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April 23, 2016Issue No. 13

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The week in review: April 16 - April 22
What's on Tap next week: April 23 - April 29

Navigate The Tap by clicking the tabs below:

Federal

What's on tap?

A number of celebrity voters in California unintentionally registered as members of the American Independent Party, a conservative third party in California that focuses on states rights and limited government. According to a report, they were all confused by the word "independent" in the party's name. Sugar Ray Leonard, Demi Moore, and Emma Stone were among those who registered with the party in error, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In election news, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump won in New York on Tuesday.

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  • Donald Trump won the New York Republican primary with 60 percent of the vote. John Kasich and Ted Cruz came in second and third place, respectively. Because Trump received a majority of the statewide vote, he received all 14 at-large delegates (including the three automatic RNC delegates). Also, because he won majorities in most of the state's congressional districts, he received nearly all of New York's 81 district-level delegates. His delegate haul from the Empire State brought him within 390 delegates of the 1,237 needed to secure the Republican nomination. Trump’s only loss of the evening came in his own backyard, Manhattan, where Kasich edged him out 45.2 to 41.8 percent. Kasich walked away from the primary with at least three delegates. Cruz received zero.

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Federal

The Week in Review

Monday, April 18

  • The Supreme Court called for the views of the solicitor general (CVSG) in Howell v. Howell, a case under consideration for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Arizona. The case concerns a split among state supreme courts as to whether those portions of military retirement pay that have been waived in favor of disability benefits can be excluded as divisible assets in divorce proceedings under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA). The court requests a CVSG when the United States is not a party to a case but the court wants the views of the U.S. government known in advance of either a case being granted certiorari and/or a scheduled oral argument.
  • Donald Trump's national field director, Stuart Jolly, resigned his position on April 18, 2016, after the campaign hired Rick Wiley to be the national political director. According to CNN, "Jolly was a longtime loyalist to Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and Jolly's departure shrinks the circle of loyal aides Lewandowski has around him as Paul Manafort, Trump's recent hire to manage the convention strategy, gains more clout in the Trump campaign." Jolly stated, "I left. I wasn't pushed, I wasn't shoved, I wasn't asked to leave."
    • Jolly’s resignation came after a weekend meeting led by Trump’s convention manager, Paul Manafort. According to Politico, Trump authorized a $20 million spending increase for May and June and then "told senior staffers at a Saturday meeting that he wants his recent hires Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley to take the reins in upcoming states." The report went on to say, "The moves are increasingly alienating staff loyal to the original team, headed by campaign manager Corey Lewandowski." According to CBS News, Lewnadowski had been "reduced to a role that amounts to body man and scheduler."
  • Bernie Sanders called for a nationwide end to fracking in an op-ed in USA Today. “If we are serious about safe and clean drinking water and clean air, if we are serious about protecting the health of our children and families, and if we are serious about combating climate change, we need to phase out fracking nationwide,” wrote Sanders.
  • Ted Cruz said that he had "zero interest whatsoever" in being Donald Trump’s running mate. He said the “simplest” reason for his disinterest was that if Trump won the Republican nomination, Hillary Clinton would win the general election.
  • White House press secretary Josh Earnest indicated that President Barack Obama will likely veto the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act if it reaches his desk. Earnest said, “Given the long list of concerns I have expressed … it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which the president would sign the bill as it's currently drafted. … It could put the United States and our taxpayers and our service members and our diplomats at significant risk if other countries were to adopt a similar law. The whole notion of sovereign immunity is at stake.” The legislation would allow victims of terrorist attacks to sue governments that sponsor terrorism. The specific purpose of the bill is to “allow Americans to sue the government of Saudi Arabia for any role officials played in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks,” according to The Hill. In response, Saudi officials said that “they would sell off $750 billion in U.S. assets if the bill became law.” Earnest said, “A country with a modern and large economy like Saudi Arabia would not benefit from a destabilized global financial market, and neither would the United States.”
    • President Obama has issued nine vetoes during his presidency. For a complete list of his vetoes, see: Barack Obama: Vetoed legislation
    • The bill, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), has bipartisan support with 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats co-sponsoring the bill, as well as independent Senator Bernie Sanders (Vt.). However, Senate Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) have expressed concern that the bill “could expose the U.S. to legal attacks” and could harm U.S.-Saudi relations. Graham, who is a co-sponsor of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, placed a hold on the bill. He said, “I want to take this legislation that we pass, whatever it is, and apply it to ourselves and see if we could withstand this legislation. … I don’t want our country to be liable because of somebody in our consulate or embassy who has their own agenda, a rogue employee, an employee of the United States but they have their own agenda, they do something with some group somewhere. I want to make sure that the defense would be, ‘they didn’t act under (U.S.) authority.’”
  • Senate Democrats sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran asking for the Senate Appropriations Committee to mark up the $1.9 billion supplemental funding request for the prevention and treatment of the mosquito-born Zika virus outbreak that researchers have confirmed causes severe birth defects. The $1.9 billion emergency request is being blocked by Republicans who “say the request is too broad and should instead go through Congress’ standard process for spending money,” according to The Dallas Morning News.

