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The Tap: Presidential primary season draws to a close

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June 4, 2016Issue No. 19

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The week in review: May 28 - June 3
What's on Tap next week: June 4 - June 10

Navigate The Tap by clicking the tabs below:

Federal

What's on tap?

The state-by-state grind of the 2016 presidential nominating season will come to a (near) halt on June 7, as six states hold primary elections or caucuses for the Democratic and Republican parties. For the Republicans, the June 7 primaries mark the last events of the nominating cycle until the national convention begins on July 18. For the Democrats, only one contest remains after June 7: Washington, D.C., which will hold a Democratic primary on June 14. The Democratic National Convention begins on July 25. The six states holding a primary or caucus on June 7 are California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota (Democrats only), and South Dakota.

 

Federal

The Week in Review

Sunday, May 29

  • Former Republican governors Gary Johnson (N.M.) and William Weld (Mass.) were selected as the Libertarian presidential and vice presidential nominees at the Libertarian National Convention in Orlando, Florida. “There are Republican voters who are going to feel cheated by the fact that their presidential nomination has been taken by a reality show star, and there are Democratic voters who are going to feel cheated when that corporate shill boxes out Senator Sanders at the convention in that rigged process. When those people feel cheated, we present an option for them,” said Nicholas Sarwark, the Libertarian Party’s national chairman.
  • In an interview that aired on CNN, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) discussed his experience campaigning, including the regrets he had about insulting Donald Trump for having “small hands” and being labeled as “robotic” for repeating the same phrase several times during a single debate. When asked for his opinion on Trump reviving “scandals” from the 1990s, Rubio said, “This is who Donald is. This is how he does things. And at this point, I don't think he should change if he's been successful. I may not like that direction, but, at this point, he won and this is the direction that he won on.”

Monday, May 30

  • During a Memorial Day speech from Arlington National Cemetery, President Barack Obama honored America’s fallen military heroes and their families, calling them “the best of us.” Obama said, “The Americans who rest here, and their families -- the best of us, those from whom we asked everything -- ask of us today only one thing in return: that we remember them. … Those who rest beneath this silence -- not only here at Arlington, but at veterans’ cemeteries across our country and around the world, and all who still remain missing -- they didn’t speak the loudest about their patriotism. They let their actions do that. Whether they stood up in times of war, signed up in times of peace, or were called up by a draft board, they embodied the best of America.”
    • According to CNN, “Nearly 10,000 U.S. service members are stationed in Afghanistan, and the U.S. will maintain a presence there into 2017.” In addition, there are “more than 4,000 American troops in Iraq and Syria participating in the anti-ISIS effort in many of the same cities and towns where American lives were lost in the Iraq War.”

Tuesday, May 31

  • A federal judge released documents from the case against Trump University. Documents include depositions from Trump executives and documents related to Trump University programs. The documents reveal the aggressive strategies Trump University employees used to persuade prospective students to purchase instructional programs and the strategies that they used to deal with members of the media. In his order, Judge Gonzalo Curiel noted that the documents were unsealed in part because Trump has “placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue.” The order came after Trump criticized Curiel, calling him a “hater.”
  • Donald Trump announced that he gave $5.6 million to veterans groups, making good on a pledge he made in January. The announcement came after The Washington Post pressed Trump to reveal who received the money he raised during a campaign event, along with his personal donation of $1 million. Trump criticized the media for the inquiry, saying, "I have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job.”
  • Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, sent an email to supporters addressing the ongoing investigations into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. Podesta’s email, in part, read, “What she thought would be a convenient way to communicate with family, friends and colleagues – by using one email account for both her work related and personal emails – has turned out to be anything but convenient. If she could go back, she’d do it differently. Had Secretary Clinton known of any concerns about her email setup at the time, she would have taken steps to address them. She believed she was following the practices of other secretaries and senior officials.”
  • California Governor Jerry Brown endorsed Clinton. In a post on his website, he wrote, “On Tuesday, June 7, I have decided to cast my vote for Hillary Clinton because I believe this is the only path forward to win the presidency and stop the dangerous candidacy of Donald Trump.” He explained that although he is “deeply impressed with how well Bernie Sanders has done,” Clinton “knows how to get things done.” He called for party unity, writing, “This is no time for Democrats to keep fighting each other. The general election has already begun. Hillary Clinton, with her long experience, especially as Secretary of State, has a firm grasp of the issues and will be prepared to lead our country on day one. Next January, I want to be sure that it is Hillary Clinton who takes the oath of office, not Donald Trump.”
  • Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, is reportedly recruiting David French to run an independent bid to challenge Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. According to Bloomberg, “French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the website of National Review, where French is a staff writer, he is a constitutional lawyer, a recipient of the Bronze Star, and an author of several books who lives in Columbia, Tenn., with his wife Nancy and three children.” In a recent issue of the Weekly Standard, Kristol wrote, “To say that he [French] would be a better and a more responsible president than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is to state a truth that would become self-evident as more Americans got to know him.”
  • A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee investigation into an inspector general’s report on the healthcare provided at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tomah, Wisconsin, “found the inspector general’s office, which is charged with independently investigating VA complaints, discounted key evidence and witness testimony, needlessly narrowed its inquiry and has no standard for determining wrongdoing.” Despite finding that two medical providers at the facility had been prescribing patients “alarming levels of narcotics,” the inspector general chose not to release the report in order to avoid publicly addressing the issue. According to USA Today, failure to release the report contributed to at least one death. Jason Simcakoski, a 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran, died from “mixed drug toxicity” five months after the report concluded. One of the physicians named in the report, David Houlihan, added “another opiate to the 14 drugs” Simcakoski was already prescribed days before the veteran’s death.
    • Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said, "The reasons the problems were allowed to fester for so many years is because in the inspector general's office, for whatever reason, for years, the inspector general lacked the independence and had lost the sense of what its true mission was, which is being the transparent watchdog of VA system.”
  • The Supreme Court agreed to hear State Farm v. U.S. ex rel. Rigsby next term. Section 3730(b) of the civil False Claims Act (FCA) permits a private person to bring a civil complaint for alleged violations of section 3729 of the FCA, provided that the complaint meets filing requirements, including a requirement that the complaint be under seal for at least 60 days. In State Farm, the court will address a circuit court split over the appropriate standard to dismiss an FCA complaint when this 60 day seal requirement is violated.
  • The Supreme Court called for the views of the Solicitor General (CVSG) in Endrew F. v. Douglas County (Colorado) School District, a case under consideration for a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The case concerns the level of educational benefit that school districts must confer on children with disabilities to provide them with the free appropriate public education guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The Supreme 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.
  • Political activist and former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselić tweeted that he gave the maximum contribution to Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson. Speaking of the campaign, he told Reason, “this election is like Nirvana in 1991. The Johnson/Weld ticket can capture imaginations to bolt to the top.”
  • Politico reported that top aides to Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire Republican megadonor, were in talks with national political consultants about starting a super PAC supporting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. According to the report, Adelson’s aides met with “former Republican Governors Association executive directors Nick Ayers and Phil Cox, former Rand Paul campaign manager Chip Englander, and former Mitch McConnell chief of staff Josh Holmes.”
  • Michael Biundo, a New Hampshire political strategist who most recently worked with the presidential campaigns of both John Kasich and Rand Paul, signed on as a general campaign consultant for former New Hampshire State Rep. Jim Lawrence (R), who is running for a seat in the U.S. House. Biundo told WMUR, “Jim Lawrence will run a professional campaign, building a district-wide grassroots organization to take his message directly to voters in the media, online, at town hall meetings, and in door-to-door conversations. He will paint a clear contrast with Annie Kuster.”
  • UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest insurer, announced that it would continue offering individual health plans on Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges in just three states in 2017, out of the 36 where it had been selling ACA plans. The company announced in April that it would be leaving the majority of ACA exchanges, but did not reveal in how many states or which ones it would continue to maintain a presence. It has now disclosed that it will continue to offer plans on exchanges in Nevada, New York, and Virginia, while a subsidiary will maintain a limited presence on exchanges in Georgia, Illinois, and Florida. The company cited expected losses of nearly $1 billion as the reason for its ACA departures.
  • Two of the agencies responsible for regulating offshore drilling released an environmental assessment ruling that fracking off the coast of California poses no significant environmental effects. This ruling lifted a moratorium on fracking off the coast of Santa Barbara that was put into place following a legal settlement between the Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in January 2016. The Center for Biological Diversity had filed the lawsuit challenging the DOI's policy of "rubber-stamping of fracking permits."

