Welcome to the Wednesday, June 18, 2025, Brew.
By: Lara Bonatesta
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Louisiana Legislature places six constitutional amendments on the 2026 ballot
- Five candidates are running in the Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo on June 24
- Nineteen members of Congress have announced they will not seek re-election in 2026
Louisiana Legislature places six constitutional amendments on the 2026 ballot
The Louisiana Legislature adjourned on June 12, ending its 2025 legislative session. During the session, legislators put six constitutional amendments on the 2026 ballot.
The amendments cover a range of topics from the judicial retirement age to property tax exemptions and more.
Five amendments will appear on the April 18 ballot, and one will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot. Here’s a look at each amendment.
April 18 Measures
House Bill 63 (HB 63) would change the mandatory retirement age for Louisiana judges from 70 to 75. The amendment would allow judges who would turn 75 during a term in office to finish the term. According to the National Center for State Courts, 33 states have mandatory retirement ages for judges. Louisiana is one of 18 states with a mandatory retirement age of 70. If HB 63 is approved, Louisiana would be the ninth state to have a mandatory retirement age of 75. Louisiana is also one of 11 states that use partisan elections to select judges and do not use retention elections for subsequent terms. Click here to learn more about judicial elections in Louisiana and the term lengths for different types of judges.
Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) would permit the Legislature to change the status of civil service employees from classified to unclassified and vice versa. The Louisiana Constitution lists 13 positions as part of the unclassified service. All other state employees and officers are part of the classified service. According to the Louisiana Illuminator, classified employees have the right to appeal termination or disciplinary decisions to the Civil Service Commission, while unclassified employees do not. Currently, the State Civil Service Commission determines whether positions are classified or unclassified. The amendment would allow the commission to continue placing positions in the unclassified service, but the commission would no longer be allowed to move positions out of the unclassified service.
Senate Bill 25 (SB 25) would grant the St. George Community School System the same authority as a parish for purposes “related to the minimum foundation program, funding for certain school books and instructional materials, and the raising of certain local revenues for the support of elementary and secondary schools.” The school system would become the third in East Baton Rouge Parish to receive that authority. No other school systems in the state have the same authority as a parish.
House Bill 366 (HB 366) would permit parishes to reduce or create an exemption for business inventory from property taxes. Business inventory would include property being held to sell and property held to be used in producing a good that would be sold.
House Bill 473 (HB 473) would repeal the Education Excellence Fund, the Education Quality Trust Fund, and the Quality Education Support Fund, and apply the money to the Teachers’ Retirement System.
Nov. 3 Measure
House Bill 300 (HB 300) would raise the income limit to qualify for the property tax special assessment program. Under the program, eligible homeowners can freeze the assessed value of their home so their property taxes do not increase. Currently, the income limit to participate in the program is $100,000 annually. The amendment would increase the limit to $150,000. Income is not the only eligibility requirement for the program. To be eligible, an individual must either be older than 64, permanently disabled, a veteran with a service-related disability of 50% or more, or the spouse of a member of the armed forces or National Guard killed in action, missing in action, or held as a prisoner of war.
Legislative Referrals and Partisanship
In Louisiana, a two-thirds vote is required in a single legislative session to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That equals 70 votes in the House and 26 in the Senate, assuming no vacancies. Republicans have a 28-11 majority in the Senate and a 73-32 majority in the House. This means no Democratic votes were needed to put amendments on the ballot.
We grouped the six amendments into two categories: Bipartisan and Republican.
Four had Bipartisan support, meaning there was less than a 20 percentage point difference between Republican and Democratic ‘yes’ votes. Two of those four, HB 473 and HB 366, received unanimous support from all voting members.
Two amendments, HB 25 and SB 8, were classified as Republican, meaning the Republican ‘yes’ vote was 60 percentage points greater than that of the Democrats. All Republicans and no Democrats supported HB 25.
There are no constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall in Louisiana. That makes 2025 the first odd-numbered year that no constitutional amendment will be on the fall ballot since 2013.
Louisiana voters decided on four constitutional amendments during a special election earlier this year on March 29. All four measures were defeated, with no measure earning more than 36% of the vote.
Between 2010 and 2025, voters decided a total of 109 ballot measures, approving 68 and defeating 36, an approval rate of 65.4%.
