Year: 2025
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President Donald Trump (R) has appointed five federal judges through Sept. 1 of his first year of his second term
President Donald Trump (R) has appointed and the Senate has confirmed five Article III federal judges through September 1, 2025, his first year of his second term in office. This is the fewest Article III judicial appointments through this point in all presidents’ second terms since Bill Clinton (D). The average number of federal judges…
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ICYMI: Top stories of the week
Utah ordered to redraw congressional districts ahead of the 2026 elections On Aug. 25, a federal judge ordered Utah to redraw its congressional map, making Utah one of 13 states where congressional district boundaries may change before the 2026 elections. Most notably, on Aug. 29, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a new congressional map…
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California Prop 50 campaigns top $41.4m, exceeding combined funding for three prior initiatives to create, expand, and repeal the Citizens Redistricting Commission
The campaign committees surrounding California Proposition 50 received a combined $41.4 million as of Sept. 4. Supporters received $21.3 million, while opponents received $20.1 million. That combined total ($41.4 million) for Proposition 50, which qualified for the ballot on Aug. 21, exceeds the aggregate total surrounding the three citizen-initiated ballot measures to create the Citizens…
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James Walden withdraws from New York City's mayoral race
On September 2, 2025, independent New York City mayoral candidate James Walden (I) suspended his campaign for mayor. In an interview, Walden cited the rise of candidate Zohran Mamdani (D) as the factor for his withdrawal, saying, “The math is the math. And it doesn’t make sense for me to continue to push to surge,…
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This week, 166 years ago, voters in southern California approved a measure to separate from the state and form a new territory
Dividing California into two or more states has been discussed several times in recent years—State of Jefferson, Six Californias, Cal 3, and now a two-state proposal from Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R-3). While there have been attempts at statewide ballot measures to divide California, the legislature referred just one to the ballot: the Pico…
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23% of last August’s elections were uncontested
Throughout August, Ballotpedia covered 457 elections in 17 states, 23% of which were uncontested. That’s down from July, when 29% of the 31 covered were uncontested. Ballotpedia defines an uncontested election as one where the number of candidates running is less than or equal to the number of seats up for election. This analysis does…