Wednesday, June 1

  • Judge Jose Antonio Fuste of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico retired from service. No nominee has been named to succeed Judge Fuste on the court.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Alaska congressional filing deadline
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Lisa Murkowski (R) is up for election in 2016. Murkowski is seeking re-election and will face four primary challengers in August. Three Democrats are also running in the race. The seat is rated safely Republican in the general election.
    • There is a single At-Large Congressional District in Alaska. The seat is currently held by Don Young (R). Young is seeking re-election to his 22nd term in 2016. He will face three Republican challengers. Three Democrats are also running in the race. The seat is rated safely Republican in the general election.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Kansas congressional filing deadline
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Jerry Moran (R) is up for election in 2016. Moran will face D.J. Smith in the Republican primary. Two Democrats are also running in the race. The seat is rated safely Republican.
    • There are four U.S. House districts in Kansas. All four are currently held by the Republican Party and rated safely Republican in the general election. All four incumbents are seeking re-election in 2016. Only two will face a primary challenger in August.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Wisconsin congressional filing deadline
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Ron Johnson (R) is up for election in 2016. The race is a battleground in the general election. Johnson will likely face a rematch with Russ Feingold (D) in the general election. Feingold served in the Senate from 1993 until 2011, when he was ousted by Johnson.
    • There are eight U.S. House districts in Wisconsin. Five are currently held by the Republican Party, while the remaining three are held by Democrats. Seven incumbents are seeking re-election in 2016, and four of those will face at least one primary challenger in August. All seats are rated as safe for the party that currently holds the seat.
    • District 8 incumbent Reid Ribble (R) is the only House incumbent not seeking re-election in 2016. Four Republicans and two Democrats filed to run in the race to replace him. The district is rated safely Republican in the general election.
  • State Department spokesman John Kirby said that an internal investigation revealed that a December 2013 video of a press briefing was deliberately edited to omit a segment that focused on U.S. officials entering into secret talks with Iran about the nuclear deal in 2012. According to CNN, “The deleted portion of the video involves questions about a previous press briefing in 2012 in which then-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland denied secret talks between the U.S. and Iran about a potential nuclear deal were taking place. After it was revealed in December 2013 that secret talks between the U.S. and Iran actually had taken place, then-spokeswoman Jen Psaki admitted the administration lied in order to protect the secret negotiations.” Kirby said that it is unknown who made the request to edit the video.

