Welcome to the Thursday, December 7, 2023, Brew.
By: Juan Garcia de Paredes
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Update on presidential state filing deadlines—which ones have passed, which ones are next, and how many candidates are in
- Proposed labor rule defining requirements for investment advisers receives over 1,000 comments in first month
- Vice President Kamala Harris (D) breaks the record for casting the most tie-breaking Senate votes in United States history
Update on presidential state filing deadlines—which ones have passed, which ones are next, and how many candidates are in
It might be hard to believe, but the presidential primary season is almost upon us. If we go by major party filing deadlines, it’s already underway.
As of Dec. 6, the filing deadline for candidates to run in at least one of the two major party presidential nominating contests had passed in 13 states and Washington D.C., and the pace only picks up from here.
Nine additional states have presidential election filing deadlines in the coming two weeks. The next filing deadline for major party candidates—Michigan’s—is tomorrow, Dec. 8. Arizona, Colorado, and Texas follow, with their filing deadlines set for Dec. 11.
Virginia’s filing deadline is on Dec. 14. Filing deadlines in California, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Vermont are on Dec. 15.
Republican presidential nominating contests
As of Dec. 6, the filing deadlines for candidates in the Republican presidential nominating contests had passed in 11 states and Washington, D.C. Oklahoma had the most recent filing deadline, on Dec. 6.
Additionally, the Georgia Secretary of State released the list of candidates the Georgia Republican Party submitted to the office ahead of the state’s official deadline of Jan. 8, 2024.
Below are the number of candidates who filed to run in each of the Republican presidential nominating contests:
The 24 candidates set to appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot are the most for any Republican contest so far. In New Hampshire, a presidential candidate seeking the nomination of a major party must file a declaration of candidacy and pay a $1,000 filing fee to have their name printed on the primary ballot.
Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ryan Binkley are the only candidates to have filed to participate in all 12 presidential nominating contests for which candidate lists are available.
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie filed to appear in 11 of the 12 nominating contests.
Haley will not participate in the party-endorsed presidential caucus in Nevada on Feb. 8. She will instead compete in the state-run Nevada Republican presidential primary on Feb. 6. The state Republican Party did not endorse that contest, and no delegates will be allocated based on the primary results.
Christie will not participate in the Maine primary.
The table below shows how many candidates have filed so far compared to the same states in 2020:
Overall, 24 unique candidates have filed to participate in at least one Republican presidential nominating contest so far this year. In 2020, a total of 18 unique candidates filed to participate in at least one Republican presidential nominating contest across all states.
Democratic presidential nominating contests
On the Democratic side, filing deadlines had passed in 11 states. Oklahoma had the most recent deadline, on Dec. 6.
As with the Republican nominating contests, the Georgia Secretary of State released the list of candidates the Georgia Democratic Party submitted to the office ahead of the state’s official deadline of Jan. 8, 2024.
Below are the number of candidates who filed to run in each of the Democratic presidential nominating contests:
President Joe Biden has filed to appear on the ballot in 10 of the 11 Democratic nominating contests, more than any other candidate. He did not file for the New Hampshire primary ballot.
Rep. Dean Phillips (M.N.) filed for eight nominating contests. He will not be on the Democratic primary ballot in Nevada or Florida. In Tennessee, Phillips sought ballot access by submitting a petition containing 2,500 signatures. County officials will review his petitions to determine if he makes the ballot.
Marianne Williamson is on the ballot in seven nominating contests. She will not participate in the Alabama, Florida, Maine, or Tennessee primaries.
No other candidates have filed to participate in more than five Democratic nominating contests.
The table below shows how many candidates have filed so far compared to the same states in 2020:
Overall, 28 unique candidates have filed to participate in at least one Democratic presidential nominating contest so far. In 2020, total of 40 unique candidates filed to participate in at least one Democratic presidential nominating contest across all states.
Ballot access
There is no national deadline to file to run for president. Instead, candidates must meet a variety of state-specific filing requirements and deadlines to appear on each state’s ballot.
These regulations are known as ballot access laws. They often include collecting a certain number of signatures and/or paying a filing fee.
Candidates also file with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), which has its own reporting requirements for campaign finance statements. Typically, many more candidates register with the FEC than gain ballot access in each state.
Click below to learn more about ballot access for 2024 presidential candidates.
Proposed labor rule defining requirements for investment advisers receives more than 1,000 comments in first month
On Nov. 3, the Biden administration released a proposed rule aiming to expand the definition of a fiduciary—someone who must act in the best interests of their clients—to include more types of financial professionals in certain situations. As of Nov. 30, the proposal had received more than 1,000 public comments.
The proposed definition would require—at the federal level—that insurance agents, brokers, and other financial advisors must, in certain circumstances, act as fiduciaries for individual investors. The proposed definition would also require them to avoid advising individuals on matters that present a conflict of interest (such as when an adviser or insurance agent might collect a larger commission for selling a product that would not maximally benefit the investor).
The proposal would only apply when, in the Department of Labor’s (DoL) view, an individual investor might “reasonably place trust and confidence in the financial services provider.”
The current federal definitions were created in the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). According to ERISA, federal fiduciary requirements primarily apply to employer-funded pension plan managers and plan advisers. The requirements do not apply to many types of individual investment advisers.
Supporters of the proposal say it would protect individual investors from bad advice, junk fees, and exploitative financial advisors. Opponents say it would overstep the DoL’s authority, overregulate the financial advisory industry, and prevent lower- and middle-income investors from getting good advice.
The Department of Labor is accepting comments on the proposal until Jan. 2, 2024.
Ballotpedia provides coverage of issues related to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), which, in the context of public policy, includes discussions of what types of investments are in the best interests of investors and who must act as a fiduciary.
To learn more about ESG, click here. For more information on areas of disagreement and inquiry related to ESG, click here. For information on state responses to ESG investing, click here.
You can also subscribe to Economy and Society, our weekly newsletter covering developments in the world of ESG. It hits inboxes every Tuesday!
Vice President Kamala Harris (D) breaks the record for casting the most tie-breaking Senate votes in United States history
Vice President Kamala Harris (D) cast her 32nd and 33rd tie-breaking votes in the Senate on Dec. 5, breaking the 50-50 ties to invoke cloture on and subsequently approve the nomination of Loren L. AliKhan to be a U. S. District Judge for the District of Columbia. With 33 tie-breaking votes, Harris has now cast the most vice presidential tie-break votes in history.
Twenty-seven of the tie-breakers Harris cast involved confirming judges and administration officials. The other six votes involved amending and passing two reconciliation bills during the 117th Congress: The American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Vice President John C. Calhoun cast the second-most tie-breaking votes (31) in U.S. history from 1825 to 1832. John Adams cast the third-most (29) from 1789 to 1797. After Adams, George M. Dallas cast 19 tie-breakers from 1845 to 1849.
Harris has also cast more tie-breaking votes than all other vice presidents since 1981 combined. She has also cast more than twice as many as Mike Pence, who cast 13 between 2017 and 2021.
As of Dec. 5, 2023, 37 vice presidents have cast a total of 300 tie-breaking votes. Adams cast the first-ever tie-breaking vote on July 18, 1789.