Welcome to the Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, Brew.
By: Ethan Rice
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Candidates battle it out in third election rematch
- Help Desk – how are candidates ordered?
- Ballotpedia’s Ballot Bulletin: Our weekly digest on election administration
Candidates battle it out in third election rematch
With 42 days to go until the Fall election, we’ll be bringing you coverage of the most compelling elections — the battlegrounds we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive. You can catch our previous coverage of other battleground races here.
Today, we’re looking at the election for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District on Nov. 5. Incumbent Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R) and Janelle Bynum (D) lead in endorsements, campaign finance, and media attention.
This election is the third rematch between Chavez-DeRemer and Bynum.
Bynum defeated Chavez-DeRemer twice to represent District 51 in the Oregon House of Representatives. In 2016, Bynum defeated Chavez-DeRemer 51.01% to 48.99%. In 2018, Bynum defeated Chavez-DeRemer 53.9% to 45.8%. OPB’s Bryce Dole wrote that those elections were in “a much smaller, suburban area around Happy Valley in Clackamas County.”
The 5th District is one of 19 Republican-held U.S. House districts up for election in 2024 that Biden won in the 2020 presidential election. Biden won the district by 8.8 percentage points that year. Democratic lawmakers represented the district from 1997 until 2023 when Chavez-DeRemer won the 2022 general election by 2.1 percentage points. According to The Associated Press’ Gillian Flaccus, the 2022 general election was the first to take place since “the 5th was significantly redrawn following the 2020 U.S. Census to include parts of more conservative central Oregon, and trended slightly less blue this election.”
As of Sept. 8, The Cook Political Report, DDHQ/The Hill, Inside Elections, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball each rated the district as Toss-up.
Chavez-DeRemer served as the Mayor of Happy Valley, Oregon, from 2011 to 2018 and as a Happy Valley City Council member from 2005 to 2010. Before she ran for public office, Chavez-DeRemer owned Anesthesia Associates Northwest and Evolve Health medical clinics and served on the Happy Valley Parks Committee.
Bynum was elected to represent District 39 in the state House in 2022 after she defeated Kori Haynes (R) 55.0% to 44.9%. She previously represented District 51 from 2017 to 2023. Her professional experience includes owning a McDonald’s franchise.
Lewis and Clark College Prof. Ben Gaskins told Axios that the two candidates are taking different approaches to messaging. Bynum is focusing on national issues such as abortion and Chavez-DeRemer’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump (R) in the 2024 presidential election. Chavez-DeRemer is focusing on local issues such as the economy and Bynum’s legislative record on public safety.
Based on second quarter reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Chavez-DeRemer raised $4 million and spent $1.7 million and Bynum raised $2.4 million and spent $1.4 million. To review campaign finance figures in full detail, click here.
Minor party and independent candidates include Brett Smith (Independent Party), Sonja Feintech (L), Andrew Aasen (No Party Affiliation), and Andrea Townsend (Oregon) (Pacific Green Party).
Help Desk – how are candidates ordered?
Ballotpedia’s 2024 Election Help Desk, a major component of our Voter Toolkit, provides reliable, nonpartisan answers to more than 50 election-related questions on topics ranging from voter registration, to casting a ballot, to the certification of final results. We started the project in 2020 and are excited to bring it back for this election cycle.
Today, let’s look at a topic covered in the Help Desk: how are candidates ordered on a ballot?
Each state has its own rules governing the order in which offices and candidates are placed on the ballot, as well as how each candidate’s partisan affiliation is displayed.
States like Oregon and Texas order races based on level, beginning with federal races followed by state and local races. In 34 states, the presidential election is listed at the top of the ballot. In Idaho, offices are listed in descending order beginning with the highest federal office, but the secretary of state has discretion to arrange the classification of offices. Seven states and the District of Columbia do not have rules governing the order of races on the ballot.
In 11 states, candidates are listed alphabetically. In four states, the state randomizes the alphabet, and candidates are listed in alphabetical order according to that randomized alphabet. In the remaining states, candidate order is determined by lot or random draw, by party, or by office.
Sixteen states list candidates in party columns, with candidates of each party listed together in each column. In 28 states, the candidates’ party designation appears after their names. The remaining six states do not have rules governing the appearance of party affiliation on the ballot.
Click here to learn more about how states list candidates on the ballot. Stay tuned for more answers to your election-related questions in the run-up to the Fall election.
Ballotpedia’s Ballot Bulletin: Our weekly digest on election administration
States have enacted 372 election-related bills so far this year out of a total of over 3,700 bills introduced. This is fewer than the 600 election-related bills enacted at this point in 2023, but more than the 216 enacted by this point in 2022.
Ballotpedia’s Ballot Bulletin provides the latest updates on these bills and more. The Ballot Bulletin tracks developments in election policy around the country, including legislative activity, big-picture trends, and recent news. Each email contains in-depth data from our Election Administration Legislation Tracker. You’ll also be able to track relevant legislation, with links to and summaries of the bills themselves.
Below are examples of the updates and trends covered in our latest edition.
Recent news
- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Sept. 19 dismissed a lawsuit seeking to prevent ballot envelopes with incorrect or missing dates from being disqualified. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit against Secretary of State Al Schmidt (R) in May.
- On Sept. 17, a U.S. district court judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a Minnesota law that prohibits the spread of disinformation about voting or elections. Minnesota Voters Alliance, a 501(c)(3) organization “focusing primarily on election integrity, research, voter education, and advocacy,” originally filed the lawsuit in September 2023.
- On Sept. 16, a Texas district court denied Attorney General Ken Paxton‘s (R) request for an injunction blocking Bexar County from sending voter registration forms through the mail.
- New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signed a bill on Sept. 12 requiring voters to show a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers when voting for the first time. The bill will not go into effect until after the November election.
Enacted bills
States have enacted 372 bills so far this year, compared to 600 bills in 2023 and 216 in 2022. The chart below shows the number of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.
Ninety-eight of the election-related bills passed this year (26.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 222 (59.7%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 52 (14%) are in states with a divided government. The chart below shows enacted election-related bills by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
All legislation
Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1,768 (46.7%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,370 (36.2%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 645 (17.1%) are in states with divided governments.
The chart below shows election-related bills introduced by partisan sponsorship and trifecta status this year.
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