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 December 4-December 8.

December deep dive: On the Ballot series on RCV

On the Ballot, Ballotpedia’s weekly podcast is running a series on ranked-choice voting that will be released throughout the month of December.

Keep an eye out for future episodes featuring:

Trent England from Save Our States diving into the arguments against ranked-choice on Dec. 12
Jack Santucci from Queens College CUNY with a comprehensive view of what’s to come for RCV on Dec. 14.

Republicans won 59% of all school board seats in Pennsylvania to Democrats’ 39%

Unlike the other states we’ve looked at since Nov. 7, Pennsylvania is one of four that hold partisan school board elections by default, along with Alabama, Connecticut, and Louisiana. It is the country’s most populous state with partisan school board elections.

Each of the state’s 500 school districts held at least one election (except for Philadelphia, where the mayor appoints school board members).

Republicans won 59% of all school board seats up for election on Nov. 7 to Democrats’ 39%.

Previewing what’s on the ballot in California’s March 5 primary

The 2024 primary season is fast approaching, and, believe it or not, the filing deadlines for state and congressional primary candidates have already passed in Alabama, Arkansas, and Illinois (California’s is today).

Here are some of the offices up for election in California in 2024:

U.S. Senate: One seat is up for both a special and regular election. Incumbent Sen. Laphonza Butler (D)—who replaced Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) after the latter died in September—is not running for re-election. The winner of the special election will serve from Nov. 2024 to Jan. 2025. The winner of the general election will be elected to a full six-year term.
U.S. House: All 52 districts are up for election. Democrats represent 40 and Republicans 12.
State legislature: All 80 seats in the Assembly and 20 out of 40 seats in the Senate are up for election.