Category: State
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54.79% of all state legislators in the United States are Republican, 44.44% are Democratic
At the end of January 2024, 54.79% of all state legislators in the United States are Republican while 44.44% are Democratic. There are 7,386 state legislative seats in the country. Republicans held a majority in 56 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 39 chambers. Two chambers (Alaska House and Alaska Senate) were organized under…
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Fifty-nine Republican primaries are taking place in the Texas House of Representatives this year
There are 59 Republican primaries for Texas House of Representatives on March 5, 2024, 45 of which have an incumbent on the ballot. Texas’ 2024 legislative elections feature more contested primaries than any other year since at least 2012. The 2024 elections are taking place in the context of two votes in 2023 that divided…
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Oregon Supreme Court upholds secretary of state’s interpretation of Measure 113 excluding 10 senators from seeking re-election after their walkout last May
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that nine Republican state senators and one independent who participated in a legislative walkout in May 2023 could not seek re-election under Measure 113—a 2022 ballot initiative that makes legislators ineligible to be re-elected to a subsequent term if they accrue 10 or more unexcused absences. On May 3, 2023,…
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Governors in states with divided government vetoed the most election legislation in 2023
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed more election-related bills than any other governor in 2023 in terms of total bills and the percentage of election-related bills introduced in her state. Hobbs vetoed 21 bills, or 29% of all election-related bills introduced in the Arizona legislature last year. Arizona has a divided government, with Republicans controlling…
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South Carolina lawmakers advance unemployment insurance indexing bill
South Carolina lawmakers on January 25, 2024, advanced a bill out of committee proposing to index the length of unemployment insurance benefits to the state’s unemployment rate. House Bill 4710 would reduce the maximum number of benefit weeks to 12 when the unemployment rate is at or below 5.5%. The bill would cap the maximum…
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State agriculture commissioners join ESG pushback
Agriculture commissioners from 12 states sent a letter on January 29 to the heads of six banks, arguing that ESG efforts to promote net-zero carbon policies would hurt farmers and inflate consumer food prices. Ballotpedia tracks support for and opposition to the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing movement. To learn more about arguments…
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New RCV bans on the table, but bills supporting ranked-choice outnumber opposition legislation in 2024 sessions
Republican legislators have introduced new ranked-choice voting (RCV) prohibitions in five states so far this year. These efforts come after three states approved Republican-sponsored bans last year. The number of active bills supporting RCV continues to outnumber those banning or repealing its use. Of the 75 RCV bills currently active in state legislatures: Twenty-three of…
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Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas ballots have featured political party platform advisory questions in recent years
Ballotpedia has tracked nonbinding political party platform advisory questions in three states—Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas. Democratic and Republican parties have placed these questions on statewide ballots to gauge voters’ support for various policy proposals. All three states have open primaries, meaning that voters do not have to formally affiliate with a political party in…
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Five U.S. House seats are open in North Carolina this year—a decade high
This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in North Carolina was Dec. 15, 2023. Sixty-four candidates are running for North Carolina’s 14 U.S. House districts, including 15 Democrats and 49 Republicans. That’s 4.6 candidates per district, less than the 7.14 candidates per district in 2022, the first election after the number of congressional…
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Mississippi House passes constitutional amendment for new state initiative and referendum process that would prohibit initiatives related to abortion
The Mississippi House of Representatives passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would create a new state initiative and referendum process. On Jan. 24, the constitutional amendment, House Concurrent Resolution 11, was passed 80-39. Among House Republicans, 78 voted ‘Yes’ and one voted ‘No’. Among House Democrats, 38 voted ‘No’ and one voted ‘Yes’. The one…