Thursday, June 2

  • House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) endorsed Donald Trump on Thursday in an op-ed for his hometown paper, The Janesville Gazette. “It’s no secret that he and I have our differences. I won’t pretend otherwise. And when I feel the need to, I’ll continue to speak my mind. But the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement. For me, it’s a question of how to move ahead on the ideas that I—and my House colleagues—have invested so much in through the years. It’s not just a choice of two people, but of two visions for America. And House Republicans are helping shape that Republican vision by offering a bold policy agenda, by offering a better way ahead. Donald Trump can help us make it a reality,” Ryan wrote.
  • In a foreign policy speech, Hillary Clinton said that Donald Trump was unfit to be president because of his temperament. She said of his policies, “They’re not even really ideas: just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies. He’s not just unprepared, he’s temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility. This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes — because it’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin.” She also questioned Trump’s “bizarre fascination with dictators and strongmen who have no love for America,” such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
  • Trump called Clinton’s speech “pathetic” during a rally in California. “It was so sad to watch. She’s up there and supposed to be a foreign policy speech. It was a political speech, had nothing to do with foreign policy,” he continued.
  • Bernie Sanders responded to Clinton’s speech in a statement by criticizing her record as secretary of state. He said, “I agree with Secretary Clinton that Donald Trump’s foreign policy ideas are incredibly reckless and irresponsible. But when it comes to foreign policy, we cannot forget that Secretary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq, the worst foreign policy blunder in modern American history, and that she has been a proponent of regime change, as in Libya, without thinking through the consequences.”
  • A third insurer filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its failure to pay out the full amount of risk-corridor payments requested by insurers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims arguing that it is owed $129 million under the program, plus legal fees and interest. The complaint asserts that the federal government broke the law and violated its contract with the insurer. The risk-corridor program was established by the ACA to limit the losses and gains of insurers in the reformed individual market. In the fall of 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it would only be making 12.6 percent of the payments insurers nationwide had requested for the 2014 benefit year. Two other insurers, Highmark Inc. and Health Republic Insurance of Oregon, have also filed lawsuits claiming the federal government still owes them millions of dollars.

Friday, June 3

  • House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced the Republican agenda, “A Better Way,” in the weekly Republican address. Ryan said that the plan “is a full slate of ideas to address some of the biggest challenges of our time. Developed with input from around the country, it looks past this president to what we can achieve in 2017 and beyond. It is our vision for a confident America, at home and abroad.” Next week, House Republicans will unveil legislation that focuses on “poverty, tax reform, national security, healthcare, cutting regulations and restoring constitutional authority,” according to The Hill.

 

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 will hold a non-argument session on Monday, June 6.

What’s On Tap Next Week

Saturday, June 4

  • Democrats in the U.S. Virgin Islands are holding a caucus on Saturday to allocate the territory’s seven pledged delegates. The Virgin Islands also has five superdelegates, at least two of whom—Democratic National Committeeman Emmett Hansen II and congressional delegate Stacey Plaskett—are backing Hillary Clinton. Hansen had previously supported Bernie Sanders but switched to Clinton’s side in mid-May after learning more about Clinton’s stances on issues related to U.S. insular territories. Hansen said, “It comes down to one thing: what’s best for the Virgin Islands, to be fully incorporated in the United States.” Barack Obama won the Virgin Islands’ Democratic caucus in 2008. Republicans held a caucus on March 10, 2016, to elect six unpledged delegates. Less than two weeks later, however, the Virgin Islands GOP disqualified those six pledged delegates on the grounds that they violated party rules. The party then promoted six alternate delegates in their place. The Virgin Islands does not cast votes in the general election.

Sunday, June 5

Monday, June 6

  • The U.S. Supreme Court will hold a non-argument session on Monday. The court is expected to issue orders in advance of the session and to announce opinions in decided cases during the session.

