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Daily Brew: March 8, 2021
March 8, 2021
 Welcome to the Monday, March 8, Brew.Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
Women in Congress, governorships, and top judicial positionsToday is International Women's Day—so what better time to explore some data points about women in Congress, governorships, and prominent judicial positions. Below, we look at firsts, the total numbers of women who have served in each office, and the number of women currently in each office. Supreme Court
Data on the total numbers and partisan breakdown of female representatives came from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University.
The above data on female governors came from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. State supreme court chief justices
Previewing Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District special electionThree special elections have been scheduled to fill vacancies in the 117th Congress. Two of them take place in Louisiana on March 20. Early voting in both races began on Saturday (March 6) and ends on March 13. Today, we're diving into the 2nd District race. Check out tomorrow's Brew for a preview of the 5th District special election. Fifteen candidates—eight Democrats, four Republicans, two Independents, and one Libertarian—are running. President Joe Biden (D) appointed the previous incumbent, Cedric Richmond (D), to serve as a senior adviser to the president and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Richmond had represented the 2nd District since 2011 and won re-election in 2020 with 64% of the vote against five other candidates. The last Republican to represent the district was Anh "Joseph" Cao, who served from 2009 to 2011. Louisiana elections use a majority vote system in which all candidates compete in the same primary. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, they win outright. If no candidate does so, the top two vote recipients advance to a general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation. If necessary, a special runoff election will be held on April 24, 2021. Media attention has largely focused on Democrats Troy Carter, Karen Peterson, and Gary Chambers. Carter and Peterson currently serve as state senators. Chambers is an activist and publisher from Baton Rouge. Here are some key endorsements thus far:
The third congressional special election scheduled this year is in Texas' 6th District on May 1. That vacancy was created when Ronald Wright (R) died due to complications from COVID-19 on Feb. 7. Twenty-three candidates—11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, one Libertarian, and one independent—filed to run in that election by the March 3 deadline.  New Learning Journey: What is an Agency?Ballotpedia is excited to introduce our newest Learning Journey on government agencies. This Learning Journey guides you through the structure and function of administrative agencies and debates about agency dynamics. We also cover independent agencies and debates about agency design. After you sign up, we'll send you four emails, one on each day of the series. Sign up here! Five pillars are key to understanding the administrative state. We offer several Learning Journeys designed to help you understand each pillar and its relationship to the administrative state. Our "What is an Agency?" Learning Journey falls under the Agency Dynamics pillar. Here are all five:
Ballotpedia has 20 Learning Journeys on the administrative state and five on additional topics, including presidential primaries and news literacy.
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