance.

The race in Alaska to replace another cannabis ally – late Republican Rep. Don Young, one of the co-founders of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus – also was too close to call.

There, incumbent Democrat Mary Peltola – who won a September runoff election against former Gov. Sarah Palin to replace Young after he died in March – was holding a 20-point lead over Palin in the rematch for a full term.

Neither candidate was rated by NORML.

Peltola’s position on marijuana legalization is unknown.

Palin, after acknowledging she’d smoked cannabis in the past but hedged her answers about legalization, finally clearly stated this summer that she supports federal marijuana reform.

In Colorado’s 7th District, candidates vied to replace another cannabis legalization lion, Ed Perlmutter, who is retiring.

That race was called early, with Democrat Brittany Pettersen defeating Eric Aadlund.

Neither candidate was rated by NORML.

Not much is known about Pettersen’s cannabis position, but she did contribute $500 to the Denver-based Vicente Sederberg cannabis law firm in 2017.

Pettersen, whose mother is a recovering opiate and heroin addict, has proposed taking $2.5 million every year from the state’s marijuana tax cash fund to award scholarships to addiction counselors.

Federal legalization hopes took a hit in Florida’s 2nd District, where Democrat and legalization advocate Al Lawson lost to Neal Dunn.

NORML gave Lawson an A rating and Dunn a D-minus. Lawson had to run against Dunn after losing his own district to redistricting.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/election-results-mixed-for-marijuana-allies-in-us-house/