Tuesday, April 19

  • According to the Center for Public Integrity, Hillary Clinton spent $3.62 per vote in New York. Bernie Sanders won votes at the higher cost of $9.03 per vote. In contrast, Donald Trump spent only 13 cents per vote.
  • On Tuesday, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe," “I hate Ted Cruz, and I think I’ll take cyanide if he ever got the nomination. Now, having said that, I think you’re going to see Donald Trump scoring a big victory tonight. I have not endorsed Donald Trump. In fact, I actually voted by absentee ballot for John Kasich.” He added, “I think he’s [Kasich] a real possibility, but I also — the likelihood is Donald Trump is going to get the nomination. I want Donald Trump to know that if he wants the support of Republicans, he’s gotta get more substance. He’s gotta really learn what he’s talking about and can’t just be talking off the top of his head and making reckless charges.”
  • On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases: United States v. Bryant and Universal Health Services v. Escobar. It is a federal crime to commit a domestic assault in the U.S. or on Indian land if a person has two separate prior convictions for domestic violence. In Bryant, the court considered whether uncounseled misdemeanor convictions in a tribal court count toward this predicate-offense element. In Escobar, the court addressed a circuit split between the First Circuit and Seventh Circuit courts over the interpretation and application of the “implied certification theory of legal falsity” under the False Claims Act.
  • Chief Justice John Roberts swore in a dozen members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bar Association as new members of the Supreme Court bar, which permits lawyers to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court. In what is believed to be a first from the bench, Chief Justice Roberts communicated “Your motion is granted” using American Sign Language to authorize the new members’ admission.
  • The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a reconsideration in district court of a transgender student’s Title IX claim and petition for injunctive relief against a school district policy prohibiting the student from using the school’s restroom that correlates with the student’s gender identity. Writing for the 4th Circuit in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board, Judge Henry Floyd found that the district court both failed to defer to the appropriate U.S. Department of Education regulations in dismissing the student’s Title IX claim and used the incorrect standard in denying the student’s petition for injunctive relief. The case was remanded to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
  • Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the U.S. will send 217 new troops, “more high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, to support the Iraqi ground offensive to retake Mosul,” and “a $415 million package of financial assistance to the Peshmerga in response to a request from the Kurdistan regional government for economic assistance,” as part of the next phase in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In a speech delivered from Baghdad, Carter said, “First we’re going to place additional advisers with the Iraqi security forces, now down to brigade and battalion headquarters levels. Second, we're going to make available attack helicopters in support of the [Iraqi forces] and ongoing efforts to envelop and then retake Mosul. It's an important capability.”
  • UnitedHealth Group Inc. announced that it “will drop out of government-organized health insurance markets in at least 16 states,” according to Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hemsley said that the decision is due to the company’s losses from participating in Obamacare. Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, commented on the current instability in the healthcare markets, saying, “It’s going to take a while for these markets to settle out and stabilize. Some carriers are going to see this as an opportunity and potentially go after business in these areas.” The company is expected to pull out of most of the 34 state-based health insurance exchanges where it is currently operating. The company said it lost $450 million in 2015 and expects to lose $650 million in 2016 in its exchange business. Other insurers on the exchanges have also been losing money because, according to a study by Blue Cross Blue Shield, those who have signed up are higher-risk patients with existing conditions who consume more expensive healthcare. Experts and pundits have mixed opinions about the effect of the company pulling out of the healthcare exchanges.
  • In a speech celebrating the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell “called for a ‘course correction’ for conservation that includes inspiring all Americans from all backgrounds to connect with public lands; implementing smart, landscape-level planning to support healthy ecosystems and sustainable development; and greater investments in national parks and public lands to prepare for the next century of conservation.” Her full remarks can be seen here.
  • In a 95-3 vote, the Senate passed HR 636, which authorizes “appropriations for the Federal Aviation Administration for fiscal years 2016 through 2017.”
  • The House passed the following bills aimed at preventing the Internal Revenue Service from targeting citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights, and requiring the IRS to provide printed copies of the tax code to those who request it.
    • H.R.4903 - To prohibit the use of funds by the Internal Revenue Service to target citizens of the United States for exercising any right guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It was agreed to by a voice vote on the House floor.
    • H.Res.673 - Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Internal Revenue Service should provide printed copies of Internal Revenue Service Publication 17 to taxpayers in the United States free of charge. It was agreed to by a voice vote on the House floor.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Michigan congressional filing deadline
    • There is no U.S. Senate election in Michigan in 2016.
    • There are 14 U.S. House seats in Michigan. Currently, nine are held by Republicans and five are held by Democrats.
    • Two incumbents are not seeking re-election in Michigan: Republicans Dan Benishek (MI-1) and Candice Miller (MI-10). Of the 12 incumbents seeking re-election, only three will face a primary challenger.
    • Michigan has one district currently rated as a battleground (MI-1) and one district rated as a race to watch (MI-7). We rate all other seats as safe for the party that currently holds the seat.

