Daily Brew: October 22, 2018

October 22, 2018

Plus: Twenty-two states have statewide elections for both governor and U.S. Senate in 2018   Welcome to the Monday, October 22 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Utah state spotlight Washington, D.C. spotlight Twenty-two states have statewide elections for both governor and U.S. Senate in 2018 Utah: Life Elevated Utah is holding elections for one U.S. Senate seat, four U.S. House seats, seven seats on the state Board of Education, one seat on the state Supreme Court, one seat on the state appellate court, 15 of 29 state senate seats, and all 75 state house seats. Seven statewide ballot measures are on the ballot. Ballotpedia is also covering school board elections in six public school districts. What is the partisan balance in the state? Congress: Republicans hold both U.S. Senate seats and all four U.S. House seats. Governor: Republican. Lt. Governor: Republican. Attorney General: Republican. State Senate: 24-5 Republican majority. State House: 61-13 Republican majority with one vacancy. Race to watch Utah’s 4th Congressional District: Incumbent Mia Love (R), who was first elected in 2014, faces Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams (D). Love last won re-election in 2016 by a margin of 13 percentage points. That year, Donald Trump (R) carried the district by a margin of 7 percentage points. Two election forecasters rate the race “Leans Republican” and a third rates it a toss-up. What you need to know if you’re a Utah voter Early voting dates: October 23 to November 2. Polls open/close: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voter ID: At the polling place, a Utah voter can either present a form of identification that bears his or her name and photograph or two forms of identification that bear his or her name and address. Bookmark your sample ballot. Learn more         Washington, D.C.: Taxation without Representation The District of Columbia is holding elections for one nonvoting U.S. House seat, one Shadow U.S. Senate seat, one Shadow U.S. House seat, mayor, attorney general, chairman of the council, six council seats, and four seats on the board of education. What is the partisan balance in the District? Congress: Democrats hold the nonvoting U.S. House seat, the Shadow U.S. Senate seat, and the Shadow U.S. House seat. Mayor: Democrat. Attorney General: Democrat. Chairman of the Council: Democrat Council: 11-0 Democratic majority. Races to Watch Municipal elections: Seven of the 11 seats on the city council are up for election: the chairman’s seat, two of the four at-large seats, and the seats representing Wards 1, 2, 5, and 6. Also on the ballot is the district attorney general election as well as the nonvoting and shadow seats in the U.S. House and the shadow seat in the U.S. Senate. State Board of Education: The four seats representing Wards 1, 3, 5, and 6 are up for election out of nine total seats. Incumbents in Wards 3 and 6 are running for re-election while the Ward 1 and 5 seats are open. A December 2018 special election will also be held for the Ward 4 seat. What you need to know if you’re a Washington, D.C. voter Early voting dates: October 26 to November 2. Polls open/close: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voter ID: Not required. Bookmark your sample ballot. Learn more→ Twenty-two states have statewide elections for both governor and U.S. Senate in 2018 Last week, our editor-in-chief and I were broadly discussing how voter turnout might change this year with some of these high-intensity gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races. Then we started talking about the states that had both of these races! We thought these figures were fun, so we wanted to share them with you. There are twenty-two states holding elections for both governor and U.S. Senate in 2018. In 11 of those 22 states, the gubernatorial election is an open-seat race, primarily due to term limits. Only two of these states feature open-seat races for the U.S. Senate (Arizona and Tennessee). The incumbent governor and senator in six of these states are both Republicans, while in seven of them, both are Democrats. Nine states are holding gubernatorial and senate elections with incumbents from opposite parties. In all nine cases, the incumbent governor is Republican while the incumbent U.S. Senator is a Democrat. These are: Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Learn more→ How many people across the country are studying up on their candidates and ballot measures? So many that averaged out over the last 30 days, Ballotpedia has more traffic than Domino’s Pizza. - - -  I'll be staying up late on November 6. Anyone else? Click here to instantly join Ballotpedia's election night email list and receive election results and post-game analysis of the 2018 midterms.