On April 13, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that a special election for District 4 of the Georgia State Senate will take place on June 9. A runoff, if necessary, will be held on August 11. Candidates wishing to run in the election had until April 15 to file for election. Scott Bohlke…
Florida state representative Kristin Jacobs (D) died on April 11, 2020. She was first elected to represent District 96 in the Florida House of Representatives in 2014, and won re-election in 2016 and 2018. Jacobs underwent cancer treatment during the 2020 legislative session. Her death was unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to joining the…
Gov. Phil Scott (D) appointed Kelley Tully to the Windham-3 District seat in the Vermont House of Representatives last week. Tully assumed office on April 11. The seat was vacated when Matt Trieber, who had served in the legislature for nine years, resigned in February to focus on his job as a youth counselor. Tully…
Attorney Vernetta Alston, a Democratic candidate running to represent District 29 in the North Carolina House of Representatives, has been appointed to the seat. Gov. Roy Cooper (D) appointed Alston on April 13 following the death of late representative MaryAnn Black in March. Alston is an attorney who also served on the Durham City Council…
Longtime Republican Sen. Ernie Harris retired from the Kentucky State Senate on April 15, the final day of the Kentucky General Assembly’s legislative session. Harris represented District 26 in the chamber for 25 years. He first assumed office in 1995. At the time of his retirement, Harris served as the chair of the state senate’s…
Initiative 65 and Alternative 65A, two versions of a medical marijuana amendment, will appear on the ballot in Mississippi on November 3, 2020. Initiative 65 was sponsored by the Medical Marijuana 2020 campaign and put on the ballot through a citizen initiative signature petition. The state legislature voted in March 2020 to refer Alternative 65 to the ballot alongside Initiative 65…
On April 14, 2020, the Kentucky Legislature approved a constitutional amendment that would add to the Kentucky Constitution specific rights for crime victims, together known as Marsy’s Law, for the November ballot. The specific rights include: to be treated with fairness and due consideration for the victim’s safety, dignity, and privacy; to be notified about…
On April 15, 2020, Delores McQuinn (D), a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, announced she had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. McQuinn represents District 70. McQuinn said her daughter, with whom she shares a house, first tested positive for the virus. Later, McQuinn and her husband came…