Texas primary election results
Texas voters decided a raft of federal, state, and local Republican and Democratic primaries, and our team worked late into the night to collect those results and monitor the most significant developments. Check out our March 1 election hub to see all the latest results.
Inhofe announces retirement from U.S. Senate
On Feb. 25, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) announced he would retire on Jan. 3, 2023. Inhofe’s current term ends in 2027. His retirement will trigger a special election in November 2022. So far, six senators whose terms end in 2023 have announced they will not seek re-election this year. Five are Republicans and one is a Democrat.
Redistricting update: The latest news from Louisiana and Ohio
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) has until March 14 to sign or veto the legislature’s new congressional and legislative maps, or allow them to become law without his signature. The legislature approved those maps during a special legislative session that ended Feb. 18. If Edwards does not act by March 14, the maps will automatically become law.
Republicans have majorities in both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission voted 4-3 to approve new legislative district boundaries on Feb. 24 and plaintiffs had until Feb. 28 to file objections to those maps with the Ohio Supreme Court. The commission had until March 3 to respond to those objections before the court rules on the constitutionality of the maps, which is expected next week.
This year’s and next year’s ballot measure certifications
Seventy statewide measures have been certified for the ballot in 31 states so far this year, five more than the average number certified at this point in other even-numbered years from 2010 to 2020.
Here’s an update on other recent ballot measure activity:
- One new measure was certified for the ballot last week: Arizona Voter Identification Requirements for Mail-In Ballots and In-Person Voting Measure (2022)
- Signatures have been submitted and are pending verification for two initiatives in Alaska and North Dakota: Alaska State Recognition of American Indian Tribes Initiative (2022) and North Dakota Term Limits for Governor and State Legislators Initiative (2022)
- Enough signatures were verified for four initiatives in Massachusetts and Ohio to certify them to the legislature (If the legislature doesn’t enact them, proponents will need to gather a second round of signatures):
From 2010 to 2020, the average number of statewide ballot measures certified in an even-numbered year was 164.
Article III judicial vacancies check-in
The total number of upcoming Article III judicial vacancies rose to 40 on Feb. 28, 2022, after President Joe Biden (D) formally nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court caused by the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer.
Article III judgeships refer to federal judges who serve on one of the 13 U.S. courts of appeal, 94 U.S. district courts, and on the Court of International Trade. These are lifetime appointments made by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
President Joe Biden’s approval at 41%, congressional approval at 20%
This week, President Joe Biden (D) delivered the annual State of the Union address before Congress. With that in mind, let’s turn to the latest presidential and congressional approval ratings.
As of March 1, Ballotpedia’s polling index shows Biden at 41% approval and 54% disapproval. Biden’s approval rating peaked at 55% on May 26, 2021. His lowest rating came on Feb. 18, when it reached 40%.
Congress was at 20% approval and 67% disapproval. At this time last month, its approval rating was 17%. The highest approval rating this Congress has received is 36%, on July 16, 2021, and the lowest approval rating it has received is 14%, on Jan. 26.