Tuesday, June 7

  • The state-by-state grind of the 2016 presidential nominating season will come to a (near) halt on June 7, as six states hold primary elections or caucuses for the Democratic and Republican parties. For the Republicans, the June 7 primaries mark the last events of the nominating cycle until the national convention begins on July 18. For the Democrats, only one contest remains after June 7: Washington, D.C., which will hold a Democratic primary on June 14. The Democratic National Convention begins on July 25. The six states holding a primary or caucus on June 7 are California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota (Democrats only), and South Dakota.
    • On the Democratic side on June 7, 694 pledged delegates are up for grabs—the second-largest delegate haul of 2016 for the Democrats. A total of 475 of those 694 delegates come from California alone, where Hillary Clinton has held leads in the polls over Bernie Sanders throughout May ranging from 2 to 18 points. California also has 73 superdelegates, 51 of whom are supporting Clinton. Which candidate the other 22 support is unknown. No California superdelegate has publicly expressed his or her support for Bernie Sanders.
    • Leading up to the June 7 Democratic primaries, Clinton is roughly 79 delegates away from clinching the nomination. She will likely pick up between one-third and one-half of that number in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico caucuses. It is possible that Clinton could secure the nomination with a big win in New Jersey, where polls will close first on June 7. New Jersey has 126 pledged delegates. If New Jersey does not push her over the top, then delegates from California and the other four states will. Sanders, as of June 2, had approximately 1,533 delegates. A total of 2,383 are needed to secure the Democratic nomination.
    • On the Republican side on June 7, 303 pledged delegates are at stake—the third-largest delegate haul for the Republicans in 2016. As with the Democrats, California makes up the bulk of these delegates (more than one-third). Donald Trump is the only Republican candidate still officially in the race. Last week, unpledged Republican delegates in states like Oklahoma and Pennsylvania helped Trump surpass the 1,238 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination, according to the Associated Press. Victories in the June 7 primaries will allow him to pad his lead heading into the Republican National Convention in July.
  • California will hold congressional primaries.
    • California uses a top-two primary system. This means that all candidates run in the same primary and the two who receive the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election.
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Barbara Boxer (D) is up for election in 2016. The seat will be left open following Boxer’s retirement. Thirty-four candidates will compete to replace Boxer, including seven Democrats, 12 Republicans, and 15 third-party candidates. The front-runners in the race are both Democrats: Attorney General Kamala Harris and U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez. This means that it is likely that the general election race will be between two Democrats, which could lead to a very expensive and extended battle.
    • California has 53 U.S. House districts. The Democratic Party currently holds 39 seats, while the Republican Party controls 14 seats.
    • In the House, 49 of the 53 incumbents are seeking re-election in 2016. Districts 20, 24, 44, and 46 are left open.
    • There are two battlegrounds in California in 2016: Districts 7 and 25. There are also two races to watch: Districts 10 and 52.
    • District 24 is considered a primary race to watch in 2016. The seat was left open following incumbent Lois Capps' decision to retire. Nine candidates will compete to replace Capps, including four Democrats, three Republicans, and two third-party candidates. California's 24th District is considered safely Democratic in the general election. However, due to the top-two primary system and the fact that there are more Democrats on the ballot, the Democratic vote could be split enough to allow two Republican candidates to make it onto the general election ballot, resulting in a win for the Republican Party.
  • Iowa will hold congressional primaries.
  • Montana will hold congressional primaries.
    • There is no U.S. Senate election in Montana in 2016.
    • Montana has a single At-Large Congressional District. It is currently held by Ryan Zinke (R). Zinke is seeking re-election in 2016. He will face Denise Juneau (D) in the general election. Neither candidate will face a primary opponent on Tuesday. The race is rated safely Republican in November.
  • New Jersey will hold congressional primaries.
    • There is no U.S. Senate election in New Jersey in 2016.
    • New Jersey has 12 U.S. House districts. The state is evenly split, with each party holding six congressional seats. All 12 incumbents are seeking re-election in 2016. Seven will face at least one primary opponent on Tuesday.
    • There are no battlegrounds in New Jersey in 2016, but two races are currently designated as races to watch: District 3 and District 5.
  • New Mexico will hold congressional primaries.
    • There is no U.S. Senate election in New Mexico in 2016.
    • New Mexico has three U.S. House districts. The Democratic Party currently holds two seats, while the last is held by a Republican. All three incumbents are seeking re-election in 2016, but none of them will face a primary challenger.
    • There are no battlegrounds in New Mexico in 2016. Each race is rated as safe for the party currently in control.
  • North Carolina will hold U.S. House primaries.
    • North Carolina’s U.S. House primaries were rescheduled for Tuesday due to court-ordered redistricting that took place earlier this year. The Senate primaries were held as scheduled on March 15, 2016.
    • North Carolina has 13 U.S. House districts. The Republican Party currently holds 10 seats, while the Democratic Party holds three. All 13 incumbents are seeking re-election in 2016. Nine will face at least one primary opponent.
    • There are no battlegrounds in North Carolina in 2016. All seats are rated as safe for the party currently in control.
    • There are two Republican primary races to watch in North Carolina: District 2 and District 13. Due to redistricting, two incumbents are competing in the District 2 Republican primary election: Renee Ellmers of District 2 and George Holding of District 13. Holding appears to be the favorite in the race, due to Ellmers being opposed by both the Club for Growth and the Koch-funded 501(c)(4) Americans for Prosperity. This contest leaves the new District 13 effectively open. Seventeen Republicans filed to run in the district, and there is no clear favorite heading into the election. Normally a runoff election would be expected in a district with so many candidates, but there will be no congressional runoffs in North Carolina in 2016 due to the fact that the primary was already pushed back once.
  • Ohio’s 8th Congressional District special election will be held. The election is being held to replace John Boehner, who resigned on October 31, 2015. Warren Davidson (R), Corey Foister (D), and James Condit, Jr. (G) will compete in the election. The winner will serve out the remainder of the year. The candidates will then compete again in the regularly scheduled general election in November. The race is rated safely Republican.
  • South Dakota will hold congressional primaries.
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by John Thune (R) is up for election in 2016. Thune will face Jay Williams (D) in the general election. Neither candidate will face a primary opponent on Tuesday. The race is rated safely Republican.
    • South Dakota has a single At-Large Congressional District. It is currently held by Kristi Noem (R). Noem is seeking re-election in 2016. She will face Paula Hawks (D) in the general election. Neither candidate will face a primary opponent on Tuesday. The race is rated safely Republican in November.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Connecticut congressional filing deadline
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Richard Blumenthal (D) is up for election in 2016. The race is rated safely Democratic in the general election.
    • There are five U.S. House districts in Connecticut. They are all currently held by the Democratic Party and rated safely Democratic in the general election.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Hawaii congressional filing deadline
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Brian Schatz (D) is up for election in 2016. The race is rated safely Democratic in the general election.
    • There are two U.S. House districts in Hawaii. Both are currently held by the Democratic Party and rated safely Democratic in the general election.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Massachusetts congressional filing deadline
    • There is no U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts in 2016.
    • There are nine U.S. House districts in Massachusetts. They are all currently held by the Democratic Party and rated safely Democratic in the general election.

Friday, June 10

 

Where was the president last week? Federal judiciary
President Barack Obama returned to the town of Elkhart, Ind., to outline the economic growth under his administration. During his first year in office, Obama visited Elkhart. During the speech, he broadly spoke about the election, saying, “If what you care about in this election is your pocketbook, if what you're concerned about is who will look out for the interests of working people and grow the middle class, if that's what you're concerned about – the economy – the debate is not even close.” The next day, on June 2, 2016, Obama gave the commencement address for the United States Air Force Academy.  
  • 95 total federal judicial vacancies, including one Supreme Court vacancy
  • 66 pending nominations
  • 12 future vacancies

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

State and Local

What's on tap?

If a filing deadline closes and no candidate files for the seat, does the office make a sound? In New Mexico, two seats on the Public Regulation Commission and five seats on the Public Education Commission (which advises the state superintendent of schools) are up for election. Candidates for the Public Education Commission are sparse; in Districts 1, 4, and 9, no Republicans filed and the single Democrat in each race is running unopposed in the primary. No candidates filed in District 8, and the sole candidate to file in District 10 was disqualified. If no independent, third party, or write-in candidates file in those districts, the general election ballot will be empty and the commissioner in that district will be appointed by Governor Susana Martinez (R). One candidate later filed as a write-in for District 8 in the primary election, hoping to secure the Democratic nomination and prevent Martinez from filling the seat. New Mexico currently has a divided government. See more details below about all of the filing deadline news around the country.

 

Highlights

State

  • Several state legislatures rushed to complete business before their regular sessions ended. Illinois failed to pass a state budget for the second year. Legislators in Kansas risk being forced to close the state’s schools after falling short of a court-mandated standard for educational funding equality. South Carolina lawmakers passed a $4 billion roads bill. Read on for complete coverage of session adjournments.
  • Six states will hold primaries for state offices on Tuesday, June 7. Of special note are four battleground legislative chamber elections and an unexpected contested supreme court primary election in North Carolina.

