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Daily Brew: March 11, 2019

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March 11, 2019

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Today's Brew highlights tomorrow’s runoff mayoral election in Phoenix + a constitutional amendment will go before voters in 2020 in Utah about gender-neutral language  
The Daily Brew

Welcome to the Monday, March 11 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. Two former city council members face off in Phoenix mayoral runoff
  2. Utah legislature approves constitutional amendment removing gendered language; measure to appear on 2020 ballot
  3. Did you know? Five facts about the office of secretary of state

Two former city council members face off in Phoenix mayoral runoff

You may not know this, but the North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District election isn’t the only race from 2018 that hasn’t been decided. There’s a runoff election tomorrow which concludes last year’s mayoral race in Phoenix.

Former Phoenix City Council members Kate Gallego and Daniel Valenzuela are running in the mayoral election. Former Mayor Greg Stanton resigned the office to run for Congress last year. Gallego and Valenzuela were the top two vote-getters in a special election held on November 6, 2018, as neither candidate surpassed the 50 percent threshold to win the office outright. Gallego received 44 percent to Valenzuela's 26 percent in a field of four candidates.

While the election is nonpartisan, both candidates are Democrats who have similar voting records on the Phoenix City Council. They have primarily diverged on spending issues, such as financing the arena used by the Phoenix Suns. Valenzuela supported a tax on rental cars and hotel rooms to support the project, saying it would promote tourism. Gallego said the professional sports industry should pay for its own facilities and that the public funds would better be spent elsewhere.

Gallego’ says her top three priorities would be public safety, infrastructure investments, and job growth. She said she has experience and a proven track record on infrastructure issues, pointing to her work on the campaign to pass Proposition 104, a measure seeking to fund $31.5 billion of infrastructure spending over the next 35 years through a transportation sales tax increase.

Valenzuela said his policy priorities include attracting, retaining, and developing talent, and motivating technology and high-growth companies to remain in Phoenix. He said that he brought an increased focus on public safety to the City Council, including helping to secure $50 million in grants for public safety issues and developing the Canyon Corridor Crime Safety Initiative.

If elected, Valenzuela would be the city's first Latino mayor. Gallego would be the first woman elected to the office in more than three decades.

Two special elections for the District 5 and District 8 seats on the Phoenix City Council—the seats Gallego and Valenzuela resigned to run for mayor—are also on the ballot tomorrow. Arizona is one of five states, along with Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, and Texas, that has resign-to-run laws.

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Utah legislature approves constitutional amendment removing gendered language; measure to appear on 2020 ballot

The Utah State Legislature voted last week to send the Gender-Neutral Constitutional Language Amendment to the ballot for the election on November 3, 2020.

The amendment was designed to remove gender-specific language in the state constitution and replace it with gender-neutral language. For example, it would make the following changes, among others:

  • "all men" to "all persons,"
  • "he" to "the person,"
  • "him" to "the accused," and
  • "himself" to "himself or herself."

The amendment was introduced in January by Republican state Senator Deidre Henderson and was approved without objection by both the House and Senate. Two Senators and 12 members of the House were absent or did not vote.

From 1996 through 2018, the Utah state legislature referred 42 constitutional amendments to the ballot. Voters approved 38 of them and rejected four. All of the amendments were referred to the ballot for general elections during even-numbered election years.

As of 2013, about half of states have changed their state laws or constitutions toward more gender-neutral language, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

As of today, 10 statewide ballot measures had been certified for the 2020 ballot in eight states.

Did you know? Five facts about the office of secretary of state

In 47 states, the secretary of state is a top-level state executive office with responsibilities related to official record-keeping. However, the role and duties of the position vary from state to state.

Here are five things you may not know about the office of secretary of state:

  • Three states—Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah—do not have a secretary of state. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the office is referred to as "secretary of the commonwealth," but has the same role.
     
  • Currently, there are 24 Republican secretaries of state and 21 Democratic secretaries. North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger was elected as an independent. Oregon's office is currently vacant following the death of Dennis Richardson (R). Gov. Kate Brown (D) is tasked with appointing his successor, who must legally be a member of the Republican Party.
     
  • The office is directly elected in 35 states and appointed in 12. The governor appoints the secretary of state in nine of those states, while the state legislature appoints the position in the other three.
     
  • No two states give the office the exact same responsibilities. The secretary of state is the chief elections officer in 37 states and is responsible for reviewing ballot measures in 23 states. Other common roles and duties include business registration, maintenance of official records, and certification of official documents.
     
  • Three states are holding elections for the office in 2019. Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) is prevented by term limits from seeking re-election, leaving her seat open. Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann (R) is running for lieutenant governor rather than seeking re-election. Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin (R), who took office partway through an existing term in 2018, has not yet announced whether he will run for a full term this year.


See also

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