ICYMI: Top stories of the week


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 August 14-August 18.


Nine candidates met the polling and fundraising thresholds for the first Republican presidential primary debate on Aug. 23

The first Republican presidential primary debate will take place  Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, Wis. As of Aug. 16, nine candidates had met the polling and fundraising thresholds necessary to participate in the debate.

We’ll be covering the Aug. 23 debate. Watch this page for in-depth summaries of where each candidate stands on the issues.

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79% of South Dakota school districts canceled elections this year

All 149 school districts in South Dakota were scheduled to hold school board elections in 2023. However, only 21% held an election.  The rest canceled elections entirely because the number of candidates who ran was less than or equal to the number of seats up for election.

While South Dakota’s school board elections are officially nonpartisan, Ballotpedia researched publicly-available voter files and candidate filing information to identify the partisan affiliation of candidates running in these elections.

Overall, of the 51 seats up for election:

  • Registered Democrats won 31%
  • Registered Republicans won 59%
  • Registered independents or minor party candidates won 10%

That comes from our most recent school board election analysis. South Dakota is one of the 10 states where we are providing comprehensive school board election coverage this year.

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93 candidates filed for congressional and statewide offices last week

Since the beginning of the year, Ballotpedia has identified 2,796 declared candidates for congressional and statewide offices.

Of last week’s declared candidates:

  • 23 are Democrats;
  • 62 are Republicans; and,
  • Eight are minor party candidates.

For a full list of candidates running for Congress in 2024, click the link below.

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