States have adopted 50 new election laws since the beginning of May. Nearly half of these bills come from Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has signed 24 election-related bills, including several that have garnered national attention for how they change the state’s voting laws. One of these bills was SB 189, an omnibus election bill that changed several areas of…
The Idaho Department of Labor issued a press release on May 15 instructing Idaho unemployment insurance claimants to complete and report five work search-related activities per week starting July 7 to receive benefits. Current law requires claimants to report two work search activities per week. The work search activity changes will comply with requirements outlined…
Thirty state legislative incumbents—seven Democrats and 23 Republicans—have lost to primary challengers so far this year. Across the 10 states that have held primaries, 2.7% of incumbents running for re-election have lost, a decline from the 2022 election cycle that aligns more closely with 2020. These totals include data from the Nebraska State Senate and both legislative chambers…
A Medicaid expansion bill in Mississippi died in negotiations between the Mississippi House and Senate, primarily over the inclusion of work requirements in the final version, resulting in its failure to pass before the session deadline on May 2, 2024. The Mississippi House of Representatives passed House Bill 1725 on February 28, 2024, with a…
Dave Boliek (R) won the Republican primary runoff for North Carolina State Auditor on May 14, 2024. Boliek defeated Jack Clark (R) 53.1% to 46.9%. Clark and Boliek were the top two finishers in the March 5 Republican primary with 23.2% and 22.1% of the vote, respectively. State law permitted Boliek to request a runoff…
John B. McCuskey (R) won the Republican primary for West Virginia Attorney General on May 14, 2024. McCuskey defeated Mike Stuart (R) 60.2% to 39.8%. Incumbent Patrick Morrisey (R) ran for governor, leaving the office open. Both McCuskey and Stuart ran on their record in elected office. Both candidates said they would prioritize suing the…
On May 13, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed HB 1629, a bill that restores voting rights to people convicted of a felony after receiving a pardon or commutation of their sentence. The legislation had bipartisan sponsorship and the final version of the bill passed the Oklahoma State Senate 41-0 on April 16. It then…
In South Dakota, an initiative to prohibit sales and use taxes on groceries was certified for the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot. On May 13, the secretary of state’s office verified that the campaign behind the initiative, TakeItBack, submitted enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. On April 24, the campaign submitted about 25,000 signatures,…
Two challengers defeated incumbents in the April 23 primaries for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. This is the second-lowest number of incumbents defeated since Ballotpedia began gathering data in 2010. The defeated incumbents are: The only other year with fewer incumbent defeats was 2010 when one Republican was defeated. Conversely, a decade-high of 10 incumbent…