California will be the second state with a Democratic trifecta to vote on a voter ID ballot initiative
California voters will decide on a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment that would require voter identification and establish new requirements for voter registration lists and citizenship verification, making it the second state with a Democratic trifecta to decide on a ballot measure to require voter ID. Since 2004, voters in 11 states decided on 12 ballot measures to require or expand voter identification requirements. Voters approved nine of these measures and rejected three.
U.S. Supreme Court decides redistricting case with implications for future map changes
On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais that Louisiana’s congressional map that added a second majority-Black district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
In 2024, the Louisiana Legislature added the second majority-Black district in response to a previous lawsuit that argued the 2022 map diluted minority votes because it included only one majority-Black district in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The Callais decision will affect how Section 2, which prohibits voting practices and procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, is applied in future disputes over district boundaries.
49 state financial officers and four insurance commissioners are up for election this year
Forty-nine state financial offices (SFOs) are up for election this year, as are four state insurance commissioners. State financial officers include three positions: state treasurers, state auditors, and state comptrollers/controllers. There are 25 treasurers, 14 auditors, and 10 comptrollers on the ballot this year.
All 50 states have an insurance commissioner who serves as the state's chief regulator of insurance markets in the state. Four insurance commissioners are up for election in California, Georgia, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Currently, California has a Democratic commissioner, while Georgia, Kansas, and Oklahoma have Republican commissioners.
DLCC and RSLC targeting 30 of the same chambers in the 2026 state legislative elections
This year, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) and the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) — the parties’ national campaign arms for state legislatures — are focusing on the same 30 chambers. In total, the DLCC will target 43 chambers, and the RSLC will target 35 chambers.
Ahead of this year’s state legislative elections, Republicans control a total of 57 chambers, and Democrats control a total of 39 chambers. The Alaska Senate and Alaska House are organized under multipartisan, power-sharing coalitions. The Minnesota House is evenly split between both parties.
Virginia’s new Democratic trifecta has enacted more election-related bills than any other state so far this year
Virginia has enacted more election-related bills than any other state so far this year, including several notable pieces of legislation.
The 2026 session was the first time in five years that Virginia had a Democratic trifecta — with Democrats controlling both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor’s office — following Gov. Abigail Spanberger's (D) election in November 2025.
Spanberger signed 31 election-related bills in March and April and returned an additional 22 bills to legislators with suggested amendments. The General Assembly approved her amendments to 17 of those bills on April 22. As of April 27, lawmakers had not considered five bills.