Welcome to the Tuesday, July 1, Brew.
By: Briana Ryan
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- This year sees fewest officials facing recall at midyear since 2020
- Maine Legislature recalls ranked-choice voting expansion from Gov. Janet Mills’ desk
- Seven candidates are running in a special election for Ward 8 of the Washington D.C. City Council
This year sees fewest officials facing recall at midyear since 2020
Twice a year, we release reports on recall efforts nationwide for all state and local elected offices. Today, we’ll explore our mid-year 2025 report.
In the first half of 2025, we tracked the fewest officials named in recall efforts at midyear since 2020. From Jan. 1 through June 20, there were 159 recall efforts against 223 officials across 27 states.
As of June 20, voters removed 21 officials from office via recall elections, while another 12 resigned after the recall campaigns began.
Of the 223 officials subject to recall efforts, voters removed 9% from office via recall elections, the seventh-highest removal rate we have recorded at midyear since 2012.
Four other officials defeated recall votes to remain in office, and 99 recall attempts did not qualify for the ballot. Fifteen recall elections are scheduled but have not happened, and 73 officials face active recall campaigns.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, school board recall efforts have declined but remain elevated compared to historical averages. From 2009 to 2020, school board members faced an average of 27 recall efforts. Between 2021 and 2024, that figure is 59. With 17 recall efforts recorded in the first half of 2025, the full-year total appears on track to return closer to the pre-pandemic average.
Minnesota had the most officials targeted for recall with 35, followed by California with 30 and Colorado with 20. This marks the first time Minnesota has topped the list in mid-year recall activity since we began following this data.
Michigan and California have typically recorded the highest recall volumes over the past decade. Michigan had the most officials targeted for recall in 2018, 2022, 2023, and 2024. California had the most officials targeted for recall from 2016 to 2017 and 2019 to 2021.
There were several notable recall efforts against officials in the first half of 2025.
In Minnesota, 30 state legislators were named in recall petitions following a partisan standoff over House leadership and quorum rules after the 2024 elections resulted in a tied chamber. Republicans started 29 petitions against Democratic members who boycotted the session. State Rep. Duane Quam (R) faced a separate recall effort for participating in legislative proceedings and voting despite the chamber lacking a quorum. None of the efforts met the state’s legal standards for recall, but the volume of filings marked the second-highest number of state legislative recall attempts in a single year nationwide since 1913.
In Los Angeles, organizers started a recall effort against Mayor Karen Bass, citing her handling of homelessness, public safety, and emergency response—specifically in the aftermath of the January 2025 Palisades Fire. Bass’ campaign called the effort politically motivated.
In San Francisco, District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio will face a recall election on Sept. 16 over his support for Proposition K, a measure to permanently close part of the Upper Great Highway to vehicle traffic. Voters approved the measure 55% to 45%.
We also highlighted two school board recall efforts in this report:
- Liberty Elementary School District, Arizona: A recall effort against board vice president Kristopher Kenyon began over district leadership and staffing levels.
- Wrightstown Community School District, Wisconsin: Voters successfully recalled board member Angela Hansen-Winker in April following disputes over legal fees, transparency, and a superintendent investigation.
We will be publishing our year-end report in December. You can explore the full mid-year report here.
Maine Legislature recalls ranked-choice voting expansion from Gov. Janet Mills’ desk
On June 25, the Maine Legislature agreed to recall LD 1666 from Gov. Janet Mills‘ (D) desk and carry it over to the next special or regular legislative session. The bill would have expanded the state’s use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) to include general and special elections for governor, state senator, and state representative.
Currently, RCV is used in the state to decide federal and all other statewide elections besides governor and state legislature. State law also authorizes municipalities to use RCV in local elections.
In 2018, Maine became the first state to adopt RCV for at least some statewide elections after voters approved the Maine Ranked Choice Voting Initiative 52% to 48%. The initiative originally included gubernatorial and state legislative races among those that would transition to RCV. In May 2017, the state Supreme Court issued a unanimous advisory opinion concluding that using RCV in the general elections for those offices was unconstitutional.
According to the Maine Secretary of State’s website, “The Maine Constitution requires the winners of those offices in a general election to be decided by a plurality. Primary elections in Maine and elections for federal offices are governed by statute and not by the Maine Constitution.”
In 2019, Maine expanded the RCV requirement to presidential primaries and general elections after Mills allowed LD 1083 to become law without her signature.
In a brief written to the Maine Supreme Court before the 2017 advisory opinion, Mills, the then-Attorney General, wrote, “The Constitution must be amended before such fundamental changes in Maine’s electoral process can occur.”
If LD 1666 had become law, with or without Mills’ signature, it would have been the first legislative expansion of RCV at the state level since 2022, when Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) signed SB 2162. That same year, Florida and Tennessee became the first states to ban the use of RCV, and 15 states have since joined them.
The Portland Press Herald’s Randy Billings wrote that the bill would have “clarif[ied] the definition of ranked choice voting by changing several references to ‘votes’ to ‘ballots’ and add[ing] that the final round ‘of tabulation is determined to have received a plurality of the votes cast,’” thereby circumventing the constitutional language that prevented RCV implementation for gubernatorial and legislative offices.
Opponents of the measure said the bill did not remedy the constitutional issues. State Rep. David Boyer (R) said, “If we did pass this, it would be unconstitutional, and we should have reached out to the Maine Supreme Court, rather than trying to do this end-run around.”
Maine has a Democratic trifecta, meaning that Democrats control the governorship and both legislative chambers. On June 18, the Maine House of Representatives passed LD 1666 74-73, and the Maine Senate passed it 21-14.
Maine and Alaska are the only states that use RCV for at least some regular statewide elections. Hawaii also authorized RCV, but only for statewide special federal elections.
Click here to read more about RCV and here to read more about LD 1666.
Seven candidates are running in a special election for Ward 8 of the Washington D.C. City Council
As part of our ongoing coverage of local elections across the United States, we’re spotlighting the Washington, D.C. City Council Ward 8 special election. Seven candidates are running in the July 15 election.
Four candidates lead in media attention: Salim Adofo (D), Mike Austin (D), Sheila Bunn (D), and Trayon White (D).
On Aug. 19, 2024, federal agents arrested White, who was a councilmember at the time, after he allegedly accepted bribes to influence government contracts. On Feb. 4, the council voted unanimously to expel White. White has pleaded not guilty, and his trial will begin in January 2026.
Adofo represents Ward 8 on the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission and is the commission’s chair. In the 2024 Democratic primary, White defeated Adofo to represent Ward 8 on the council 52% to 28% in a field of three candidates.
Austin served as the deputy mayor of economic development’s chief of staff and as a staffer for former Councilmember LaRuby May (D). In the 2020 Democratic primary, White defeated Austin to represent Ward 8 on the council 58% to 27% in a field of four candidates.
Bunn served as a staffer for U.S. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and as former Mayor Vincent Gray‘s chief of staff. In the 2015 special election, May defeated Bunn to represent Ward 8 on the council 27% to 10% in a field of 13 candidates.
White represented Ward 8 from 2017 to 2025. In the 2024 general election, White defeated Nate Derenge (R) 76% to 15%. White previously represented Ward 8 on the city’s State Board of Education (SBOE) and founded a non-profit.
Mary Roach (D), Oliver Roy (D), and Delonte Ford Singh (R) are also running as write-in candidates.
Click here to read more about this election.