Category: Local

  • New Hampshire sees 19 U.S. House candidates this year, up from 12 in 2020

    Posted on

    The filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in New Hampshire this year was June 10, 2022. Nineteen candidates are running for New Hampshire’s two U.S. House districts, including two Democrats and 17 Republicans. That’s 9.5 candidates per district, more than the six candidates per district in 2020 and fewer than the 12.5 in 2018.…

  • Washington school board passes new curriculum guidelines on U.S. history and race topics

    Posted on

    The Kennewick School Board in Washington state unanimously voted to adopt a new set of curriculum guidelines on August 24, 2022, that aim to restrict teachings on U.S. history and race.  Kennewick School Board passed a new policy, known as Policy 2340, that would prohibit teachings that the U.S. is fundamentally or systemically racist or…

  • Texas school district limits discussions of race and gender, pronoun use, and certain books

    Posted on

    The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in Texas on August 22, 2022, approved a policy by a 4-3 vote that would limit classroom discussions of race and gender, pronoun use, and certain library materials.  The approved policy: Allows educators to use pronouns that align with a student’s biological sex rather than their gender identity Prohibits transgender…

  • Texas State Board of Education discusses changes to the state’s social studies curriculum

    Posted on

    The Texas State Board of Education began discussing proposed changes to the state’s social studies curriculum in a meeting on August 1, 2022. The board aims to make changes and guide educators on how to teach U.S. history while aligning the curriculum with Senate Bill 3. The law, which went into effect in December 2021,…

  • Parents sue Tennessee school district over curriculum including race and gender topics

    Posted on

    A parent group on July 8, 2022, filed a lawsuit in the Twenty-First Judicial District against Tennessee education officials and the Williamson County school district for allegedly violating state laws restricting teachings on race and gender. Tennessee House Bill 580 aims to prohibit school districts from incorporating materials into the curriculum that portray the United…

  • Ballotpedia’s mid-year recall report shows sustained interest in school board recall

    Posted on

    In the first half of 2022, Ballotpedia tracked 152 recall efforts against 240 officials. These figures represent a small decline from 2021, when we tallied 165 recall efforts against 263 officials by midyear. In comparison, the highest number of recall efforts we have tracked by midyear was 189 in 2016. The lowest was 72 in…

  • San Francisco voters recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin

    Posted on

    San Francisco voters recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin on June 7, 2022. Mayor London Breed will appoint a temporary replacement, who will serve until voters elect a permanent district attorney in November. Boudin was elected district attorney in 2019, defeating Suzy Loftus 50.8% to 49.2% in a ranked-choice voting election. Previously, Boudin served as deputy…

  • Karen Bass, Rick Caruso advance to general in Los Angeles mayoral election

    Posted on

    Karen Bass and Rick Caruso advanced from the nonpartisan primary for mayor of Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2022. Since neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote, the two will participate in a November 8 general election. Incumbent Mayor Eric Garcetti could not run for re-election due to term limits. Since 1933,…

  • Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #16

    Posted on

    Welcome to Hall Pass. This newsletter keeps you plugged into the conversations driving school board politics and governance. Each week, we bring you a roundup of the latest on school board elections, along with sharp commentary and research from across the political spectrum on the issues confronting school boards in the country’s 14,000 school districts.…

  • All three candidates for Office 67 on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Survey

    Posted on

    All three candidates in the nonpartisan primary for Office 67 of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County—Fernanda Maria Barreto, Ryan Dibble, and Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes—have submitted Candidate Connection surveys to Ballotpedia. These surveys allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them on political and personal levels. The race for Office 67 is…