Year: 2021

  • The State and Local Tap: Three states enact new congressional, legislative district maps

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    Our weekly summary of state & local news highlights the three states that enacted new congressional and state legislative district maps and Delaware’s enactment of school staff vaccine or testing requirements. Read all about it in this week’s edition of the State & Local Tap. Ballot Measures Update Thirty-nine statewide measures have been certified for…

  • The Federal Tap: House Speaker Pelosi defers infrastructure vote twice

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    Our weekly summary of federal news highlights updates on the infrastructure bill and the Colorado Redistricting Commission’s approval of a final congressional map. Read all about it in this week’s edition of the Federal Tap. Congress is in session Both the House and Senate are in session next week. Click here to see the full…

  • U.S. Supreme Court begins 2021-2022 term with 15 petitions to review public-sector union cases

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     The Supreme Court’s new term begins on Monday, Oct. 4. As of Oct. 1, appellants have filed petitions for writs of certiorari—requests for the Supreme Court to review a lower court’s ruling—in 15 of the public-sector union cases Ballotpedia is currently tracking. Next, the Supreme Court will decide whether it will hear these cases.  On…

  • Democrats outraise Republicans by 154% in Virginia state legislative races

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    New campaign finance filings for Virginia state legislative races show Democrats leading Republicans in fundraising. Between January 1, 2020, and August 31, 2021, Democratic candidates outraised Republican candidates by 154 percent. Heading into the general elections, 103 Democratic candidates raised $28.74 million compared to $11.31 million raised by 103 Republicans. In the Democratic party, the…

  • Special elections held in Texas House districts

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    Special elections were held on Sept. 28 for District 10 and District 118 of the Texas House of Representatives. The winners of these special elections will serve until January 2023. In District 10, Brian Harrison defeated fellow Republican John Wray in a general election runoff. Harrison and Wray earned 55.4% and 44.6% of the vote,…

  • Birmingham, Ala., to hold general runoff election Oct. 5

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    The general runoff election in Birmingham, Ala., is on Oct. 5. The general election was held on Aug. 24, and the filing deadline to run passed on July 10. General runoffs became necessary after no candidate earned a majority of the vote in four races during the general election in August. Candidates are competing for…

  • September 2021 breakdown of state legislative party membership: 54.22% Republicans, 44.68% Democrats

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    Photo of the Illinois State Capitol building

    54.22% of all state legislators are Republicans and 44.68% are Democrats, according to Ballotpedia’s September partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators. Ballotpedia tallies the partisan balance of state legislatures at the end of every month. This refers to which political party holds the majority of seats in each chamber. Republicans control 61 chambers, while Democrats…

  • New Mexico county commission recall effort fails to collect enough signatures to get on ballot

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    An effort to recall Couy Griffin (R) from his position as the District 2 representative on the Otero County Commission in New Mexico did not collect enough signatures to get on the ballot. Recall supporters had to collect 1,574 signatures from registered voters in District 2 by Sept. 28, but they announced that they had…

  • President Biden announces new slate of federal judicial nominees

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    President Joe Biden (D) announced 10 new nominees to Article III judgeships on Sept. 30. These judges are appointed by the president and serve lifetime terms. Click the links below to learn more about the nominees and the courts: Bridget Brennan, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Victoria Calvert, to…

  • Candidates set for Iowa House 29 special election

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    Candidates interested in running in the special election for Iowa House of Representatives District 29 had until Sept. 28 to file. The general election is scheduled for Oct. 12.  The Democratic candidate is Steve Mullan, and the Republican candidate is Jon Dunwell. The special election was called after Wesley Breckenridge (D) resigned to take a…