All three candidates running in the August 8, 2023, Republican primary election for Mississippi House of Representatives District 3—Jonathan Dantzler (R), Jim Estrada (R), and Dennis Nowell (R)—completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. These survey responses allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office.
Eight of the country’s 99 state legislative chambers will hold regularly scheduled elections in 2023. Republicans control both chambers of the Mississippi state legislature. Mississippi is one of 22 states with a Republican trifecta.
Here are excerpts from candidates’ responses to the question: What is the first bill you would introduce if elected?
Dantzler:
“Protecting State Employees under our Medical Marijuana Program
Furthering the Protection of the 2nd Amendment
Restore the Ballot Initiative Process”
Estrada:
“I would like for it to be a bill that would help to foster economic development. Creating an environment for higher paying job opportunities is critical to our area specifically and to our great state in general..”
Nowell:
“Task force to investigate other states and cities that are attracting large corporations to their communities. We have to learn how to compete so we quit losing our young talent and families.”
Click on the candidates’ profile pages below to read their full responses to this and other questions.
We ask all federal, state, and local candidates with profiles on Ballotpedia to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Ask the candidates in your area to fill out the survey.
Biden issued 25 executive orders in January 2021, more than any other month of his presidency. He did not issue any executive orders in November 2022 and January 2023.
Biden is averaging 48 executive orders per year, tied with Ronald Reagan (R) for the second-most among presidents since 1981. Donald Trump (R) averaged 55 executive orders per year, the most in that time. Barack Obama (D) averaged 35 per year, the fewest in that time.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) issued 307 executive orders per year on average, the most of all U.S. presidents. William Henry Harrison (Whig) averaged the fewest, issuing none during his one month in office. Three presidents issued only one executive order each: James Madison (Democratic-Republican), James Monroe (Democratic-Republican), and John Adams (Federalist).
As of May 30, 2023, former President Donald Trump (R) leads in both RealClearPolitics’ (RCP) Republican presidential primary polling average and PredictIt’s Republican presidential primary market.
Trump’s polling average currently stands at 53%, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) at 22%. No other candidate has more than a 10% polling average. In PredictIt’s Republican primary market, Trump’s share price is $0.59, and DeSantis’ share price is $0.33. No other candidate has a share price at or above $0.10.
A candidate’s polling average reflects an estimate of the vote share a candidate would receive if the election took place today, while a PredictIt share price roughly corresponds to the market’s estimate of the probability of a candidate winning the election.
President Joe Biden (D) leads both RCP’s Democratic primary polling average and PredictIt’s Democratic primary market. Biden has a 35% polling average, with no other candidates polling at or above 10%, and a $0.76 PredictIt share price. One other candidate, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), has a share price at or above $0.10. Newsom stands at $0.11.
Biden, DeSantis, and Trump are the only candidates of this group to have officially announced their presidential campaigns.
Two new noteworthy candidates announced 2024 presidential campaigns in the past week. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced on May 22, 2023, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced on May 24. There are now three noteworthy Democrats and eight noteworthy Republicans running for president.
Below is a summary of each candidate’s campaign activity from May 19 to May 26.
Joe Biden (D) spoke about firearms policy at a memorial for the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting in Washington, D.C., on May 24. That day, Biden also released an online ad criticizing DeSantis.
Asa Hutchinson (R) campaigned in South Carolina from May 22 to May 23.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R) held campaign events in Chicago, Illinois, on May 19 and Iowa on May 26. He also spoke at the Bitcoin 2023 conference on May 20.
Tim Scott (R) announced his presidential campaign on May 22 at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina. On May 23, Scott began a $5.5 million ad campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. Scott campaigned in Iowa on May 24 and New Hampshire on May 25.
Donald Trump (R) was endorsed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) on May 22. Trump released an online ad on May 24 criticizing DeSantis.
We did not identify any specific campaign activity from Corey Stapleton (R) during this time frame.
At this point in the 2020 cycle, 26 noteworthy candidates were running for president. Twenty-four were seeking the Democratic nomination, and two (Trump and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld) were seeking the Republican nomination.
Notable stories at the time included eight Democratic presidential candidates appearing at demonstrations opposing anti-abortion laws in Alabama and Georgia on May 21, 2019, and reporting that said Trump had spent $5 million on Facebook ads targeting older Americans and women from January to May 2019.
