Category: State

The office of attorney general exists in all 50 states. The attorney general is directly elected in 43 states, appointed by the governor in five states, appointed by the legislature in Maine, and by the state supreme court in Tennessee. Forty-five state constitutions explicitly establish the office of attorney general, while Connecticut, Indiana, Oregon, Vermont,…

On January 13, 2020, Gov. Jared Polis (D) appointed attorney Susan Perkins to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, succeeding Frances Koncilja. Polis had announced on Jan. 3 that he would not reappoint Koncilja when her term ended. The Pueblo Chieftain reported that according to Koncilja, Polis said that he was satisfied with her work but…

Thirteen state legislative special elections are taking place this January, including races for six seats in five states on Tuesday, January 14. This is the most state legislative special elections in January since Ballotpedia began comprehensively covering them in 2011. In 2019, by comparison, seven special elections were held in January. Twenty-seven special elections have…

Russell Toal, the newly appointed New Mexico Superintendent of Insurance, took office on January 1, 2020. Toal was appointed to fill the nonpartisan position following John Franchini’s retirement in December 2019. The insurance nominating committee appointed Toal unanimously from among eight candidates for the position. The committee chairwoman and former lieutenant governor of New Mexico,…

Legislators elected in Virginia’s 2019 elections were sworn into office on Wednesday, January 8. As a result, Democrats now have control of both chambers of the legislature and, alongside Gov. Ralph Northam (D), a Democratic state government trifecta. A state government trifecta is a term to describe when one political party controls both chambers of…

Secretary of state is an elected statewide executive office in 35 states, a governor-appointed position in nine states, and a legislature-appointed position in three states. Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah do not have secretaries of state. In 38 states, secretaries derive their power from original articles in their states’ constitutions. In 19 they derive their authority…

December’s partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators across the United States shows 52.1% of all state legislators are Republicans and 46.6% are Democrats, which is consistent with November. 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…

No initiative campaigns submitted signatures in Ohio on Friday’s deadline. In Ohio, initiated statutes begin as indirect initiatives, requiring 132,887 signatures in 2020 to go before the Ohio State Legislature. If enough signatures are submitted, the legislature has the option to approve an initiative without a vote of electors. If the state legislature does not…