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The State and Local Tap: Denver mayoral runoff headlines Tuesday’s elections

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June 1, 2019Issue No. 162

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Week in review
On tap next week

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Here's what happened in State and local politics last week.

State Politics: The Week in Review

Ballot Measures Update

2019:

  • Fifteen statewide measures are certified for the 2019 ballot so far in Colorado, Kansas, Texas, and Washington.
  • Four of the 26 states with a process for citizen-initiated measures allow for ballot initiatives or veto referendums on ballots for elections in any odd-numbered years: Colorado, Maine, Ohio, and Washington.
    • Other states that frequently feature statewide measures referred to the ballot by the legislature in odd-numbered years include Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.
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2020:

Sunday, May 26

Acting Texas Secretary of State David Whitley (R) resigns

  • Acting Texas Secretary of State David Whitley (R) resigned just before the end of the Texas legislative session. Whitley was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on December 17, 2018, but needed to receive confirmation from two-thirds of the state Senate—21 out of 31 senators—to continue serving in a permanent capacity through 2021.
  • Whitley was supported by all 19 Republicans in the Senate, but all 12 Democrats announced their opposition to his confirmation earlier this year.
  • Whitley thanked Abbott in his resignation letter, writing, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve Texas. Working alongside the employees in the secretary of state's office, county election officials, and representatives of our #1 trading partner, Mexico, has been my distinct honor and privilege.
  • The secretary of state in Texas is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate, and Abbott will nominate Whitley’s replacement. The office of secretary of state exists in 47 states and is directly elected in 35 of them. Texas is one of nine states where the governor appoints the secretary of state; in three states, he or she is appointed by the state legislature. In 37 states, the secretary of state is the chief elections officer with ultimate oversight over state elections and voter registration.

Wednesday, May 29

Republican Governors Association group makes media buy supporting Gov. Bevin (R) in Kentucky

  • Putting Kentucky First, a group affiliated with the Republican Governors Association, made a $314,000 media buy for television ads supporting Gov. Matt Bevin (R). Bevin and state Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) are competing in Kentucky’s gubernatorial election on November 5.
  • Bevin became the Republican nominee by defeating state Rep. Robert Goforth, Ike Lawrence, and Robert Woods. Bevin carried the counties outside of eastern Kentucky, with his largest margins of victory coming in the western and northern parts of the state. Goforth won most of the counties in eastern Kentucky, with his biggest victories coming in Clay and Jackson counties. For a full map of the results, click here.
  • Beshear defeated state House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins, former state Auditor Adam Edelen, and engineer Geoff Young in the May 21 primary for the Democratic nomination. Beshear won most of the counties in the western part of the state and those closest to Cincinnati. Adkins received the most votes in the eastern counties in the state, and Edelen won two counties—Breckinridge and Meade. For a full map of the results in the Democratic primary, click here.

Thursday, May 30

Lawsuit challenges Mississippi’s gubernatorial election procedures

  • Four Mississippi voters filed a lawsuit in federal court over the state’s constitutional requirement that a gubernatorial candidate must win a majority of the vote statewide and a majority of the state's 122 state House districts to win the governorship outright. If both of these requirements are not satisfied, the Mississippi House of Representatives—where Republicans currently hold a 74-45 majority—selects the winner.
  • The lawsuit, which was supported by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, alleges that requiring a candidate to win a majority of state house districts and a majority of the statewide vote discriminates against black Mississippians. The four voters who filed the lawsuit are black. As of 2019, black voters were a majority in 42 of Mississippi's 122 state House districts, and the state's population was 38% black.
  • State House Speaker Philip Gunn (R), who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment. Rep. Bill Denny (R), the chairman of the House Elections Committee, said there had never before been a serious effort to change the method for electing Mississippi's statewide officials and that he was comfortable with the existing system.
  • The provision came into play in three elections in the 1990s. No candidate who won the most votes in a statewide election had been prevented from taking office by the constitutional provision.
    • In the 1991 lieutenant gubernatorial race, no candidate received 50% of the statewide vote, but incumbent Brad Dye (D) conceded the race to top vote-getter Eddie Briggs (R) before the state House voted.
    • Neither major-party candidate won a majority of state house districts in the 1995 lieutenant governor’s race, but Briggs conceded the election to Ronnie Musgrove (D), who won a majority of the statewide vote.
    • In the 1999 gubernatorial race, Musgrove won a plurality of the statewide vote, and he and opponent Mike Parker (R) each won 61 state House districts. The Democratic-controlled state House elected Musgrove as governor by an 86 to 36 vote.
  • Mississippi’s gubernatorial election is on November 5 and Democratic and Republican primaries take place on August 6. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in either primary, a runoff will be held on August 27.