Local

  • The New York Daily News claimed to have obtained a spreadsheet from the Bill de Blasio (D) administration showing evidence of New York City’s mayor giving sought-after appointments to high-powered donors, lobbyists, and celebrity friends. Mayor de Blasio is also currently under investigation regarding fundraising he performed for Democratic candidates running for the New York State Senate in 2014. The mayor will be up for re-election in November 2017. New York City is the largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • 2016 elections: In 2016, Ballotpedia is covering 43 municipal elections across America's 100 largest cities by population, local judicial elections across 39 states, 640 school board elections across America's 1,000 largest school districts by student enrollment, all local ballot measures in California, and notable measures across the United States.
    • So far this year, Ballotpedia has covered nine city elections, three states with local judicial elections, 162 school board elections, and elections for 13 local ballot measures in California.
    • Most elections, including local elections, are held during spring and fall months. Summer and winter months contain relatively few elections and filing deadlines.
 

State

The Week in Review

Ballot measures update

Saturday, May 28

  • The Ohio Medical Use of Marijuana Amendment will not be on the ballot in November. Ohioans for Medical Marijuana suspended its signature gathering campaign after the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 523, which legalizes medical marijuana in Ohio. After Ohioans for Medical Marijuana abandoned its medical marijuana initiative petition, Brandon Lynaugh, campaign manager for the group, said, “It had become increasingly clear following the state legislature’s passage of a medical marijuana law on Wednesday that our ballot issue campaign had arrived at a critical juncture... The reality is that raising funds for medical marijuana policy changes is incredibly difficult especially given the improvements made to the proposed program by the Ohio General Assembly and the fact that the governor is expected to sign the bill.”

Sunday, May 29

Monday, May 30

  • After Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed a police fire and pension bill, the Illinois State Legislature voted to override the veto. The bill, a point of contention between the governor and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, will give short-term relief to the city’s pension fund payments by allowing Chicago to spread out previously mandated higher payments to police and fire pension systems. Rauner objected to this bill because it does not address pension funding in the long term and would cost citizens $18.6 billion “over time.” Proponents of the bill insisted that failing to pass the bill would have resulted in a $300 million property tax increase for Chicago citizens.
  • The Alaska House of Representatives approved a bill to send $55 million to health insurance plans in the state’s individual market that covers high-risk individuals. Alaska has just one insurance company serving its entire individual market; three other companies have left the market since 2013, as the state has continued to reject large requested premium increases. The rate increases that have been approved have been in the range of 35 percent each year. The intent of the bill is to discourage the remaining insurer, Premera, from raising its rates in 2017 or leaving the market entirely. Funding for the measure would come from a fee assessed on most insurance policies in the state, including those outside of the healthcare industry, such as auto and life insurance. The bill heads to the state Senate next for consideration.

Tuesday, May 31

  • Filing deadline: Minnesota
  • Federal prosecutors announced during a court hearing that they would retry Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley (D) on the 14 charges on which the jury deadlocked during his March 2016 criminal trial. In April 2015, Kelley was indicted on 15 charges including four counts of false declaration, 10 charges of possession of stolen property, and one count of perjury related to allegedly fraudulent fees charged by a real estate escrow firm he previously owned. The jury acquitted Kelley of the perjury charge but hung on the others. A new trial date was set for March 13, 2017.
  • Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who previously managed Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign and is now a senior advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign, signed on as a senior advisor to John Brunner’s gubernatorial run in Missouri. According to The Missouri Times, Huckabee Sanders “will serve as a senior advisor to the campaign, and will be guiding and executing the campaign’s strategy on Faith Voter Outreach.” She has also previously worked on campaigns for both of Arkansas’ current U.S. senators, Tom Cotton and John Boozman.
  • Illinois is approaching its second year without a state budget. The Illinois General Assembly adjourned their spring session with Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and a majority Democratic legislature still undecided on a state budget. The governor wants to limit collective bargaining rights for public unions, and legislators want to increase taxes—a disagreement that sits in the midst of some other internal conflicts among House and Senate Democrats. The lack of a state budget puts schools in Illinois at risk; many are worried that they will not receive state funds this year unless the governor gets a budget from the legislature. Since a budget was not approved during the regular session, it must now be passed with a three-fifths majority in both chambers instead of a simple majority. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) said that House lawmakers will meet every Wednesday in June to solve the budget crisis.
  • The Illinois General Assembly approved legislation establishing an automatic voter registration system. Before it becomes law, the legislation must be signed by Governor Bruce Rauner (R), who has "has indicated in the past that he'd support simplifying the voting process but hasn't specifically said whether he'd sign the plan into law." If signed into law, the legislation will enable four state agencies to add eligible individuals to the voter rolls automatically (those agencies include the Office of the Secretary of State; the Department on Aging; the Department of Human Services, Healthcare, and Family Services; and the Department of Employment Security). Democrats, who control both chambers of the state legislature, generally supported the bill. Representative Robyn Gabel (D) said, "Automatic voter registration will modernize voter registration in Illinois, put more eligible voters on the rolls, and make our voting lists more accurate and secure." Republicans, however, were divided on the issue, with some questioning the cost and necessity of the measure. Representative David Harris (R) said, "We've made so many other opportunities with early voting. I think it's important for the voter to have a little bit of initiative to do what they need to do and not just automatically be signed up." If Rauner signs the bill into law, Illinois will become the sixth state with automatic voter registration; the others include Oregon, California, West Virginia, Vermont, and Connecticut.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that private landowners can challenge in court a federal decision to regulate private property as a wetland under the Clean Water Act. The eight justices concluded that a decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to classify land held by three Minnesota companies as a wetland—preventing the company from mining the land without a federal permit—can be reviewed by a federal court. The Obama administration argued that the Corps’ decision was open to revision and thus did not constitute a “final” agency action that is subject to judicial review. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, rejected that argument, arguing that the Corps’ decision was binding on the federal government and thus challengeable in court. The decision will likely affect future enforcement of the Clean Water Act, as the Army Corps has estimated that between 270 million and 300 million acres of the U.S. are wetlands, according to Roberts.
  • Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) announced plans to address the $600 million shortfall in the state budget—a situation he calls “a bit of a mess”—by offering legislators a list of options to consider during the upcoming special session. Among these items are adjustments to the state’s income tax brackets (which he estimates to bring in $324 million), reduction in itemized deductions ($130 million), and a change in the health insurance premium taxes ($125 million). A prior proposal to adjust income tax brackets failed to pass the House during the first special session, and adjustments to the health insurance premium taxes were rejected by the federal government after meeting approval in the state House.
  • Two of the agencies responsible for regulating offshore drilling released an environmental assessment ruling that fracking off the coast of California poses no significant environmental effects. This ruling lifted a moratorium on fracking off the coast of Santa Barbara that was put into place following a legal settlement between the Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in January 2016. The Center for Biological Diversity had filed the lawsuit challenging the DOI's policy of "rubber-stamping of fracking permits."