Wednesday, April 20

  • In an internal memo leaked to the media, Donald Trump’s campaign predicted he would secure the nomination on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention with 1,400 delegates. In addition to emphasizing talking points against the Republican delegate selection process, the memo provided commentary about Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. It noted that her “email scandal is going to loom large over the next several months. If anyone else had done what she had done, they would already be in prison.”
  • The Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, affirmed the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Bank Markazi v. Peterson. The court held that 22 U.S.C. §8772—a provision of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 that makes assets of the Central Bank of Iran (Bank Markazi) available for satisfying post-judgment damages to victims of terrorist actions by Iran—did not violate constitutional principles of separation of powers.
  • In an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Molina-Martinez v. United States. The Fifth Circuit used a rule where, if a criminal defendant was sentenced under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines by a district court that applied the wrong guidelines range but still sentenced within the correct range, that defendant, on appeal, had to identify additional evidence to show that the use of the incorrect range influenced the sentencing decision. The Supreme Court struck this “additional evidence” rule used in the Fifth Circuit.
  • Eight Democratic Party leaders—including the party chairs in Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi—sent a letter to Bernie Sanders critiquing his portrayal of the South. The letter read, in part, "over the course of this Democratic primary, you and your surrogates have sought to minimize Secretary Hillary Clinton’s victories throughout the South as a symptom of a region that, as you put it, ‘distorts reality.’ You argue that the South is ‘the most conservative part’ of America; implying states that traditionally vote Republican in a general election are not worth contesting in a Democratic primary."
  • Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that the portrait of Harriet Tubman will appear on the front of the new $20 bill. The White House and President Andrew Jackson will appear on the back of the bill. He also announced that the $10 bill will “feature an image of the historic march for suffrage that ended on the steps of the Treasury Department and honor the leaders of the suffrage movement—Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul.” President Alexander Hamilton will remain on the front of the bill. In addition, the back of the $5 will “honor events at the Lincoln Memorial that helped to shape our history and our democracy and prominent individuals involved in those events, including Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr.”
  • President Obama met with Saudi Arabia's King Salman to discuss relations between their countries, according to Reuters. In a statement, the White House said, "The two leaders reaffirmed the historic friendship and deep strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia. … More broadly, the president and King discussed the challenges posed by Iran’s provocative activities in the region, agreeing on the importance of an inclusive approach to de-escalating regional conflicts.” The White House did not say whether the leaders discussed the controversy over the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.

