Welcome to the Thursday, March 10, Brew.
By: David Luchs
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Candidates for state and federal office in California, Georgia, and Idaho have until tomorrow to file
- Candidate Connection update: 11 races reached 100% completion in the past week
- St. Louis voters to decide Proposition R, a redistricting and election law initiative, at April 5 special election
Candidates for state and federal office in California, Georgia, and Idaho have until tomorrow to file
The filing deadline for candidates running for state or federal office in California, Georgia, and Idaho is tomorrow, March 11.
All 435 seats in the U.S. House will be up for election this year, including all 52 seats in California, all 14 seats in Georgia, and both of the two seats in Idaho. California and Idaho each lost a seat in the round of apportionment following the 2020 census.
All three states will also hold elections for governor and one of their two seats in the U.S. Senate. All three are also holding state legislative elections this year. California is holding elections for 20 of the 40 seats in the state Senate and all 80 seats in the state Assembly, while Georgia and Idaho are holding elections for every seat in the state legislature.
Idaho’s primaries will take place May 17, the sixth in the nation. Georgia’s primaries will take place on May 24, while California’s are scheduled for June 7.
We’ll be following all these primaries as they unfold in our free Heart of the Primaries newsletters, delivered weekly on Thursdays. This pair of newsletters—one focusing on Democratic primaries and the other on Republican primaries—brings you the latest on policy differences between candidates, moves by political operatives, polling, and more. Click here for more and to sign up!
Candidate Connection update: 11 races reached 100% completion in the past week
Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey asks candidates for federal, state, and local office to share what motivates them on a personal and political level. Beginning this week, we’ll be providing regular updates about the number of elections with a 100% Candidate Connection completion rate.
We use the term “race” to describe a primary, runoff, or general election for a single office or seat or for a single set of seats that are elected as a batch. For example, a school board general election for three at-large seats where each voter selects three candidates would be one race, while a school board general election for three seats elected by district where each voter is voting for one candidate would be three separate races.
As of March 8, 2022, we’re currently tracking 11 elections with final candidate lists and a 100% Candidate Connection completion rate. Ten of those races reached a 100% completion rate during the past week. Some other highlights from this week’s figures:
- There are two states with at least one race with a 100% response rate: Indiana and Texas.
- Ten of the races with a 100% response rate are taking place in Texas.
- Three candidates are running in the Democratic primary for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District; more than any other race with a 100% response rate.
- There are two general elections with a 100% response rate.
- Of the nine primaries and runoffs with a 100% response rate, six were for the Democratic nomination and three were for the Republican nomination.
- Six of the races with a 100% completion rate are for U.S. House, four are for state legislature, and one is for statewide executive office.
One of this week’s new races with a 100% completion rate was the battleground Democratic runoff for Texas’ 30th Congressional District between Jasmine Crockett (D) and Jane Hamilton (D). Here is how both candidates answered the question “What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?”
Jasmine Crockett:
“As a civil rights & criminal defense attorney, I am absolutely passionate about the inequities that I see, in general, and am deeply concerned about the constitutional rights of people that are seemingly being stripped away. Specifically, I am passionate about the criminal justice system, education, housing, jobs, healthcare, voting rights, reproductive rights, and climate injustices. These are all areas that I have worked to propound policy change, but in the absence of policy, I have specifically attempted to stand in the gap for my community. By that I mean, while the legislature refused to expand upon medicaid in Texas, our office partnered with local organizations to provide a mammogram clinic for those with or without insurance. We also worked to provide eye glasses to children in socio-economically disadvantaged situations. We also vaccinated more people through our office than any other. These are simply a few ways that we are working beyond the roadblocks that policy change sometimes presents.”
Jane Hamilton:
“We need to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and implement strong election policies that protect our Democracy. We need to pass the George Floyd Act and create meaningful policies that eliminate systemic racism in our law enforcement agencies and court systems. We need to implement stronger hospital protocols and policies with the sole purpose of lowering the disproportionately high numbers of maternal mortality among African American women. I will push for the creation of policies that support Congresswoman Underwood’s Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act (HR 959). We need to continue to implement policies that create economic opportunities and equity for underserved and historically marginalized communities of color.”
Click here to read survey responses from all 11 races with a 100% completion rate.
St. Louis voters to decide Proposition R, a redistricting and election law initiative, at April 5 special election
On April 5, 2022, voters in St. Louis, Missouri, will decide a ballot initiative, Proposition R, at a special election. The citizen-initiated charter amendment addresses three policies – the city’s redistricting process, the laws governing conflicts of interest, and legislative changes to voting methods. It would also change the name of the Board of Aldermen to the Board of Alderpersons.
Proposition R follows the voter-approved Proposition D, which enacted a system of approval voting for the offices of mayor, comptroller, president of the Board of Aldermen, and the Board of Aldermen. Approval voting is an electoral system in which voters may vote for any number of candidates they choose. Proposition D also made elections for these offices nonpartisan.
Here’s what Proposition R would do if enacted.
- Proposition R would require the Board of Aldermen to submit changes to voting methods to the ballot for a public vote. This would mean that the approval voting system introduced by Proposition D could not be repealed or changed by the Board without voter approval.
- The measure would also modify St. Louis’ redistricting procedures, transferring redistricting authority from the Board to a nine-member redistricting commission the measure says should “represent the demographic make-up of the City of St. Louis.”
- The charter amendment would also enact several provisions related to conflicts of interest, including by prohibiting alderpersons from knowingly using their official position to influence others for their own or a related person’s personal or financial benefit and requiring alderpersons to declare personal or financial conflicts of interest and abstain from voting when there are conflicts of interest.
Ballotpedia is covering local ballot measure elections on April 5 in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Jefferson City, Missouri. Along with Proposition R, St. Louis voters will also decide Proposition 1, which would issue $50 million in general obligation bonds for capital improvement projects. A two-thirds supermajority vote is required to approve Proposition 1, while Proposition R requires a simple majority vote.