Special Elections

  • As of this week, 58 state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 23 states in 2019. Elections have been held for 26 Democratic seats and 17 Republican seats. Four seats have flipped from Democratic control to Republican control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to Democratic control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to an independent officeholder.
    • In special elections between 2011 and 2018, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats across the country each year.
    • An average of 91 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past four odd years (2011: 94, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98).
    • An average of 55 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010: 26, 2012: 45, 2014: 40, 2016: 65, 2018: 99).

Upcoming special elections include:

June 4

June 11

June 18

Local Politics: The Week in Review

Elections Update

WHAT'S ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Here's what is happening in State and local politics this week.

State Politics: What's On Tap Next Week

Tuesday, June 4

New Jersey holds state House primaries

  • New Jersey will hold statewide primary elections for all 80 seats in the state Assembly. The New Jersey General Assembly is composed of 40 multi-member districts, with two representatives from each district. In Democratic and Republican primaries, the top two candidates from each party advance to the general election, and the top two vote recipients in the general election are elected as representatives. Members of the state Senate will not face voters until 2021.
  • Seventy-six of 80 Assembly incumbents are running for re-election, meaning 5% of seats are open. This is the lowest percentage of open seats in Assembly elections this decade. During this span, the percentage of open seats ranged from 6.3% in 2013 to 22.5% in 2011.
  • A total of 181 candidates are on the ballot—98 Democrats and 83 Republicans. There are 18 contested primaries—14 Democratic and four Republican—where more than two candidates are running for their party's nomination.
  • No New Jersey state Assembly incumbents were defeated in primaries from 2011 to 2017; Seven incumbents lost Assembly general elections during this period.
  • The New Jersey General Assembly currently has 54 Democrats and 26 Republicans. It is one of 14 Democratic trifectas, as Democrats also control the state Senate and the governor’s office.

States in session

Seventeen states—Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin—are in regular session. Four states—Delaware, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia—are in recess. Alaska and Virginia are in special session. Six states—Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Vermont—adjourned last week. Twenty-eight states total have adjourned their 2019 legislative sessions.

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Local Politics: What's On Tap Next Week

Tuesday, June 4

Denver mayoral runoff features incumbent Michael Hancock against Jamie Giellis

  • The runoff election for mayor of Denver takes place between two-term incumbent Michael Hancock and urban development consultant Jamie Giellis. Hancock and Giellis received 38.7% and 24.9% of the vote, respectively, in the May 7 general election. Because no candidate received a majority, the two advanced to a runoff.
  • Housing and development have emerged as major issues in the mayoral campaign. Hancock supports policies which he says will allow Denver to continue its growth in the decades to come. Giellis, on the other hand, supports increasing local residents' control over the pace of neighborhood development.
  • Hancock served on the city council for seven years before winning election as mayor in 2011. He received 80.2% of the vote in his 2015 re-election campaign.
    • Hancock has been endorsed by Hillary Clinton (D), former mayors Wellington Webb and Bill Vidal, presidential candidates John Hickenlooper (D), Michael Bennet (D), and Pete Buttigieg (D), and The Denver Post.
  • Giellis has served on the board of the International Downtown Association and is a former president of Denver's River North Art District. She says that her master's in public administration and experience with urban design make her more qualified to oversee development in Denver.
    • She has been endorsed by former Gov. Dick Lamm (D), city council member Rafael Espinoza, and third- and fourth-place mayoral candidates Lisa Calderón and Penfield Tate. Giellis, Calderón, and Tate received a combined 58.1% of the general election vote.
  • Although the election is officially nonpartisan, both Hancock and Giellis are members of the Democratic Party. The city of Denver uses a strong mayor-council system, in which the mayor serves as the city's chief executive with broad powers including proposing a budget, signing legislation, and appointing departmental directors. Mayors are elected to four-year terms and limited to three consecutive terms.


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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

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