Thursday, April 21

  • The RNC’s Standing Committee on Rules rejected a proposal to recommend a controversial change to the rules that will govern the Republican National Convention in July. Solomon Yue, a Standing Committee member from Oregon, proposed using Robert’s Rules to govern all the convention’s proceedings, a change that Yue stated would provide more transparency and give more control to the delegates. Some observers suggested that this change could make it difficult to nominate outside candidates (beyond candidates like Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich) in the case of an open convention. The rules of the House of Representatives have traditionally governed convention proceedings, which give significant control over the convention floor to the convention chairman—a position usually held by the speaker of the House. Had the Standing Committee approved the change, it would only have been a recommendation. For it to be implemented, the convention’s Rules Committee would first have to approve it, and then a majority of the delegates attending the convention would have to sign off.
  • The family of CIA contractor Glen Doherty, who was killed in the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, will receive $400,000 because the CIA expanded its survivor benefits policy. Under the 1941 Defense Base Act, overseas employees and contractors are required to have life and disability insurance, but the old CIA policy only paid spouses and dependents of an individual killed in the line of duty. The new policy will pay family members if the contractor is single, as Doherty was. According to Fox News, “The CIA policy change is retroactive to April 18, 1983, the date a suicide attacker crashed a truck into the front of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans, some of whom were CIA officers.”
  • The House passed the following bills aimed at regulating the Internal Revenue Service's hiring practices and banning bonuses until a comprehensive customer service strategy is implemented.
    • HR 3724 - the Ensuring Integrity in the IRS Workforce Act of 2016 “amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from rehiring any individual who was previously employed by the IRS but was removed for misconduct or whose employment was terminated for cause.” It passed by a vote of 345-78.
    • HR 4890 “prohibits the Department of the Treasury from paying a bonus, award, or similar cash payment to any Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee until Treasury develops and submits to Congress a comprehensive customer service strategy that has been reviewed and approved by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.” It passed by a vote of 260-158.
  • Rep. Gwen Graham (D) announced that she would not be seeking re-election to Florida’s 2nd Congressional District in 2016. Graham is the 40th U.S. House incumbent to announce that she is not seeking re-election. Florida’s 2nd Congressional District race is expected to flip to Republican control in 2016 due to redistricting. In 2014, 41 House incumbents did not seek re-election. The incumbent retirement rate over the past four election cycles is 8.8 percent.
  • Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler (R) sent Governor Robert Bentley (R) an Order to Appear notice demanding that the governor testify under oath before Ziegler and produce documents related to allegations that Bentley misused state funds in order to conduct an illicit affair. The requested documents include flight logs, expenditure reports, and phone records. Ziegler cited section 36-16-2 of the Alabama Code, which empowers the auditor to "require information on oath" from anyone who uses "touches" accounts that are under the auditor's purview. Bentley responded that he does not intend to comply with the order, stating that Ziegler already pursued the "appropriate legal process" when he filed a complaint against Bentley through the Alabama Ethics Commission. Click here to read more about the allegations against Governor Bentley

Friday, April 22

  • Secretary of State John Kerry signed the Paris agreement on climate change at the United Nations. The United States was one of 175 countries that signed the agreement, a non-binding treaty approved in December 2015. The agreement’s long-term goal is to keep any increase in the average global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the year 2100. Each country that signed the agreement pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by adopting an emissions target determined by that country’s government.

 

Congress is IN session SCOTUS is IN session
The U.S. Senate will be in session Monday-Friday next week. The U.S. House will be in session Tuesday-Friday. The U.S. Supreme Court is in session and will hear the last scheduled oral arguments of this term from Monday through Wednesday.

What’s On Tap Next Week

Monday, April 25

Tuesday, April 26

  • Five states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania) are holding presidential primary elections for the Democratic and Republican parties on April 26. Collectively, the April 26 primaries—also known as "Northeastern Super Tuesday"—will be one of the biggest nights of the presidential nominating process since the primaries and caucuses of March 15, 2016. On the Democratic side on April 26, an estimated 384 pledged delegates are up for grabs. On the Republican side, an estimated 118 pledged delegates are at stake. For the Democrats, April 26 marks the fourth-biggest day of the presidential nominating process in terms of the number of delegates up for grabs. For Republicans, it marks the sixth-biggest day. Once the results of the April 26 contests have been tallied, three-quarters of the Democratic and Republican pledged delegates will have been allocated.
  • The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases on Tuesday. The first, Mathis v. United States, considers standards of qualifying elements governing prior predicate convictions under the Armed Career Criminal Act. The case comes on certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. In the second case, Dietz v. Bouldin, the court will review a Ninth Circuit opinion in considering whether a judge may recall jurors for service in the same case once that same judge has discharged the jury and those same jurors have left the judge’s presence.
  • Two states (Maryland and Pennsylvania) are holding congressional primary elections.
    • Maryland
      • The Democratic primary for Maryland’s U.S. Senate seat is a primary to watch. The seat is open following incumbent Barbara Mikulski’s decision to retire. Ten candidates will compete for the Democratic nomination, including U.S. Reps. Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen. Van Hollen has a strong lead over Edwards in fundraising, but both candidates have amassed a number of big endorsements. Maryland’s Senate race is safely Democratic, meaning that the winner of the primary is a strong favorite to win the general in November.
      • Maryland’s 4th and 8th congressional district Democratic primaries are also considered primary races to watch in 2016. The seats will be left open due to the fact that both incumbents (Edwards and Van Hollen) are seeking election to the U.S. Senate seat. As with the Senate race, both seats are safely Democratic in the general. Thus, the primary will effectively determine the next representative. Maryland’s 8th Democratic primary is the most expensive primary in the country, with total contributions from all candidates upwards of $16 million as of the FEC’s pre-primary reports. The bulk of this money comes from candidate David Trone, who has self-funded over $10 million to his campaign, making him the largest self-funding U.S. House candidate in history.
      • Incumbent Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-2) is the only candidate who will not face a primary opponent.
    • Pennsylvania
      • The Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat is a primary to watch. Four candidates—former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection Kathleen McGinty, and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman—will compete for the chance to take on incumbent Pat Toomey (R) in the general election. Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race is considered a battleground in 2016. Sestak and McGinty are the front-runners in the race. McGinty has received a number of big endorsements, including President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. She also has the financial backing of the DSCC. However, polls show a close race between McGinty and Sestak.
      • Pennsylvania’s 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary race is considered a primary to watch. Incumbent Chaka Fattah was indicted in 2015 on charges of bribery, money laundering, and bank and mail fraud, among other charges. He faces three challengers: State Rep. Dwight Evans, Lower Merion Township Commissioner Brian Gordon, and attorney Dan Muroff. Evans is the front-runner among the challengers, and he has substantially outraised the incumbent heading into the primary. The number of challengers in the race helps Fattah’s chances of holding onto the seat as they are all competing for the voters who are not supporting the incumbent.
      • Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District race is considered a battleground in 2016. Incumbent Michael Fitzpatrick (R) is not seeking re-election, leaving the seat open. Marc Duome, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Andy Warren will compete for the Republican nomination, while Shaughnessy Naughton and Steve Santarsiero will compete in the Democratic primary.
      • In the House, 26 of the 36 possible major-party primaries (72 percent) will not be contested. Only four of the 16 incumbents seeking re-election will face a primary challenger.

