Daily Brew: January 11, 2019

January 11, 2019

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Today’s Brew previews 2019 state executive races + Georgia House special election runoff   Welcome to the Friday, January 11 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Preview of 2019’s state executive races in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi Two Republicans advance to a runoff in Georgia House special election Florida Supreme Court rules that judiciary cannot determine education funding under a 1998 ballot measure Previewing 2019's state executive races The first filing deadline for a 2019 gubernatorial election is just weeks away (we see you, Kentucky). What better time than now to provide a preview of the three states where voters will elect a governor this year. Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi are the only states holding regularly-scheduled elections for state executive positions in 2019. All three states will vote for governor and lieutenant governor, along with attorney general, secretary of state, agriculture commissioner, and treasurer offices. Other state executive positions up for election include auditor in Kentucky and Mississippi, insurance commissioner in Louisiana and Mississippi, and public service commissioner in Mississippi. In total, 23 executive positions are on the ballot. There were 303 state executive seats up for election across 43 states in 2018. Two of the sitting governors, Matt Bevin (R) in Kentucky and John Bel Edwards (D) in Louisiana, are completing their first terms. Bevin announced in August 2018 that he plans to run for re-election. Edwards is seeking a second term. In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant (R) was first elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2015. He is ineligible to run for re-election due to term limits. Kentucky and Mississippi are currently Republican trifectas. Louisiana is a divided government - both chambers of the legislature have Republican majorities. Following the 2018 election, there are 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors across the United States. There were 36 governorships on the ballot in 2018, and there are another 11 up for election in 2020. Of the 14 governor's offices up for election across 2019 and 2020, nine are currently held by Republicans. Only one of those 14 elections have received a toss-up rating from Sabato's Crystal Ball, however, and that is the Montana seat currently held by term-limited Gov. Steve Bullock (D) and up for election in 2020. The Cook Political Report did not identify any of the races as a toss-up; they rated the Montana race as Leans Democratic as of January 9, 2019. The 2019 state executive filing deadlines are January 29 in Kentucky, March 1 in Mississippi, and August 8 in Louisiana. The primaries are on May 21 in Kentucky, August 6 in Mississippi, and October 12 in Louisiana. Mississippi will hold primary runoffs on August 27 if no primary candidate receives a simple majority of the vote. General elections will occur on November 5 in Kentucky and Mississippi and November 16 in Louisiana. Learn more For our next meeting, we are reading Blindspot, in which the authors explore the idea that we carry unconscious biases with us as we move through life. At Ballotpedia, we are firmly committed to neutrality in our content and have many systems in place to avoid inserting bias in our articles. Our January book club meeting will be a lively discussion on engaging more with our hidden biases and continuing to improve our processes for ensuring neutrality. Learn more→ Georgia House special election advances to February runoff between two Republicans On January 8, Jesse Vaughn (R) and Matt Barton (R) defeated four other candidates in a special general election for the District 5 seat in the Georgia House of Representatives. Vaughn and Barton advanced to a special runoff election scheduled for February 5, 2019. According to the unofficial results, Barton surpassed the third-place finisher, J. Scott Tidwell (R), by a margin of 76 votes out of 3,522 total votes cast. The seat was previously held by John D. Meadows III (R), who passed away on November 12, 2018. Meadows was first elected to the office in 2004. He won his last re-election bid on November 6, 2018, with more than 81 percent of the vote against challenger Brian Rosser (D). Rosser was also the only Democratic candidate to file in the special election to replace Meadows, and he finished in fifth place with less than 5 percent of the vote. Meadows ran unopposed in the 2018 Republican primary and won re-election unopposed in 2014 and 2016. He had served as the chair of the chamber's Rules Committee. Entering the special election, the Georgia House of Representatives had 64 Democrats, 112 Republicans, and four vacancies. Another special election is scheduled for February 12 for the District 176 seat, which was previously held by Jason Shaw (R). A majority in the chamber requires 91 seats. Georgia is one of 22  Republican trifectas. A state government trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and both state legislative chambers. Learn more→ Florida Supreme Court dismisses decade-old lawsuit claiming the state's education system violated Amendment 6 (1998) On January 4, 2019, the Florida Supreme Court, in a 4-to-3 vote, ruled that the judicial branch lacks the power and competence to determine how much public school funding is needed to provide students with uniform and high-quality education. Citizens for Strong Schools brought the case before the Supreme Court, arguing that the state was in violation of a ballot measure, titled Amendment 6, passed in 1998. Amendment 6 required the state to “make adequate provision for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high-quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high-quality education.” The 1998 Florida Constitution Revision Commission referred Amendment 6 to the ballot. Chief Justice Charles Canady, who concurred with the majority’s opinion, said, “There is no reason to believe that the judiciary is competent to make these complex and difficult policy choices. And there is every reason to believe that arrogating such policy choices to the judiciary would do great violence to the separation of powers established in our Constitution.” Justice Barbara Pariente wrote the dissenting opinion, which said, “The majority of this Court eviscerates Article IX, Section 1, of the Florida Constitution, contrary to the clear intent of the voters, and abdicates its responsibility to interpret this critical provision and construe the terms ‘uniform,’ ‘efficient,’ and ‘high quality,’ enshrined in that provision.” The majority’s four justices were appointed by Republican governors, while the three dissenting justices were appointed by former Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles. On January 9, 2019, the three dissenting justices were required to resign due to the state’s mandatory retirement age of 70. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will select justices to fill the vacancies from a list provided by a commission. Learn more→