Category: Local

On Wednesday, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn (D) endorsed former police chief Jane Castor over philanthropist David Straz in the city’s April 23 mayoral runoff election. The two candidates advanced from a field of seven on March 5, with Castor leading Straz 48-15.   Buckhorn is term-limited and unable to run for re-election. Both Castor and…

Former Phoenix City Council members Kate Gallego and Daniel Valenzuela are facing off in the mayoral runoff election for Phoenix on Tuesday. They were the top two vote-getters in the special election on November 6, 2018, when neither candidate surpassed the 50 percent threshold to win outright. Gallego received 44 percent to Valenzuela’s 26 percent…

An effort to recall Marnie Glickman from her position on the Dixie School District Board of Trustees in California began on March 5 in the midst of a debate over changing the school district’s name. Glickman is a supporter of the name-change effort.   Supporters of the name change said the name Dixie is connected…

Former police chief Jane Castor and philanthropist David Straz advanced from a field of seven candidates to an April 23 runoff election for Tampa mayor. Castor’s 48 percent put her two percentage points shy of the threshold required to win outright. Straz took second place with 15 percent of the vote and Councilman Harry Cohen…

In Kansas, Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell (R) was found not guilty of 21 counts of wire fraud on March 4. O’Donnell could still be retried by prosecutors on the additional five counts—two charges of wire fraud and three charges of money laundering—that the jury could not agree on. As he was leaving the courthouse,…

An effort to recall three of the seven members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education in North Carolina began on February 28. Board Chairwoman Margaret Samuels and members James Barrett and Pat Heinrich were targeted for recall after the board voted 4-3 to turn Glenwood Elementary School into a Mandarin dual-language magnet…

Last Tuesday, Chicagoans cast ballots for mayor, city treasurer, city clerk, and all 50 seats on the city council. Here’s where the council races stood as of 11 am CT on March 4:   There will be at least 13 council runoff elections on April 2, as no candidate received more than 50 percent of…

The Houston Independent School District (ISD), the nation’s seventh-largest school district by student enrollment, may move to a different school board election system if a new bill introduced in the Texas State Senate is enacted into law.   The Houston ISD school board is currently composed of nine members who are all elected by separate…

Eleven candidates filed paperwork to run in the April 16 general election for three of the nine at-large seats on the Newark Public Schools Board of Education in New Jersey. The filing deadline was February 25. The withdrawal deadline is March 4.   Two of the three incumbents whose seats are on the ballot—Leah Owens…

The filing deadline for the Riverside City Council in California is March 8. The Ward 1, 3, 5, and 7 seats are on the ballot on June 4.   When city council elections were last held in 2017, the Ward 2, 4, and 6 seats were on the ballot. All three incumbents who held those…