Wednesday, April 27

  • The Supreme Court will hear the final scheduled oral argument for this term on Wednesday in McDonnell v. United States. The court will consider whether “official action” is limited to the actual exercise, the threatened exercise, pressure on others to exercise governmental power, or some combination of the three for the purposes of prosecution under federal bribery and fraud statutes and, if “official action” is not limited in this manner, whether the statutes under review are unconstitutional. The case comes on writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. The petitioner in this case is former Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell. The court heard 69 oral arguments this term.

 

Where was the president last week? Federal judiciary
President Barack Obama was in Washington, D.C., on Monday. On Tuesday, the president led a U.S. delegation to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The president arrived on Wednesday and held a meeting with King Salman Bin Abdulaziz-Al Saud at Erga Palace. On Thursday, the president met with six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries before departing Saudi Arabia. The president stopped in Germany and the United Kingdom en route back to the United States later in the week.  
  • 85 total federal judicial vacancies including one Supreme Court vacancy
  • 52 pending nominations
  • 13 future vacancies

Back to top for State, Local, and fact checks updates

State and Local

What's on tap?

A new CBS News poll released on 4/20 (known by some as National Weed Day) shows that the legalization of marijuana has found budding support from the general public. Currently, 56 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana, which represents a shift from five years ago, when a slight majority of Americans were opposed to legalization. Ballotpedia is tracking marijuana-related ballot measures, which are shaping up to be a focal point for state ballots across the country.

 

Highlights

State

  • Last Tuesday, four state legislative special elections were held in New York for three vacant seats in the state Assembly and for one vacant seat in the state Senate. The New York State Senate has been included in Ballotpedia’s 20 battleground chambers to watch in 2016.
  • In Senate District 9, the special election to replace former Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos was still too close to call as The Tap went to press. According to unofficial results, Todd Kaminsky (D) leads Christopher McGrath (R) by 780 votes with more than 2,900 absentee ballots still left to be counted. Kaminsky has declared victory, but McGrath believes that he has a chance to win when the remaining ballots are counted. It is unknown when the results will be certified and the winner declared. Until the vacancy left by Skelos is filled, the partisan balance stands at 31 Democrats and 31 Republicans.
  • Three other special elections were held in New York. Find more information in the Special Election section below.

Local

  • Ballotpedia has named Baltimore’s District 1 city council race as an “election to watch” due to the unusual amounts of money raised by multiple candidates in a closely contested Democratic primary. Although Baltimore's last Republican city council member left office in 1942, the Maryland Republican Party executive director claimed that the November general election race for the District 1 seat will be competitive. He said, "Whoever our nominee is, we plan on introducing them to the big donors around the state. We have very few competitive races this year. This is one of them, and the party will put effort into it." Learn more below, for Tuesday, April 26.
 

