Welcome to the Tuesday, April 2, Brew.
By: Andrew Kronaizl
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Here’s a rundown of the 11 states holding elections today
- Stacy, Minnesota, to elect new city council and mayor following recent annexation of nearby township
- Contested primaries data on track to match 2022’s numbers for state elections
Here’s a rundown of the 11 states holding elections today
As the 2024 primary season continues, 11 states are holding presidential primaries, runoffs, statewide elections, special elections, and local elections today.
Here’s what you need to know about today’s elections:
- Four states—Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin—are holding presidential primaries. Delaware was also scheduled to hold presidential primaries, but the elections were canceled after Joe Biden (D) and Donald Trump (R) were determined to be the only candidates appearing on the Democratic and Republican ballots, respectively. Both Biden and Trump have crossed the majority delegate threshold necessary to win their party’s nomination, making them the presumptive nominees.
- Mississippi is holding a Republican primary runoff for its 2nd Congressional District.
- Alabama, Arkansas, and South Carolina are holding primary runoffs and special elections for specific state legislative seats, and Wisconsin is holding elections for its state court of appeals. South Carolina’s House of Representatives special election and Wisconsin’s judicial elections are uncontested.
- In total, 43 state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 20 states this year. Four congressional special elections have already been held to fill vacancies in the U.S. House. Four are set to occur in the U.S. House and two in the Senate.
- Voters will decide two statewide ballot measures in Wisconsin:
- Wisconsin Question 1 would prohibit any level of government in the state from applying or accepting non-governmental funds or equipment for election administration.
- Wisconsin Question 2 would prohibit anyone other than a legally-authorized election official from helping conduct any election in the state.
- Voters in Alaska, Missouri, and Wisconsin will vote on local ballot measures.
- Alaska, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin are holding elections for local offices. Ballotpedia has identified the mayoral election in Anchorage, Alaska, as a battleground race.
Click the link below and bookmark the page to stay on top of all the election results tonight!
Stacy, Minnesota, to elect new city council and mayor following recent annexation of nearby township
Ballotpedia is covering tens of thousands of elections this year, including some of the smallest and most local elections in the country. Periodically we’ll share stories in the Brew about some of them. Here’s one on next week’s ballot in Minnesota.
On April 9, voters in Stacy, Minnesota, will head to the polls to cast their ballots in a special election for city council. All four council positions and the mayorship are in play. This is because the City of Stacy recently annexed neighboring Lent Township.
Judge Jessica Palmer-Denig approved the Stacy-Lent annexation last August with an effective date of Dec. 29, 2023. At that point, the Lent Township ceased to exist and its elected board of supervisors dissolved.
As part of the annexation, city and township officials agreed to elect an entirely new city council and mayor in order to include former township voters whose previously elected government no longer exists.
In the two city council races, how many votes a candidate receives won’t just determine the winner, it will also determine how long the winner will hold office.
The candidates with the most votes in both wards will hold office until 2026. The second-place finishers, along with the mayor, will need to run for re-election in November to serve until 2028.
In Minnesota, municipal boundary adjustments—like the Stacy-Lent annexation—have to go through the Municipal Boundaries Adjustment Unit (MBAU). The MBAU is a state entity that oversees all such land transfers, which include annexations, consolidations, and incorporations.
Overall, the MBAU has approved 11,740 boundary changes since 1959. That averages out to about 181 per year. But many of these changes are relatively minor adjustments.
The Stacy-Lent annexation, though, is relatively large. At more than 17,000 acres, it is the 32nd-largest land transfer the MBAU has approved to date.
The MBAU has approved 121 changes that involved more than 1,000 acres, like the Stacy-Lent annexation, since its inception. This comes out to a little less than two large land transfers per year.
Contested primaries data on pace with 2022 numbers for state elections
So far, in 2024, Ballotpedia has processed candidate filing information for federal offices in 13 states—a bit more than 25% through the states. We also have data for 14 state legislative chambers across seven states. This amounts to 1,368 total races so far—about a quarter of the roughly 6,000 races we anticipate covering in 2024. Here are some key points from our findings on state-level primary elections.
State Legislative Primaries
Of the 1,166 state legislative races we’ve analyzed, 19.4% of state-legislative primaries had more than one candidate. In 2020, the last cycle when similar offices were up for election, 17.0% of all primaries had more than one candidate. In the 2022 midterm elections, that figure was 20.4%.
In 2024, 24.5% of state-legislative incumbents have had at least one primary challenger so far. In 2020, that ended up being 22.7%, and it was 30.1% in 2022.
State Executive Primaries
Of the 33 state executive races we’ve analyzed, 50% of all primaries had more than one candidate. In 2020, 39.1% of state executive primaries had more than one candidate. In the 2022 midterm elections, that figure was 49.4%.
In 2024, 52.9% of state executive incumbents have at least one primary challenger so far. In 2020, that number was 20.1%, and it was 26.8% in 2022
We regularly update these figures and more as candidate filing deadlines happen throughout the spring and summer. To see the latest numbers and how they compare to our historical data, click the link below.