Daily Brew: Five fast facts about the WV Supreme Court impeachments and resignations

August 17, 2018

PLUS, 10 state legislative incumbents lost their primary bids in the past week, and Ballotpedia Insights: Here’s the recording   Welcome to the Friday, August 17 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: West Virginia Supreme Court impeachments: What got us here? 10 state legislative incumbents lost their primary bids in the past week: Nine Democrats, one Republican Ballotpedia Insights: Missed my conversation with The Great Revolt authors? Here’s the recording West Virginia Supreme Court impeachments: What got us here? In case you haven’t heard, the entirety of the West Virginia State Supreme Court - five members - may be impeached and removed from office. But how did it come to that? Legislative audits of the West Virginia State Supreme Court were conducted in April, May, and June 2018. The April 2018 audit concluded Justices Allen Loughry and Menis Ketchum drove state vehicles for personal use without reporting it on their tax returns. The audit said Loughry drove state vehicles without documenting the use and questioned whether the use was for business purposes. There was also an investigation into an alleged misuse of state funds, specifically relating to $360,000 spent to renovate offices at the courthouse. The impeachment articles against the four remaining justices accused them of misusing more than $1,000,000 collectively in state funds. These audits triggered an impeachment investigation into all five members of the West Virginia Supreme Court, which the West Virginia House of Delegates authorized on June 26. The resolution noted the filing of a formal statement of charges and an indictment against Justice Allen Loughry, who was suspended from the court without pay. Impeachment hearings were held July 12-27. Justice Menis Ketchum submitted a resignation letter on July 11, which stated he would resign effective July 27. Justice Davis resigned on August 14, following an impeachment vote. The West Virginia House of Delegates voted to impeach Justices Allen Loughry, Margaret Workman, Robin Jean Davis, and Beth Walker on August 13. For the remaining three justices, impeachment proceedings will advance to the West Virginia State Senate, where a two-thirds majority vote is required to convict and remove the justices from office. Here's a full overview of the situation         State legislative primary updates: 109 state legislative incumbents have been defeated; 10 in the past week Update: There have been 109 incumbents defeated in state legislative primaries in 2018. From 2010 to 2016, an average of 140 incumbents were defeated in state legislative primaries. When looking only at the states that have held primaries so far this year, an average of 97 incumbents were defeated from 2010 to 2016. In those same states, 109 incumbents were defeated in 2018 primaries. Of these 109 incumbents, 51 Democratic incumbents lost. Therefore, 85.7 percent of all Democratic incumbents who participated in a primary won. Fifty-eight Republican incumbents were defeated. Therefore, 86.4 percent of all GOP incumbents who participated in a primary won. State legislative primaries were held on August 14 in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Hawaii held its primaries over the weekend on August 11. In Connecticut, Vermont, and Wisconsin, two Democratic state house members lost each. In Minnesota, one Republican state house member lost. In Hawaii, one Democratic state senator and two Democratic state house members lost. Learn more→ Ballotpedia Insights: A conversation with the authors of The Great Revolt I had the privilege of speaking with Salena Zito and Brad Todd on Wednesday about their recent book, The Great Revolt. This was the first event in our new public Q&A series, Ballotpedia Insights. We discussed what they found in their extensive research on Trump voters and what that could mean for 2018 and beyond.  Let me know what you thought of the discussion. Additionally, Ballotpedia will be hosting a public book club on The Great Revolt on August 23. Hope to see you there! Sign up for our book club here→