Voters decided an average of roughly nine ballot measures in even years between 2010 and 2024.
Click here to learn more about the six amendments on the ballot in Louisiana in 2026.
Five candidates are running in the Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo on June 24
As part of our ongoing coverage of elections in America’s most populous cities, today we’re looking at the mayoral election in Buffalo, New York.
Five candidates are running for the Democratic nomination on June 24. Acting Mayor Christopher P. Scanlon (D) and Sean Ryan (D) lead in fundraising and media attention.
City & State’s Austin C. Jefferson wrote, “Whoever wins the race and the following general election will be on the front lines of an ongoing trade dispute with Canada and will need to grapple with a city budget shortfall in the tens of millions.”
Scanlon served on the Buffalo Common Council from 2011 to 2024 and as council president from January to October 2024, when he became acting mayor after then-Mayor Byron Brown (D) resigned. Scanlon previously worked as a business manager.
Ryan has served in the New York Senate since 2020. He previously served in the New York Assembly from 2011 to 2021. Ryan previously worked as an attorney.
Local unions have endorsed both candidates. In addition to local unions, former Buffalo Board of Education member and 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl P. Paladino (R) has endorsed Scanlon. Meanwhile, the Erie County Democratic Committee and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz (D) have endorsed Ryan.
While Ryan and Scanlon are running in the Democratic primary, they have already qualified to run on other party lines for the general election—Scanlon is also running as an independent, and Ryan is running on the Working Families Party line. However, Ryan has said he will not remain in the race if he loses the Democratic nomination.
University of Buffalo’s Shawn Donahue said, “In most states you can only be on the ballot once. We often go and vote where, literally, it’s the same candidate endorsed by all the top four parties, especially in a lot of judicial races. It does kind of give the losing candidate in a primary, which is always lower turnout than a general election, options in November.”
In the 2021 Democratic primary, India Walton (D) defeated incumbent Mayor Byron Brown (D), who had been in office since 2005, 51% to 46%. Following his primary defeat, Brown announced he would run in the general election as a write-in candidate. Brown defeated Walton 60% to 40% in the 2021 general election and served until he resigned in 2024.
Anthony Tyson-Thompson (D), Garnell Whitfield (D), and Rasheed N.C. Wyatt (D) are also running.
Buffalo does not have mayoral term limits. Mayors serve a four-year term. The last Republican mayor of Buffalo, Chester A. Kowal, left office in 1965.
Click here to learn more about the mayoral election in Buffalo.
Nineteen members of Congress have announced they will not seek re-election in 2026
Since our previous update on congressional retirements, one member of U.S. Congress has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2026.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) announced on May 27 that he will run for governor of Alabama in 2026 rather than re-election to the U.S. Senate. As of June 10, The Cook Political Report and Inside Elections have rated the 2026 general election for the Senate seat as Solid Republican. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated it Safe Republican.
Additionally, Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) announced on June 9 that he will resign from the U.S. House of Representatives to pursue a position in the private sector. Green also said he will resign after the House casts a final vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The figures below do not include Green or other incumbents who leave office before the end of their term.
Including Tuberville’s announcements, 19 members of Congress—six senators and 13 representatives—have announced they will not seek re-election in 2026.
U.S. Senate
Six senators—four Democrats and two Republicans—will not seek re-election in 2026. Five senators—Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.)—are retiring from public office. Tuberville is the only senator who is retiring to run for another office.
At this point in the last four election cycles, there were four retirement announcements in 2024, five in 2022, four in 2020, and none in 2018.
U.S. House of Representatives
Thirteen representatives—six Democrats and seven Republicans—will not seek re-election in 2026. Of the 13 representatives not seeking re-election:
- One Democrat is retiring from public office.
- Seven—five Democrats and two Republicans—are running for the U.S. Senate.
- Five—all Republicans—are running for governor.
At this point in the last four election cycles, there were 11 retirement announcements in 2024, 14 in 2022, seven in 2020, and nine in 2018.
Congressional retirements by month
Between January 2011 and today, 366 members of Congress announced they would not seek re-election. January had the highest number of announcements of any month at 69. The fewest announcements—12—happened in June.
Click here for more information on the incumbents not seeking re-election in 2026. Click here to listen to our June 4 episode of On the Ballot, which takes an early look at congressional retirements ahead of the 2026 midterms.