Category: State

Robert Schuler Smith, the district attorney of Hinds County, Mississippi, told the Clarion Ledger that he would run in Mississippi’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. He was first elected as Hinds County district attorney in 2008. State Attorney General Jim Hood is also running in the Democratic primary. The filing deadline to run is Friday, March 1,…

Special elections were held for Districts 3, 5, and 6 of the Connecticut State Senate and Districts 39 and 99 of the Connecticut House of Representatives on February 26. All five seats were vacated by Democrats who joined Gov. Ned Lamont’s (D) administration.   In Senate District 6, Gennaro Bizzarro (R) defeated state Rep. Rick…

Appellate judges Brian Hagedorn and Lisa Neubauer have both released their first campaign ads in the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.   Hagedorn discussed the adoption of his daughter, Lily, who was born addicted to opioids. He has focused on the opioid crisis on the campaign trail, saying, “The heroin and meth epidemics are…

On February 25, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed SB 2451, a firearms-related bill. The New York State Legislature approved the bill along party lines in January. According to the New York State Senate website, SB 2451 “establishes extreme risk protection orders as a court-issued order of protection prohibiting a person from purchasing, possessing or attempting…

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) nominated Brett Busby on Friday to replace retired Justice Phil Johnson (R) on the Texas Supreme Court. Busby is Abbott’s second nominee to the nine-member court. His nomination is subject to confirmation by the Texas State Senate.   If confirmed, Busby will serve until 2020. He must run for election that…

Seven seats in the Louisiana House of Representatives were up for special election on February 23, 2019. In Louisiana, all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, face off in the same primary election. If one candidate receives a simple majority of the vote (more than 50 percent) in the primary election, he or she wins outright.…

Twenty-one state executive officials left office early in 2018, the third-highest number since Ballotpedia began tracking the figure in 2012.   They included one Democrat, 13 Republicans, and seven nonpartisan officials.   Nine resignations occurred for personal reasons, seven for political reasons, and two for professional reasons. Three officials did not specify their reasons for…

On February 20, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) endorsed Lieutenant Gov. Tate Reeves (R) to replace him as the state’s top executive. “If a governor and a lieutenant governor cannot work closely together if I cannot be loyal to him as well as he has been loyal to me — then we’re on the wrong…

On February 14, Gov. Tony Evers (D) called a special election for District 64 in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The primary is scheduled for April 2, and the general election is on April 30. The filing deadline for candidates to run is March 5.   The District 64 seat has been vacant since January 2019.…

The candidate filing deadline for the special election in District 11B of the Minnesota House of Representatives passed on February 19. Tim Burkhardt was the only Democratic candidate to file, but Michael Cummins, Ayrlahn Johnson, Traci LeBrun, Nathan Nelson, Carl Pederson, and Joe Wolf will face off in the Republican primary on March 5. The…