State

The Week in Review

Tuesday, April 19

  • Filing Deadline: Michigan
    • Michigan is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta.
    • State legislatures: Ballotpedia has identified the Michigan House as one of 20 battleground chambers in the 2016 legislative elections. Republicans hold a 16-seat majority in the House. Both the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and Republican State Leadership Committee have stated that there will be a focus on the chamber. All 110 state House seats are up for election in 2016.
    • State judiciary: Michigan’s filing deadline for non-incumbent state court of appeals candidates. Michigan selects state court judges through nonpartisan elections. Unlike state supreme court justices, state appeals court judges must run in a primary election. Six seats across four districts are up for election in 2016. All but one seat is uncontested.
  • Illinois lawmakers won’t get paid for several months, according to state Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger. Those paychecks, amounting to about $1.6 million a month, will get processed but not distributed because of the ongoing budget crisis in the state. Munder said it is not fair to pay lawmakers while many nonprofits and small businesses who provide services to the state are not getting paid. According to the Chicago Tribune, there is “a delay of at least two months on most invoices at the comptroller's office as the state is racking up bills without enough money to cover the costs.” The state is running a $6 billion deficit, and Governor Bruce Rauner has been locked in a battle over the budget with the Illinois General Assembly for over 10 months. The 177 legislators in the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate earn $67,836 a year for serving in a part-time job. The delay in getting paid will apply to other statewide officials as well, including the comptroller herself.
  • The Mississippi State Legislature passed a bill that would create a statewide school district for the takeover of failing schools and districts. Schools that receive an F on the state evaluation for two consecutive years would be taken over by the state, as would entire districts that receive an F for two out of three years. The district would be overseen by a new superintendent, which the state Board of Education would be tasked with hiring. To return to local control, schools and districts would need to receive at least a C rating for five consecutive years. It is unclear whether Governor Phil Bryant (R) is expected to sign the bill. If he does, Mississippi would join five other states with statewide takeover districts: Louisiana, Tennessee, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin.
  • The Alaska Voter Registration Amendment was moved from the original August 16 election day to November 8, 2016. There must be a 120-day period in between the end of a legislative session and the election in which a measure will appear. Because the Alaska Legislature extended its session beyond April 19, 2016, the 120-day rule took effect, moving the date to November.

Wednesday, April 20

  • Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) announced criminal charges against three public employees related to water contamination in Flint. Two officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality were indicted on felony charges that include evidence tampering and misconduct in office; Flint’s water quality supervisor was also charged with evidence tampering and willful neglect of duty. The three officials could face up to four years in prison. Schuette began an investigation into the water crisis in January 2016; the probe will continue and is expected to result in more indictments. The charges are the first criminal charges against government officials in the Flint drinking water crisis during which lead from aging pipes contaminated the city’s water supply, making the water unsafe for consumption. With Gov. Rick Snyder (R) limited to two terms, Schuette is expected to run for governor in 2018.
  • In Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, the United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Arizona's state legislative district map. The plaintiffs claimed that the commission placed a disproportionately large number of non-minority voters in districts dominated by Republicans; meanwhile, the commission allegedly placed smaller numbers of minority voters in Democratic districts. As a result, there were greater numbers of voters placed in districts favoring Republicans than in those favoring Democrats, thereby diluting the votes of citizens in the Republican-dominated districts. The defendants countered that the population deviations resulted from legally defensible efforts to comply with the Voting Rights Act and obtain approval from the United States Department of Justice. The court ruled unanimously that the plaintiffs had failed to prove that a partisan gerrymander had taken place. Instead, the court found that the commission had acted in good faith to comply with the Voting Rights Act. Also, the court reaffirmed that minor population deviations between state legislative districts (up to 10 percent) are sometimes permissible, provided that the deviations arise from "legitimate considerations." Associate Justice Stephen Breyer penned the majority opinion, in which all other members of the court joined.
  • Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant has announced a $25 million cut, about 0.43 percent, from the state’s current fiscal year budget. Bryant claims the revenue for the year fell $122.5 million short of expectations and also plans to pull $10 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund. Education programs, while previously exempt from budget cuts, will also be subject to the half-percent funding cut. This is the second round of cuts Bryant has made on the 2016 budget; state laws mandate that lawmakers must pass a balanced budget. Earlier this week, the legislature also approved $415 million in tax cuts to be enacted over the next 12 years. Mississippi is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta.
  • Amidst an ongoing deadlock between Governor Rick Scott and Florida’s chief financial officer, Jeff Atwater, Florida Commissioner of Insurance Regulation Kevin McCarty announced that he would postpone his resignation. McCarty originally announced that he would resign effective May 2, 2016. He announced that he would now remain in office until 45 days after his successor had been nominated in order to facilitate a smooth transition during Florida’s hurricane season. At the time of his announcement, no successor had been selected, guaranteeing that he will remain in office into at least June of this year.

