Category: State

  • 196 state executive seats up on November 3

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    Image of a red sign with the words "Polling Place" a pointing arrow.

    Ballotpedia is covering 196 state executive seats across 29 states, Washington, D.C., and the five U.S. territories on November 3. Our coverage includes 13 governors, 10 lieutenant governors, 10 attorneys general, seven secretaries of state, and 156 down-ballot seats. There are 118 incumbents on the ballot, leaving 78 seats guaranteed to go to newcomers. Governors…

  • Hawaii governor appoints Eddins to state supreme court

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    Image of the Hawaii Supreme Court building in Honolulu.

    Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) appointed Todd Eddins to the Hawaii Supreme Court on October 23, 2020. Pending confirmation from the Hawaii State Senate, Eddins will succeed Justice Richard W. Pollack, who retired on June 30, 2020, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 years. Eddins is Ige’s first nominee to the five-member supreme…

  • Effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers fails to collect enough signatures

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    The chief organizer behind an effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) told supporters on Monday that the effort had failed to collect enough signatures to require a recall election. Chief organizer Misty Polewczynski wrote in a Facebook post about the failed recall effort on October 26, “It is with a heavy heart we…

  • Illinois Supreme Court decides case allowing suspended police officers to seek backpay

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    On October 22, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court decided Goral v. Dart, a case on police officers’ right to due process to claim backpay.  The case concerned a decision regarding the legitimacy of Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s Merit Board. The Illinois Supreme Court upheld an appellate court’s decision which determined that officers suspended without…

  • Previewing Arizona House of Representatives elections

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    All 60 seats in the Arizona House of Representatives are up for election in 2020. Republicans lost seats but maintained their majority in the 2018 elections for the Arizona House of Representatives, winning 31 seats to Democrats’ 29. Arizona state representatives serve two-year terms, with all seats up for election every two years. Thirty multi-member…

  • Angelica Allen-McMillan appointed as New Jersey commissioner of education

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    On Oct. 20, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced that he was appointing Angelica Allen-McMillan as the New Jersey commissioner of education. She will replace outgoing interim Commissioner Kevin Dehmer, who had served since the resignation of Lamont Repollet on July 1. Allen-McMillan will serve in an acting capacity until her confirmation by the…

  • Signatures due next week in recall efforts against Wisconsin governor, lieutenant governor

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    Supporters of the efforts to recall Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D) have until October 27 to submit 668,327 signatures for each of the petitions to require a recall election. Both recall efforts are being organized by Misty Polewczynski. Polewczynski told the Racine Journal Times on October 15 that supporters…

  • One North Dakota Supreme Court seat up for nonpartisan election in November

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    The seat held by North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Jon Jay Jensen will be up for a nonpartisan election on November 3, 2020. Jensen is seeking re-election unopposed. Gov. Doug Burgum (R) appointed Jensen in 2017. Despite the normal method of judicial selection being a nonpartisan election, all but one justice of the North Dakota…

  • Texas Gov. Abbott appoints Rebeca Huddle to replace Justice Paul Green on state supreme court

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    On October 15, 2020, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appointed Rebeca Huddle to replace Justice Paul Green on the Texas Supreme Court. Justice Green announced his retirement from the Texas Supreme Court in August 2020. Huddle is a Republican who served as a justice on Texas’ First District Court of Appeals. She graduated from Stanford University…

  • Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball change race rating of Georgia’s special U.S. Senate election

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    On Oct. 13, The Cook Political Report changed its race rating for the special U.S. Senate election in Georgia from “Lean Republican” to “Toss-up”. On Oct. 8, Sabato’s Crystal Ball changed its rating from “Likely Republican” to “Leans Republican”. Polling in recent weeks has shown Raphael Warnock (D) leading incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) and Rep. Doug Collins (R),…