Wednesday, June 1

Thursday, June 2

  • The South Carolina State Legislature adjourned its regular session. South Carolina is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta. Republicans control the governor’s office, the Senate by 10 seats, and the House by 30 seats with two vacancies.
  • The North Dakota Farm Bureau filed a lawsuit against the state’s 84-year-old anti-corporate farming law. The lawsuit comes less than two weeks prior to the June 14 election when voters will consider a veto referendum on Senate Bill 2351. SB 2351 was signed into law in March 2015 and would have lifted the anti-corporate farm law of 1932 when it went into effect on August 1, 2015. However, the North Dakota Farmers Union succeeded in getting a veto referendum petition on the ballot, delaying enactment of the law until the referendum could be voted upon. The North Dakota Farm Bureau supports a vote to uphold SB 2351 and now says that the 1932 anti-corporate farming law is unconstitutional and discriminatory. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Bismarck and named Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem (R) as the defendant.
    • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims against the Obama administration over its failure to pay out the full amount of risk-corridor payments requested by insurers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The company claimed that it is owed $129 million under the program, plus legal fees and interest. The complaint asserts that the federal government broke the law and violated its contract with the insurer. The risk-corridor program was established by the ACA to limit the losses and gains of insurers in the reformed individual market. In the fall of 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it would only be making 12.6 percent of the payments insurers nationwide had requested for the 2014 benefit year. Two other insurers—Highmark, Inc. and Health Republic Insurance of Oregon—have also filed lawsuits claiming that the federal government still owes them millions of dollars.

 

What’s On Tap Next Week

Monday, June 6

Tuesday, June 7

ELECTION NIGHT PREVIEW: Primaries for battleground chambers in Iowa and New Mexico; North Carolina election for new supreme court justice after retention law determined unconstitutional; Montana primaries for seven state executive offices

  • Primary election: California
    • State legislature: There are 20 state Senate seats and 80 state Assembly seats up for election. Twenty-six incumbents—16 Democrats and 10 Republicans—are facing primary competition. Democrats control the Senate with a 12-seat majority and the Assembly by 24 seats.
    • Ballot measure: California voters will also decide Proposition 50, a constitutional amendment put before voters by the legislature to allow the full suspension of a lawmaker—including the suspension of his or her pension and salary—upon a two-thirds vote of either the state Senate or the state Assembly. Currently, legislators can be suspended, but their pay and pension benefits cannot.
      • This measure was prompted by the suspension of state Senators Ron Calderon (D-30), Roderick Wright (D-35), and Leland Yee (D-8) due to criminal allegations. These were the first suspensions of California legislators in the history of the state.
  • Primary election: Iowa
    • State legislature: There are 25 state Senate seats and 100 state House seats up for election. Nine incumbents—four Democrats and five Republicans—are facing primary competition. Democrats control the Senate with a two-seat majority, while Republicans control the House by 14 seats. Both chambers are included in Ballotpedia’s list of top battlegrounds in 2016.
      • Races we're watching: Ballotpedia has identified 19 notable Iowa state legislative races in 2016, including six notable primary races. Four primary races feature open seats left by incumbents (three Democratic and one Republican). Two primary races feature Democrats competing to challenge the Republican incumbent in November.
  • Primary election: New Mexico
    • State judiciary: One seat on the New Mexico Supreme Court and one seat on the New Mexico Court of Appeals are being contested in 2016. New Mexico selects justices and judges by assisted appointment, and appointees must stand in the next general partisan election following their appointments. Winners will serve out the remainder of their appointed terms and may stand for retention thereafter. Full terms are eight years. In both the contested supreme court race and the contested court of appeals race, the incumbents are recent appointees running to remain on the bench, and their challengers were among the judicial nominating commission’s initial list of candidates for the seats (but were not chosen by Republican Governor Susana Martinez). Because there is only one candidate from each party vying for each seat, all four candidates will automatically advance through the June 7 primary to the November 8 general election. Incumbent Justice Judith Nakamura is currently the only Republican on the state supreme court; if she is defeated in November by challenger Judge Michael Vigil, the court would become 100 percent Democratic.
    • State executives: Three offices are up for election in 2016:
      • A special election is being held for secretary of state following the resignation of Secretary Dianna Duran (R) in October 2015. Duran had been indicted on criminal charges in August of that year. Incumbent interim Secretary Brad Winter is not seeking election to the rest of Duran's four-year term, leaving the seat open to a Democratic pick-up. County clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver (D), who lost to Duran in 2014 by just three percentage points, is making another bid for the office, running unopposed in the Democratic primary. She will face state Rep. Nora Espinoza, who is unopposed in the Republican primary, in the November general election.
      • Two seats on the Public Regulation Commission and five seats on the Public Education Commission (which advises the state superintendent of schools) are also up for election. Candidates for the Public Education Commission are sparse; in Districts 1, 4, and 9, no Republicans filed and the single Democrat in each race is running unopposed in the primary. No candidates filed in District 8, and the sole candidate to file in District 10 was disqualified. If no independent, third party, or write-in candidates file in those districts, the general election ballot will be empty and the commissioner in that district will be appointed by Governor Susana Martinez (R). One candidate later filed as a write-in for District 8 in the primary election, hoping to secure the Democratic nomination and prevent Martinez from filling the seat. New Mexico currently has a divided government.
    • State legislature: There are 42 state Senate seats and 70 state House seats up for election. Nine incumbents, all Democrats, are facing primary competition. Both chambers are included in Ballotpedia’s list of top battlegrounds in 2016. Democrats control the Senate with a six-seat majority, while the House is under a four-seat GOP majority.
  • Primary election: North Carolina
    • State judiciary: Five seats on North Carolina’s state-level courts are up for election in 2016. Four candidates, including incumbent Justice Robert Edmunds, will vie for Edmunds’ seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. The top two finishers in the special June 7 primary will advance to the November general election. Four seats on the North Carolina Court of Appeals are also up for election; each incumbent judge has one challenger. Because each of these races has only two candidates, all eight candidates have already advanced to the general election. Due to a law passed in 2015, Justice Edmunds was to have stood in North Carolina’s first-ever retention election, but in March 2016, a panel of Wake County judges struck down the retention law as unconstitutional. This ruling was upheld by a divided state supreme court (3-3) on May 6, with Justice Edmunds recused. The North Carolina State Board of Elections opened a filing period for a contested election in the wake of the March ruling, and three candidates filed to run against Justice Edmunds—including attorney Sabra Faires, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the retention law. Edmunds’ other challengers are court of appeals Judge Michael Morgan and attorney Daniel Robertson. Though North Carolina’s judicial elections are nonpartisan, Republican-affiliated justices hold a 4-3 majority. Justice Edmunds is Republican-affiliated; Faires is unaffiliated; Morgan and Robertson are Democrat-affiliated. If Justice Edmunds is defeated in either the primary or the general election, the balance of the court could shift.
    • State legislature: There are 50 state Senate seats and 120 state House seats up for election. Thirty-one incumbents—18 Democrats and 31 Republicans—are facing primary competition. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans, and North Carolina is one of 23 states with a GOP state government trifecta.
  • Primary election: South Dakota
  • Filing deadline: Massachusetts
    • State legislature: Massachusetts has 40 state Senate and 160 state House seats up for election in 2016. Both chambers are held by Democrats with comfortable majorities. With a Republican governor, Massachusetts is one of 20 states with split government control.

