Welcome to the Friday, August 13, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- An early look at 2022 primary dates and candidate filing deadlines
- Two more House members running for Senate
- Redistricting roundup
An early look at 2022 primary election dates and candidate filing deadlines
Texas and North Carolina are set to have the nation’s earliest primaries and candidate filing deadlines in the 2022 cycle. Texas’ primary is slated for March 1 and its candidate filing deadline for Dec. 13, 2021. North Carolina’s primary is scheduled for March 8 and its candidate filing deadline, Dec. 17, 2021.
Some states could postpone primaries or extend candidate filing deadlines due to the delayed release of census data the states use for redistricting (more on that in the final story below). Illinois moved its March 15, 2022, primary election to June 28 for this reason.
Alabama, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, and Texas held the first primaries in 2020 on March 3. (Nine other states and American Samoa held presidential primaries on that day but scheduled the remainder of their primaries for a later date.) In response to the coronavirus pandemic, 10 states postponed their scheduled primaries (not including states that only postponed primary runoffs or presidential primaries). All 10 had originally planned to hold their primaries between March and June. For more on primary election postponements during the coronavirus pandemic, click here.
The months of candidate filing deadlines for the 2020 and 2022 election cycles are shown below. November and December refer to the years before the election (2019 and 2021, respectively). At the start of 2020, seven states’ candidate filing deadlines had passed. At the start of 2022, two states’ deadlines are currently set to have passed. Again, filing deadlines for the 2022 elections are subject to change.
Two more House members running for Senate
Earlier this month, two members of the U.S. House announced they’ll run for U.S. Senate rather than seeking re-election in 2022: Conor Lamb (D-Penn.) and Billy Long (R-Mo.). Both Senate elections are open, and the current incumbents are Republicans.
This brings the total of current representatives seeking Senate seats in 2022 to seven. In 2020, five representatives ran for Senate, and two won. In 2018, 10 ran and four won (in addition, Martha McSally (R) of Arizona lost the Senate election and was later appointed to the chamber).
Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) announced this week he will retire from public office. So far, 21 members of Congress—five senators and 16 representatives—have announced they will not seek re-election in 2022.
Ten U.S. House members are running for other offices. Four Republicans and three Democrats are seeking Senate seats. One Republican and one Democrat are running for governor, and one Republican is running for secretary of state.
Eleven members—five senators and six representatives—announced retirements. All five retiring senators are Republicans. Four retiring representatives are Democrats and two are Republicans.
Redistricting roundup
The U.S. Census Bureau released block-level data from the 2020 census on Aug. 12. The data includes county-level demographic information on the ethnic, racial, and age makeup of neighborhoods across the country and will allow states to begin the process of drawing congressional and state legislative district maps.
Here are some findings from the Bureau’s press release:
- “The population of U.S. metro areas grew by 9% from 2010 to 2020, resulting in 86% of the population living in U.S. metro areas in 2020, compared to 85% in 2010.”
- “The 2020 Census used the required two separate questions (one for Hispanic or Latino origin and one for race) to collect the races and ethnicities of the U.S. population. … Building upon our research over the past decade, we improved the two separate questions design and updated our data processing and coding procedures for the 2020 Census. These changes reveal that the U.S. population is much more multiracial and more diverse than what we measured in the past.”
- “The 2020 Census showed that the adult (age 18 and older) population group grew 10.1% to 258.3 million people over the decade.”
The Bureau will also release a complete tabulated version of the census dataset on Sept. 30. In addition to drawing district maps, federal agencies and local governments use census data in allocating funds and other planning and decision-making processes.
Other redistricting news from the week:
- The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission announced it may hire Mark Braden and law firm BakerHostetler as legal counsel.
- The New Jersey Supreme Court selected retired state supreme court Judge John Wallace as the congressional redistricting tiebreaker. Also, New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way (D) said that she would release adjusted census data within seven days of the census data release on Aug. 12 to all members of the redistricting commissions and the public concurrently.