Category: State

The Virginia State Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates are holding elections on November 5, 2019. If Democrats gain two seats in each chamber, Virginia will become a Democratic trifecta. Republicans control the Senate 21-19 and the House 51-48 (one seat previously held by a Democrat is vacant). The term of Virginia’s governor, Ralph…

The candidate filing deadline for the special election in District 31 of the Kentucky State Senate passed on January 15. Darrell Pugh (D) and Phillip Wheeler (R) are competing in the general election on March 5.   The District 31 seat became vacant after Ray Jones (D) was elected to serve as judge executive in…

State Rep. Jeff Bridges (D) was selected by a vacancy committee to represent Senate District 26 following Sen. Daniel Kagan’s (D) resignation on January 11, 2019. Kagan had previously served in the state House of Representatives, representing District 3 from 2009 to 2016. He did not seek re-election in 2016 because of term limits, and…

On Tuesday, Michelle Lee and Stu Lourey are competing in the Democratic primary for a special election to the Minnesota State Senate. Jason Rarick is running unopposed in the Republican primary. The general election is on February 5.   The District 11 seat became vacant following Tony Lourey’s (D) resignation to join Gov. Tim Walz’s…

Each decade, the federal government conducts a census to update its population counts. Changes in population counts then require state governments to redraw their legislative jurisdiction boundaries. The average state senate district had a population of 156,339 following the 2010 census. That was an increase of 13,532 from the 2000 figure of 142,807. The average…

Three states will hold elections for governor in 2019: Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi.   Republican Matt Bevin is the current Governor of Kentucky. He was elected to that office on November 3, 2015, defeating then-state attorney general Jack Conway (D). Bevin succeeded Gov. Steve Beshear (D), who served two terms from 2007 to 2015.   The…

Minnesota, South Carolina, and Tennessee are all holding special primaries for state senate seats in the coming week. Minnesota and South Carolina are holding their primaries on January 22, and Tennessee is holding its primary on January 24.   The South Carolina State Senate District 6 seat was previously held by William Timmons (R). Timmons…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who was sworn in on January 8, 2019, called on the Florida State Legislature to repeal a law that was designed to ban smokable forms of marijuana.   In June 2017, Rick Scott (R), who preceded DeSantis in the governor’s office, signed the bill banning smokable marijuana, which a court…

In 2018, state legislatures nationwide considered 202 bills related to public-sector union policy, acting in anticipation of or in response to the Supreme Court’s decision last summer in Janus v. AFSCME.   In Janus, the high court ruled that public-sector unions cannot require non-member employees to pay agency fees to cover the costs of non-political…

On the first day of the 2019 legislative session, the New York State Legislature approved a seven-bill legislative package to change election policies.   The legislative package included two constitutional amendments. In New York, constitutional amendments require a simple majority vote of two successive state legislatures. The current 203rd New York State Legislature (2019-2020) passed…