Category: State
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Nikki Lucas and Manny De Los Santos win New York State Assembly special elections
Two special general elections were held for New York State Assembly Districts 60 and 72 on Feb. 15. Nikki Lucas (D) won the District 60 special election with 2,074 votes, defeating Keron Alleyne (Working Families Party) and Marvin King (R, Conservative Party). The District 60 special election was called after Charles Barron (D) was sworn…
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Three candidates running in Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District’s first contested Republican primary since 2014
Incumbent Jeff Fortenberry, Mike Flood, and John Weaver are running in the Republican primary for Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District on May 10, 2022. This is the first contested Republican primary in the district since 2014 and the first for Fortenberry after a 2021 federal indictment stemming from a 2016 campaign finance investigation. A federal grand…
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New Mexico legislature sends constitutional amendments on household service infrastructure and judicial vacancies to the ballot, three bond measures to the governor’s desk
The New Mexico legislature adjourned on Thursday. During the 2022 session, the legislature referred two additional constitutional amendments to the Nov. 8 ballot to join one put there during the 2021 session. The legislature also approved three bond questions that the governor must sign before they also go before voters. One constitutional amendment would provide…
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Kentucky unemployment insurance audit identifies problems with system
Kentucky Auditor Mike Harmon’s office released a report identifying nine issues with Kentucky’s unemployment insurance program, including problems with security and the state’s auto-pay system. The report also found that the state paid over $195 million to over 28,000 out-of-state claimants between June 2020 and June 2021. Unemployment insurance refers to a joint federal and…
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Pennsylvania labor secretary reports $570 million in unemployment insurance fraud during pandemic
In testimony before the House Labor and Industry Committee on Feb. 10, 2022, Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry Jennifer Berrier estimated that the state paid $570 million of fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits from March 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2021. The fraudulent payments represented about 6.3% of the total unemployment insurance payments made during…
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Alabama allocates American Rescue Plan Act funds to replenish unemployment trust fund
The Alabama Legislature passed a plan for spending American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds on Jan. 27, 2022, directing $79.5 million of the state’s $2.1 billion ARPA allocation to replenish the state’s unemployment trust fund. Following the bill’s passage, Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington announced the state dropped to a lower tax schedule…
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Kentucky filing deadline update: 51% of state legislative districts are contested by only one of the two major parties
The filing deadline for candidates running for state or federal office in Kentucky was Jan. 25, 2022. State legislative elections will take place in 19 of the 38 state Senate districts and all 100 state House districts. In all, 256 candidates filed for those 119 districts: 88 Democrats and 168 Republicans. This equals 2.2 candidates…
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Minnesota adopts new congressional district boundaries
Minnesota enacted new congressional district boundaries on Feb. 15 when a special judicial redistricting panel issued an order adopting final maps. Minnesota was apportioned eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2020 census, the same number it received after the 2010 census. This map will take effect for Minnesota’s 2022 congressional elections.…