In the 2016 election, eight noteworthy candidates had announced their campaigns as of May 26, 2015. There were two Democrats (Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders) and five Republicans.
H.J.Res.42 was a joint resolution of disapproval under the terms of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, also known as the Home Rule Act, which allows Congress to nullify D.C. laws within a certain review period. The D.C. law this resolution sought to nullify was the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, which “[set] forth a variety of measures that focus on policing in the District, including measures prohibiting the use of certain neck restraints by law enforcement officers, requiring additional procedures related to body-worn cameras, and expanding access to police disciplinary records.”
In his veto message, Biden said, “While I do not support every provision of the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, this resolution from congressional Republicans would overturn commonsense police reforms such as: banning chokeholds; setting important restrictions on use of force and deadly force; improving access to body-worn camera recordings; and requiring officer training on de-escalation and use of force. The Congress should respect the District of Columbia’s right to pass measures that improve public safety and public trust.”
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who discharged the resolution on the Senate floor, argued in favor of passing the resolution, saying, “Congress must exert our constitutional authority to keep our nation’s capital safe. It’s a disgrace that the capital of the most powerful nation on earth has become so dangerous, but this sad reality is exactly what we should expect when far-left activists are calling the shots.” After Biden vetoed the resolution, Vance said, “With today’s veto, President Biden rejected a bipartisan and commonsense effort to make our nation’s capital safer.”
Overriding a presidential veto requires a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress. The House of Representatives and Senate both passed the resolution by a simple majority.
The House of Representatives voted 229-189 to approve the resolution on April 19, 2023, with 14 Democrats and 215 Republicans voting in favor. The Senate voted 56-43 to approve the resolution on May 16, with six Democrats, one Independent who caucuses with Democrats, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), and 48 Republicans voting in favor. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) introduced the resolution on March 9.
This was the second Home Rule Act resolution related to D.C. criminal law to make it to Biden’s desk during the 118th Congress. The first was H.J.Res.26, which sought to nullify a D.C. law that would make “a variety of changes to DC criminal laws, including by providing statutory definitions for various elements of criminal offenses, modifying sentencing guidelines and penalties, and expanding the right to a jury trial for certain misdemeanor crimes.” Biden signed the resolution into law on March 20, 2023, marking the fourth time the federal government had nullified a D.C. law under the terms of the Home Rule Act since its passage in 1973.
President Ronald Reagan (R) issued the most vetoes (87) of all presidents since 1981. Biden, with four vetoes, has issued the fewest. President Donald Trump (R) issued the second-fewest vetoes (10) within this timeframe.
Presidents have issued 2,586 vetoes in American history. Congress has overridden 112. President Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed 635 bills, the most of any president. Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Q. Adams, William H. Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, and James A. Garfield did not issue any vetoes.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed SB 7050 into law on May 24, 2023. SB 7050 is an elections bill that includes a provision removing Florida’s resign-to-run requirement for presidential and vice presidential candidates. DeSantis also filed to run in the 2024 presidential election that day.
Under the new law, president and vice president are the only government offices explicitly exempted from Florida’s resign-to-run law. Before the passage of SB 7050, Florida’s resign-to-run law seemed to require candidates running for any government office, including president and vice president, to resign from office.
The law was amended in 2018 to say, in part, “any officer who qualifies for federal public office must resign from the office he or she presently holds if the terms, or any part thereof, run concurrently with each other.” This appeared to reverse a 2007 amendment to the law that removed the resign-to-run requirement for presidential and vice presidential candidates.
State Sen. Travis Hutson (R) introduced the resign-to-run removal amendment on April 25. The Florida State Senate voted to approve the full bill 28-12 on April 26, and the Florida House of Representatives approved the bill 76-34 on April 28.
In addition to Florida, four other states have resign-to-run laws on the books: Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, and Texas.
As of May 23, 2023, former President Donald Trump (R) leads in both RealClearPolitics’ (RCP) Republican presidential primary polling average and PredictIt’s Republican presidential primary market.
Trump’s polling average currently stands at 56%, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) at 19%. No other candidate has more than a 10% polling average. In PredictIt’s Republican primary market, Trump’s share price is $0.57, and DeSantis’ share price is $0.34. No other candidate has a share price at or above $0.10.
