Welcome to the Tuesday, June 17, Brew. 

By: Briana Ryan

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. New Hampshire becomes 18th state with a universal private school choice program
2. Democrats to hold firehouse primary for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District on June 28
3. A roundup of recent election administration legislative activity

New Hampshire becomes 18th state with a universal private school choice program

On June 10, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) signed SB 295, which removed the income threshold from the state’s Education Freedom Account Program (EFA) and made the program universal.

Before we examine this bill more closely, let’s review a few key terms in school choice discussions. Private school choice programs provide public funds for alternatives to public schools, such as private schools and homeschooling. A universal school choice program means one for which all students are eligible, regardless of family income, location, demographics, or disability.

New Hampshire’s EFA program is an education savings account (ESA) program that the state enacted in 2021. ESAs allow families to receive a deposit of public funds into government-authorized private savings accounts for use on approved educational expenses based on rules set by the state, and families can use ESA money toward things like private school tuition, tutoring, curriculum, and school supplies.

SB 295 eliminates the EFA program’s previous income limit of 350% of federal poverty guidelines for participation. This cap restricted participation to families making less than that amount ($112,500 annually for a family of four in 2025). The median household income in New Hampshire in 2023 was $95,628.

The bill also establishes an enrollment cap of 10,000 students for the 2025-2026 fiscal year and allows a 25% increase in the cap for any year that applications reach 90 percent of the existing limit. That threshold of 9,000 enrolled students would expand the program to 12,500 students for the 2026-2027 school year.

The bill defines a priority system that would admit students in this order if the enrollment cap is reached:

• Current students enrolled in the EFA program
• Siblings of students enrolled in the EFA program
• Students with disabilities, as defined in New Hampshire’s Administrative Code Section 186-C:2
• Students whose family income is less than or equal to 350% of the federal poverty guidelines

Qualifying expenses outlined in New Hampshire Administrative Code Section 194-F:2 include tuition at a school of the parents’ choice, tutoring and online learning programs, educational supplies, and technology items. Funds can be used for private, charter, or home schools.

The New Hampshire Department of Education reported approximately 5,300 participants in the program received an average grant of $5,204 per student in the 2024-2025 school year.

On March 27, the New Hampshire Senate passed the bill 16-8. On June 5, the New Hampshire House of Representativespassed the bill 190-178. No Democrats in either chamber voted for the bill, and 15 Republicans in the state House voted against it. New Hampshire is a Republican trifecta, meaning Republicans control the governorship and both legislative chambers.

Currently, 18 states have universal private school choice programs. Fifteen of those states had Republican trifecta, while the other three had divided governments.

In 2025, four states enacted or expanded programs related to private school choice. New Hampshire and Wyoming both passed bills expanding their school choice programs, and Texas and Tennessee enacted programs creating ESA programs in 2025.

Currently, 21 states have enacted ESA programs.

Click here to learn more about school choice in the United States.

Democrats to hold firehouse primary for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District on June 28

On June 3, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) called a special election for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District for Sept. 9. Incumbent Gerald Connolly (D) died on May 21.

Virginia law requires political parties to nominate their candidates 60 days before special elections, in this case by July 11. The 11th Congressional District Democratic Committee is holding a firehouse primary on June 28 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with early voting on June 24, 25, and 26 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Political parties, rather than the state government, conduct firehouse primaries, which have fewer polling sites and shorter voting hours.

As of June 9, nine candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination: Josh Aisen, Candice Bennett, Dan Lee, Leopoldo Martinez, Amy Papanu, Stella Pekarsky, Amy Roma, Irene Shin, and James Walkinshaw. The candidate list will be finalized on June 18.

The 11th Congressional District includes part of Fairfax County and Fairfax, Virginia. Punchbowl News’ Ally Mutnick wrote that the district “borders the Beltway … [and] … has more federal workers than any other except those with military bases, making it generally more establishment-friendly. Every candidate in the race will vow to take on Trump, but their styles differ. It’s a fascinating test of whether Democratic primary voters want someone more disruptive of the status quo or someone who adopts a more traditional approach.”

According to The Washington Post, before his death, Connolly “sought to influence the outcome for his party by endorsing his former chief of staff, Fairfax County Supervisor James R. Walkinshaw (D),” on May 7. U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and former U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) also endorsed Walkinshaw.

State Democratic leaders, including Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D) and Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D), have endorsed Pekarsky.

At least two candidates describe themselves as alternatives to what they say are career, party-backed politicians. Shin, who represents District 8 in the Virginia House of Delegates, said, “This moment calls for generational change and leaders who actually understand the lived experiences of the people they represent.” Lee, a health-tech entrepreneur, said, “The conveyor belt of career politicians don’t know how to fight. … It’s time for the next generation of leaders who aren’t part of the elected class to step up and take action right now.”

Connolly represented the district from 2009 to 2025. District voters last elected a Republican representative in 2006. Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+18. This means that in those two presidential elections, this district’s results were 18 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Virginia’s 11th Congressional District the 76th most Democratic district nationally.

The special election for this district is one of five called to fill a vacancy in the 119th Congress. Eighty special elections to Congress were called during the 113th through 118th Congresses. During that time, special elections were called for 29 seats vacated by Democrats and 51 vacated by Republicans.

Click here to read more about this primary election.

A roundup of recent election administration legislative activity

As legislative sessions continue across the country, we’re following the latest nationwide trends and legislative activity related to election policy.

Let’s start with some key takeaways from last week’s legislative actions:

• Lawmakers in 24 states acted on 170 bills over the last week. Legislators acted on 90 bills in 2024 and 71 in 2023 during the same week. 
• Twenty-one bills were enacted last week. Three bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, 58 were enacted in 2023, and five were enacted in 2022.
• We are currently following 4,547 bills. At this time in 2023, the last odd year when all states held legislative sessions, we were following 2,595 bills.

Now, let’s check out some other noteworthy election-related developments:

• On June 12, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap (R) sued the county’s board of supervisors, alleging that the supervisors “engaged in an unlawful attempt to seize near-total control over the administration of elections.” In Arizona, recorders are typically responsible for voter registration and early voting, while the supervisors manage Election Day voting. 

• On June 11, the Maine House of Representatives approved LD1666, a bill expanding the state’s use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) to gubernatorial and state legislative elections. The bill passed 72-70 in the House and 20-14 in the Maine Senate along party lines, with Democrats generally favoring it and Republicans opposing it. The bill now heads to Gov. Janet Mills (D).
• On June 10, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) vetoed three election-related bills, including AB105, which prohibits guns within 100 feet of any polling place, counting place, or drop box. Lombardo said the bill “merely duplicates protections already established under both federal and state law against voter intimidation near polling places.”
• On June 6, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement in support of plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Oregon’s voter list maintenance process. The group Judicial Watch, the Constitution Party of Oregon, and two Oregon voters filed the lawsuit last October. The plaintiffs alleged the state violated the National Voter Registration Act by failing to remove dead or ineligible voters from its voter registration list. 

Four bills were vetoed in the past week, and 55 have been vetoed this year. One bill was vetoed during this period in 2024, five bills were vetoed in 2023, and three bills were vetoed in 2022. 

A version of this story appeared in our June 13 Ballot Bulletin—our weekly email that follows developments in election policy around the country. Click here to sign up.

You can also click here to see a full list of the bills we’re following in 2025.