Each week, we bring you a collection of the most viewed stories from The Daily Brew, condensed. Here are the top stories from the week of June 26-June 30.
More U.S. House races now have major-party competition
Over the past decade, the percentage of U.S. House of Representatives elections with only a Democrat or a Republican on the ballot has decreased, with most recent cycles dropping below the past century’s average.
Broken down by party, there were 738 races without a Democratic candidate and 2,465 races without a Republican candidate in the 52 election cycles from 1920 to 2022. Eight of the cycles had more races without a Democratic candidate than races without a Republican candidate. Those election years were all in the past 30 years: 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2012, and 2022.
Special congressional elections have become more common in recent decades
The number of special congressional elections has increased steadily over the past three decades, from an average of 7.6 special elections in the five meetings after redistricting in the 1990s to an average of 13.4 in the five meetings after redistricting in the 2010s.
A congressional special election takes place when an incumbent resigns, dies, or is removed from office. The Constitution requires that all vacancies in the U.S. House be filled through an election.
New report: State of Election Administration Legislation 2023
Our State of Election Administration Legislation 2023 report covers election-related state legislative activity from Jan. 1 through May 31.
- During that time, we tracked 2,682 election-related bills.
- Lawmakers enacted 183 bills, compared to 236 bills enacted in all of 2022, when we tracked 2,520 election-related bills.
- Democrats sponsored 33, Republicans sponsored 110, and 22 had bipartisan sponsorship. The remaining 18 bills had another type of sponsor, including committees.