Each week, The Weekly Brew brings you a collection of the most viewed stories from The Daily Brew, condensed. Here are the top stories from the week of August 17 - August 21.
Republican and Democratic trifectas both enacted more bills increasing agency power than decreasing it in 2026
States passed more bills in 2026 that increase agency power than decrease it, making this the first year since Ballotpedia began tracking legislation related to the administrative state in 2024 where that’s the case. Both Republican and Democratic trifecta states enacted more bills that increase administrative agency power than decrease it. A total of 38 states passed laws across a range of administrative topics such as agency structure, permitting processes, sunrise and sunset reviews, judicial deference, and more, according to Ballotpedia's Administrative State 2026 Legislation Report.
Six housing policy measures are on the ballot in four states — the most in at least two decades
Voters in four states will decide on six statewide ballot measures on housing policy on Nov. 3 — the most in a single year since 2006.
California has three measures on the ballot. Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island each have one. State legislators put three measures on the ballot (one each in California, Rhode Island, and Hawaii), and three are citizen initiatives (two in California and one in Massachusetts).
25 states have an August deadline for removing a candidate's name from the ballot
2026 tied a 108-year record for the number of major or minor party U.S. Senate nominees withdrawing from an election and having their name removed from the ballot. Most states' deadlines to withdraw and have a candidate's name removed from the ballot are in August or September.
Twenty-five states have candidate withdrawal deadlines for this year's general election in August, and seven states have deadlines in September.
Whether candidates can withdraw from a general election and have their name removed from the ballot varies by state.
Ten U.S. House incumbents have lost primaries to non-incumbents this year, tying 2022 for the most since at least 2014
U.S. Rep. Cory Mills (R) became the 10th U.S. House incumbent to lose a primary to a non-incumbent this year, which ties 2026 with 2022 for the most incumbent primary losses to a non-incumbent since at least 2014. Mills lost to Ryan Elijah (R) in the primary for Florida's 7th Congressional District. An 11th incumbent, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), lost to Rep. Christian Menefee (D) in the primary runoff for Texas’ 18th Congressional District on May 26, which featured two incumbents due to redistricting.
More Democratic incumbents (six) have lost to non-incumbents this year than in any other year in that same period.
Virginia kicks off our 50 States in 50 Days series
Every weekday until Election Day, the Daily Brew will feature 50 States in 50 Days, a preview of each state's Nov. 3 elections — all 50 states, in the order that voting begins in each.
This week, we started with Virginia. Click below to read more about Virginia's 2026 elections.