Thursday, April 21

  • The Mississippi State Legislature adjourned its regular session. Since the state held a gubernatorial election in 2015, the regular session was extended to 125 calendar days. In a normal year, the legislature is limited to 90 days. Mississippi is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta. Republicans control the governor’s office, the House by 27 seats with one vacancy, and the Senate by 12 seats.

Friday, April 22

 

What’s On Tap Next Week

Saturday, April 23

Monday, April 25

  • The General Assembly of North Carolina will convene its regular session. The legislature is projected to adjourn on July 30. North Carolina is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta. Republicans control the governor’s office, the House by 29 seats, and the Senate by 18 seats with two vacancies. Earlier this year, the legislature held two special sessions. One special session was used to redraw congressional district maps, and the other was to overrule a local LGBT bathroom ordinance. The ordinance would have prevented businesses from discriminating against LGBT customers. It also included a provision that would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. During the special session, the Senate and House passed House Bill 2, which overrules the local ordinance and prevents local governments from setting up their own anti-discrimination rules.

Tuesday, April 26

  • Primary elections: Pennsylvania
    • Pennsylvania is the only state holding statewide primaries on April 26. The state is one of 20 under divided government; Governor Tom Wolf is a Democrat, while the legislature is controlled by Republicans.
    • State executives: Three seats are up for election in 2016: attorney general, treasurer, and auditor. Incumbent Attorney General Kathleen Kane (D) will not run for a second term due to legal challenges to her ability to hold office. Kane's law license was suspended in October 2015 pending her criminal trial. Three candidates will compete for the Democratic nomination while two will compete in the Republican primary. Major party candidates in the races for treasurer and auditor are unopposed in their parties' primaries and will automatically advance to the general election.
    • State legislatures: Just 11 percent of legislative districts have primary competition. Of the incumbents running for re-election, 86.6 percent will advance past the primary without opposition. The national average since 2010 has been 77.5 percent of incumbents with primary opponents. Twenty-five state Senate and 203 state House seats are up for election.
    • State ballot measures: Voters will decide Amendment 2, which was designed to officially abolish the Philadelphia Traffic Court and remove reference of it from the Pennsylvania Constitution. The court’s duties and authority were transferred to the Philadelphia Municipal Court in 2013. Another amendment designed to increase the mandatory retirement age of judges from 70 to 75 was initially put on the April election ballot. Because of concerns regarding the clarity of the ballot language and voter turnout, state legislators postponed the judicial retirement amendment until the November election. Voters, however, could still see the question on their primary ballots as Amendment 1. Any votes cast on the amendment will be disregarded.

Friday, April 29

  • The Iowa General Assembly is projected to adjourn its regular session. Lawmakers are not required by law to adjourn by a certain day, but the per diem in even-numbered years only lasts for the first 100 days of a regular session. Per diem expenses ran out for legislators on April 20. Iowa is one of 20 states under divided government. Republicans currently control the governor’s office and the House by 14 seats. Democrats control the Senate by two seats. Both chambers have been included in Ballotpedia’s 20 battleground chambers to watch in 2016.

 

State government in session

Twenty-one states are in regular session; California is in special session. AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IA, IL, LA, MA, MI, MN, MO, NJ, OH, OK, SC, VT. Convening this week:

  • NC session begins on 4/25/2016

Five states are in recess:

  • RI until 4/26/2016
  • KS until 4/27/2016
  • NH until 4/28/2016
  • PA until 5/2/2016
  • NY until 5/3/2016

Adjourned regular sessions:

  • FL, GA, ID, IN, KY, MD, ME, MS, NE, NM, OR, SD, TN, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV, WY.

All states whose initials appear in red or blue in the above list have unified Republican or Democratic Party control across the state house, the state senate, and the office of the governor. Ballotpedia identifies these as “trifectas.” There are seven Democratic and 23 Republican trifectas.

State government special elections

As of this week, 29 seats have been filled through legislative special elections in 2016. Six involved party changes: four from Republican to Democratic (Oklahoma, SD 34; Massachusetts, HD Twelfth Essex; Kentucky, HD 62; and New Hampshire, HD Rockingham 21), and two from Democratic to Republican (Texas, HD 118; and Minnesota, HD 50B). Another 14 (not including runoff elections) have been scheduled in 18 states. An average of 37 special elections were held in each of the past three even years (2010, 2012, and 2014).