Friday, June 10

  • Filing deadline: New Hampshire
    • State executives: The gubernatorial race is the only state executive election this year. New Hampshire governors are elected every two years with no term limits. Incumbent Maggie Hassan (D) is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, leaving the race for governor an open election. Three Democrats and three Republicans have already declared their intention to run for the seat, including Chris Sununu, son of former Gov. John H. Sununu, and multiple members of the state legislature. The race is currently rated as a toss-up. New Hampshire has a divided government.
    • State legislature: New Hampshire has 40 state Senate and 160 state House seats up for election in 2016. Republicans have a four-seat majority in the Senate and a 79-seat majority in the House. With a Democratic governor, New Hampshire is one of 20 states with split government control. Both chambers are included in Ballotpedia’s list of top battlegrounds in 2016.

 

State government in session

Ten states are in regular session; Alaska, California, and West Virginia are in special session.

  • CA, LA, MA, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, RI.

Two states are in recess:

  • PA until 6/6/2016
  • DE until 6/7/2016

Adjourned regular sessions:

  • AK, AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, ME, MO, MN, MS, NE, NM, OK, OR, SC, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.

States with no regular 2016 sessions:

  • MT, ND, NV, TX.

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, 39 seats have been filled through legislative special elections in 2016. Seven 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 three from Democratic to Republican (Texas, HD 118; Minnesota, HD 50B; and New York, SD 9). Another seven (not including runoff elections) have been scheduled in 19 states. An average of 37 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past three even years (2010: 26, 2012: 45, and 2014: 40).

Next week:

Local

The Week in Review

Monday, May 30

  • The Illinois General Assembly overrode a veto by Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) on a bill to modify Chicago’s payment schedule for its police and fire pensions. Rauner vetoed the bill because it did not address pension funding in the long term and would cost $18.6 billion “over time.” The bill’s advocates claimed that passing the bill would prevent a $300 million property tax increase for city residents. While the plan offers savings for the city in the short term, the bill is expected to create greater long-term costs as the pension system’s debt continues to grow. In March 2015, Chicago’s $20 billion in pension debts was the main impetus for Moody’s downgrade of the city’s bond rating. At that time, Chicago had the lowest bond rating of any of America’s largest 10 cities by population. Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the third-largest city in the U.S. by population.

Tuesday, May 31

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for 11 school board seats across three of Minnesota’s largest school districts. The primary election for these districts will be on August 9, 2016, and the general election will be on November 8, 2016. The state’s third-largest school district—Minneapolis Public Schools, which served 36,817 students during the 2013-2014 school year—has four of its nine seats up for election.
    • The Elk River Area School District in Minnesota also had a filing deadline for one school board seat. The Elk River race is a special election for an unexpired two-year term. The general election will be on August 9, 2016.

