Category: State
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Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Lenk retires
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Barbara Lenk retired on Dec. 1, one day before she reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. Governor Deval Patrick (D) appointed Lenk in April 2011, and she was the first openly gay justice on the court. Before her appointment, Lenk was a judge on the Massachusetts Appeals Court and…
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Sonya Halpern wins Georgia State Senate runoff
A special Democratic primary runoff election was held for Georgia State Senate District 39 on December 1, 2020. A special primary election was held on November 3. The special election was called when incumbent candidate Nikema Williams (D) withdrew from the race after being chosen by the Democratic Party of Georgia to replace incumbent candidate…
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Kwanza Hall defeats Robert Franklin in Georgia’s 5th Congressional District special election runoff
Kwanza Hall (D) defeated Robert Franklin (D) in a special runoff election for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District on December 1, 2020. Hall received 54% of the vote to Franklin’s 46%. Hall will serve the remainder of John Lewis’ (D) congressional term through January 3, 2021. Lewis died on July 17, 2020. Since the runoff took…
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New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Nakamura retires
New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Judith Nakamura retired on Dec. 1, 2020. She originally planned to retire on Aug. 1 but postponed her retirement date in June. Governor Susana Martinez (R) appointed Nakamura to the court in November 2015. Prior to her appointment, Nakamura was a judge on the New Mexico Second Judicial District Court…
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November 2020 breakdown of state legislative party membership—52.4% Republicans, 46.6% Democrats
According to Ballotpedia’s November partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators across the United States, 46.58% of all state legislators are Democrats and 52.39% are Republicans. Ballotpedia tallies the partisan balance of state legislatures at the end of every month. This refers to which political party holds the majority of seats in each chamber. Prior…
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Nevada voters reject ballot measure that would have increased legislative control over state board of regents
On November 3, Nevada voters chose not to adopt Nevada Question 1, a ballot measure that would have given the state legislature more control over the Nevada State Board of Regents. The Board of Regents is an elected executive agency that manages Nevada’s higher education system. According to the 2017 legislation that introduced the ballot…
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Virginia House of Delegates District 90 special election scheduled for Jan. 5, 2021
A new state legislative special election has been added to our list. The special election is for the District 90 seat in the Virginia House of Delegates on January 5, 2021. There is no primary, and the filing deadline is on December 7.
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Ballotpedia publishes special study on state supreme court partisanship
Ballotpedia recently published a study on state supreme courts entitled “Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship”. Among the findings, the study showed that there has been an increase in partisanship on the state courts over the past ten years and that there is a correlation between the partisanship of justices selected for state supreme courts and the…
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Chief justice confirmed to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
On November 18, 2020, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Kimberly Budd was confirmed as the chief justice of the court. Budd was nominated to the position by Gov. Charlie Baker (R) on October 28, 2020. She succeeded former Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants, who passed away on September 14, 2020. Budd may serve as the…
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Democrats gain veto-proof majority in New York State Senate
Democrats gained a veto-proof majority in the New York State Senate after enough remaining races were called over the weekend to bring them to a two-thirds majority in the chamber. Democrats already held a veto-proof majority in the state Assembly. In New York, two-thirds of members in both chambers must vote to override a veto,…