Category: State

On November 19, Pennsylvania state Sen. John Yudichak announced he had changed his registration from Democratic to Independent. He also said that he would begin caucusing with the chamber’s Republicans majority. Yudichak was first elected to represent District 14 in 2010. He won re-election unopposed at both the primary and general levels in 2014 and…

A new state legislative special election has been added to our list. The special election is for the District 38 seat in the Kentucky State Senate on January 14, 2020. There is no primary, and the filing deadline is on November 26, 2019.

Supporters of the effort to recall Michigan state Rep. Larry Inman (R) have until November 22 to submit 12,201 signatures to force a recall election. The recall effort was submitted to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers on July 19, 2019, and it was approved on August 1.   According to the petition language, recall…

On Nov. 13, the Illinois Senate voted 45-9 to approve SB1784, a bill that would make a series of changes to the state’s existing public-sector labor relations laws. The House approved the bill 93-23 on Oct. 29. The bill now goes to Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), who has not indicated whether he plans to sign…

Louisiana held a general election for 33 state government offices on November 16, 2019. The top-two finishers in the October 12 primary advanced to the general election if no candidate received a majority of votes. In Louisiana, all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, face off in the primary election. This year, 160 state seats were…

On November 15, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady died of a heart attack.   Cady was the chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court from 2011 to 2019. He was appointed to the court as an associate justice in 1998 by Governor Terry Branstad (R). Cady previously served on the Iowa Court of…

A new state legislative special election has been added to our list. The special election is for the District 28 seat in the California State Senate on May 12, 2020. The primary is on March 3, and the filing deadline is on January 9.

Three states—Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi—held elections for governor, secretary of state, and attorney general in 2019. These three offices make up a state government triplex, which exists when one party controls all three offices.   Heading into 2019, all three states were under divided triplexes, meaning both parties controlled at least one position in each…

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) in August signed legislation that subjects any new agency rule carrying criminal penalties to automatic legislative review.   Legislative bodies often delegate authority to administrative agencies to implement the law by issuing regulations, some of which carry criminal penalties. Research from the American Bar Association found that federal agencies…

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) won re-election Saturday. He received 51.3% of the vote to businessman Eddie Rispone’s (R) 48.7%.   Edwards is the only Democratic governor in the Deep South. He was elected to his first term in 2015. He campaigned on what he considered accomplishments of his administration, including Medicaid expansion, the…