A candidate’s polling average reflects an estimate of the vote share a candidate would receive if the election took place today. In contrast, a PredictIt share price roughly corresponds to the market’s estimate of the probability of a candidate winning the election.
President Joe Biden (D) leads both RCP’s Democratic primary polling average and PredictIt’s Democratic primary market. Biden has a 35% polling average, with no other candidates polling at or above 10%, and a $0.73 PredictIt share price. One other candidate, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), has a share price at or above $0.10. Newsom stands at $0.12.
Trump and Biden are the only candidates of this group to have officially announced their presidential campaigns.
The three committees associated with the Democratic Party have raised a cumulative $106 million for the 2024 election cycle, while the three committees associated with the Republican Party have raised $84 million. Those figures are as of April 30, 2023, the most recent party committee campaign finance filing deadline.
The three Democratic committees are the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The three Republican committees are the Republican National Committee (RNC), National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).
So far in the 2024 election cycle, the DNC, DSCC, and DCCC each lead their Republican counterparts in cumulative receipts and disbursements. See the table below for exact figures.
Compared to previous cycles, the Democratic committees’ cumulative receipts this past April ($106 million) outpace their receipts at this point in the 2020 election cycle ($86 million), but are lower than their receipts at this point in the 2022 election cycle ($139 million). On the Republican side, the three committees raised $84 million as of last month, which is lower than their April 2019 fundraising total ($116 million) and their April 2021 fundraising total ($133 million).
President Joe Biden (D) vetoed the third bill of his presidency on May 16, 2023. Biden vetoed H.J.Res.39, a joint resolution of disapproval under the terms of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that sought to void a Department of Commerce rule suspending some tariffs on solar panel imports.
In his veto message, Biden said, “I vetoed H.J. Res. 39 because we cannot afford to create new uncertainty for American businesses and workers in the solar industry. We can and must strengthen our energy security by maintaining our focus on expanding U.S. capacity that is ready to come on line as this temporary bridge concludes in June 2024.”
Overriding a presidential veto requires a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress. The House of Representatives and Senate both passed the resolution by a simple majority.
The House of Representatives voted 221-202 to approve the resolution on April 28. The Senate voted 56-41 to approve the resolution on May 3. Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) introduced the resolution on March 7.
President Ronald Reagan (R) issued the most vetoes (87) of all presidents since 1981. Biden, with three vetoes, has issued the fewest. President Donald Trump (R) issued the second-fewest vetoes (9) within this timeframe.
Presidents have issued 2,586 vetoes in American history. Congress has overridden 112. President Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed 635 bills, the most of any president. Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Q. Adams, William H. Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, and James A. Garfield did not issue any vetoes.
Donna Deegan (D) defeated Daniel Davis (R) 52% to 48% in the May 16 runoff election for mayor of Jacksonville, Florida. Deegan will be the second Democrat to hold the office since 1993.
Incumbent Mayor Lenny Curry (R) was term-limited. Curry was first elected in 2015, making Jacksonville the most populous American city with a Republican mayor.
Deegan and Davis advanced from a field of eight candidates in the March 21, 2023, general election, where Deegan received 39% of the vote and Davis received 25%.
Deegan founded two philanthropic organizations focused on breast cancer issues and was a local television news anchor and investigative journalist. Deegan’s endorsements included the Jacksonville chapter of the National Organization for Women PAC, Branch 53 of the North Florida Letter Carriers union, and former Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried’s (D) PAC, Won’t Back Down. In her Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey, Deegan said her priorities included “improvements in infrastructure, public health, housing affordability, and an inclusive economy” and that “For too long, that leadership has been lacking in a City Hall that only works for a handful of well-connected people.”
Davis was the chief executive officer of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and served in the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 15 from 2010 to 2014. Davis’ endorsements included Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters (R), the Jacksonville Brotherhood of Firefighters, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). In his election night speech, he said, “Will we elect a mayor who will stand with our brave men and women in uniform to make Jacksonville safer? Or will we, as Jacksonvillians, go down the pathway of San Francisco and New York?” In addition to his support for law enforcement, he highlighted his support for school choice and said he would “stand with Governor Ron DeSantis (R) to keep Florida free.”