This week

Next week

Local

The Week in Review

Monday, April 18

  • In California, both Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia (D) signed the Transform California pledge “to oppose any efforts to single out transgender or gender non-conforming Californians for discrimination or disrespect.” Transform California is a new organization formed via a partnership between Equality California and the Transgender Law Center. On April 15, 2016, the Los Angeles City Council held a unanimous vote to halt all business with Mississippi and North Carolina in response to laws they claim are discriminatory toward LGBT citizens. Los Angeles and Long Beach are the second-largest and the 36th-largest cities in the United States, respectively.
    • According to American City & County magazine, “over 20 cities, three counties and four states have banned official travel either to North Carolina or both North Carolina and Mississippi,” including New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for 22 school board seats across eight of New York’s largest school districts. The general election for these districts will be on May 17, 2016. In 2016, Ballotpedia is covering 642 school board elections across America's 1,000 largest school districts by student enrollment.

Tuesday, April 19

  • New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced his support for an audit of the city’s board of elections after voting irregularities plagued the city’s primary elections on Tuesday. In a statement, de Blasio said, “The perception that numerous voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed.” Board of Elections Executive Director Michael Ryan claimed that the issues were “relatively routine for any election.” A spokesperson for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign referred to New York’s election management as a “shameful demonstration.”
  • Three of the largest school districts by enrollment in New Jersey held general elections for three seats each. Edison Township, Newark, and Passaic are among the few remaining school districts in the state to still hold spring elections. This was the first election following the return of local control to Newark Public Schools, which had a state-appointed administrator from 1995 to 2016. Twelve candidates ran for the three open seats in the state’s largest district. The seats were won by newcomers Leah Owens, Tave Padilla, and Deborah Kim Thompson-Gaddy. Another 14 of New Jersey’s largest school districts will hold their general elections on November 8, 2016.
  • One local measure was approved in California’s Monterey County. The measure rezoned the site of the American Tin Cannery in order to allow it to be used for a hotel development project with the working title "Project Bella." The initiative was circulated by the potential site developers, Domaine Hospitality Partners, who also supplied the $40,000 necessary to hold the election.

Wednesday, April 20

  • In Arizona, the Phoenix City Council used an emergency clause to unanimously place new zoning regulations on the location of new medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. Phoenix currently has approximately 30 licensed dispensaries in the city and is expected to double that number this summer. The regulations will go into effect immediately if they are signed by Mayor Greg Stanton (D). Phoenix is the largest city in Arizona and the sixth-largest city in the United States.

 

What’s On Tap Next Week

Tuesday, April 26

  • The mayor’s office and all 15 seats on the Baltimore City Council in Maryland will be up for primary election. The mayoral race became a contentious battle after Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) announced she would not seek re-election, with 13 Democrats and five Republicans campaigning in the primary. Baltimore's last Republican mayor was elected in 1963, indicating that the winner of the Democratic primary will be the heavy favorite to win the general election on November 8, 2016.
    • Recent polling indicates that State Sen. Catherine Pugh holds a slight edge in the Democratic primary for mayor, followed by former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, who served from 2007 to her resignation in 2010 as part of a plea agreement following a misdemeanor conviction on one count of fraudulent misappropriation.
    • On April 18, 2016, the Baltimore City Council approved a set of measures to reduce the power of the mayor related to control over city spending. Although Rawlings-Blake is expected to veto the bill, Governing magazine stated that the council will likely override her veto.
    • Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and the 26th-largest city in the United States.
  • Nine of the largest school districts by enrollment in Maryland will hold school board primary elections. This includes the state’s two largest school districts, Montgomery County Public Schools and Prince George's County Public Schools. The general election for these districts will be on November 8, 2016. In 2016, Ballotpedia is covering 642 school board elections across America's 1,000 largest school districts by student enrollment.
  • Maryland is holding primary elections for 17 county circuit court judgeships across Allegany, Anne Arundel, Garrett, Prince George's, and Washington counties, as well as in the city of Baltimore. Another nine judgeships up for election will not appear on the primary ballot, since the incumbents are running unopposed for re-election in Baltimore, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, and Talbot counties. In Maryland, local judicial candidates run in partisan primary elections where each candidate files for both the Democratic and Republican primaries. In the general election, however, candidates run with no party affiliation listed on the ballot. The general election for these judgeships will be on November 8, 2016. In 2016, Ballotpedia is covering local judicial elections in 39 states across the United States.

Wednesday, April 27

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for eight school board seats across four of New York’s largest school districts. The general election for these districts will be on May 17, 2016.

 

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