Wednesday, June 1

  • In Washington, D.C., a proposal by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020 passed unanimously in committee and will head to the full council for a vote. The minimum wage for tipped workers would be $5.50 per hour, which is double the current minimum of $2.77 per hour. A measure that might appear on the November 2016 ballot would make the minimum wage for all workers in the city $15 per hour, including tipped workers. A similar plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020 was approved in May 2015 in Los Angeles, California. Washington, D.C., is the 24th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool announced that the district would not open for the 2016-2017 school year if the state legislature failed to pass education funding. Illinois’ budget has been a point of contention most of the year, with Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) at odds with the Democrat-controlled legislature. Rauner has indicated he would sign a stop-gap bill intended to fund the city’s public schools. Claypool noted that the school district had “no ability to access capital markets” due to its junk credit rating and that its financial reserves were insufficient to cover operational expenses. Chicago Public Schools is the largest school district in Illinois and the third-largest school district in the United States, and it served 396,641 students during the 2013-2014 school year.
  • Philadelphia drew one step closer to passing a bill that would require guns to be stored unloaded and locked in a separate container from its ammunition in homes with children under the age of 18. The bill unanimously passed through a city council committee, although Police Capt. Francis Healy said he expected the bill to draw controversy and eventually a legal challenge. A spokesman from the National Rifle Association said he thought the bill would be unenforceable due to a state law that bans local governments from passing their own gun laws. To become law, the bill would need to be approved by the entire city council. Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the fifth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • In an attempt to improve the city’s rental market, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (D) and Councilman Tim Burgess (D) have proposed limiting short-term rentals in the city. Their plan would allow only primary residences to be listed year-round on services such as Airbnb and VRBO, whereas secondary residences would be limited to 90 nights per calendar year. A similar but more restrictive measure was defeated by San Francisco voters in November 2015. The defeated San Francisco measure would have limited all short-term rentals in the city to 75 nights of occupancy per year in addition to imposing hotel taxes. According to Airbnb, short-term rentals have generated more than $30 million in revenue for Seattle rental property owners. Seattle is the largest city in Washington and the 22nd-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings (D) announced his support for banning private employers in the city from asking about criminal history on job applications. This has been referred to as a “ban the box” initiative. Such a bill would need to pass the city’s Economic Development Committee before being brought up to the full council for a vote. The city has had a ban for public employment since 2007, and the county put a similar ban in place in November 2015. Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • While campaigning in Monterey County, California, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) endorsed a county initiative designed to ban fracking and other high-intensity oil and gas extraction methods. The initiative was recently certified to appear before county voters on November 8, 2016. Sanders said, "And I hope very much that Monterey County will continue the momentum that makes it clear that fracking is not safe, and is not what we need for our kids… If elected president, we will not need state by state, county by county action, because we're going to ban fracking in all 50 states of this country."
  • FILING DEADLINE: In Arizona, five of the state’s largest cities had filing deadlines to run for public office. The primary election for all five cities will be held on August 30, 2016, and the general election will be held on November 8, 2016.
    • Chandler: Three of the six seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Chandler is the fourth-largest city in Arizona and the 80th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
    • Gilbert: Four of the six seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Gilbert is the seventh-largest city in Arizona and the 97th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
    • Glendale: The mayor’s office and three of the six seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Glendale is the fifth-largest city in Arizona and the 87th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
    • Mesa: The mayor’s office and three of the six seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Mesa is the third-largest city in Arizona and the 38th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
    • Scottsdale: Three of the six seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Scottsdale is the sixth-largest city in Arizona and the 94th-largest city in the U.S. by population.

Thursday, June 2

  • In New Jersey, John Hallanan III was appointed to the Ward B city council seat in Jersey City. Hallanan, an attorney with the city since 2013, will serve until voters choose a replacement in a special election on November 8, 2016. He replaced Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal, who resigned after pleading guilty to two charges following a drunk driving accident in March 2015. The mayor and all nine seats on the city council are scheduled to appear on the ballot in 2017, although a referendum on November 8, 2016, will determine if those elections are in May or November.

 

What’s On Tap Next Week

Tuesday, June 7

  • Voters in California will decide 150 local ballot measures, which pertain to everything from school bonds and taxes to marijuana, fracking, and development. These local measures allow voters in cities, counties, school districts, and special districts across the state to decide issues that directly affect their lives, including over $5.6 billion in proposed local school debt, a ban on fracking in Butte County, nine marijuana-related measures, and proposals determining the fate of hundreds of acres of property and dozens of development projects.
  • In California, seven of the state’s largest cities are holding elections. Two cities, Chula Vista and Riverside, are holding their general elections. The other five cities are holding their primary elections, and they will hold their general elections on November 8, 2016. Candidates who receive more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary will automatically win the seat, however, and not appear on the November ballot.
    • General elections
      • Chula Vista: Two of the five seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Chula Vista is the 14th-largest city in California and the 76th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
      • Riverside: The mayor’s office is up for election in 2016. Riverside is the 12th-largest city in California and the 59th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
    • Primary elections
      • Fresno: The mayor’s office and three of the seven seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Fresno is the fifth-largest city in California and the 34th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
      • Sacramento: The mayor’s office and four of the nine seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Sacramento is the sixth-largest city in California and the 35th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
      • San Diego: The mayor’s office and five of the nine seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. San Diego is the largest city in America with a Republican mayor. Mayor Kevin Faulconer (R) will face two Democratic challengers and a write-in candidate in the primary election. Click here for Ballotpedia’s special coverage of mayoral partisanship and what’s at stake in America’s big city elections in 2016. San Diego is the second-largest city in California and the eighth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
      • San Jose: Five of the 11 seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. San Jose is the third-largest city in California and the 10th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
      • Stockton: The mayor’s office and three of the six seats on the city council are up for election in 2016. Stockton is the 13th-largest city in California and the 64th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • One of the eight seats on the Winston-Salem City Council in North Carolina will be up for special primary election. The South Ward seat was on the regular primary ballot on March 15, 2016, and the official vote count from the Democratic primary showed Carolyn Highsmith ahead of John Larson by six votes. During a recount, county election officials found that 31 voters received ballots for other ward districts and 12 ineligible votes were submitted. On April 6, 2016, the North Carolina State Board of Elections ordered a new special election for the South Ward sea due to these discrepancies. The winner of the special election will proceed to the general election on November 8, 2016, which will also feature elections for the mayor’s seat and the other seven seats on the city council. Winston-Salem is the fifth-largest city in North Carolina and the 85th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • Montana and Mexico will hold primary elections for local judgeships.
    • Montana: Four district court judgeships will be up for nonpartisan primary election. Two of the four races feature incumbent judges running for re-election. Since none of the four races feature more than two candidates, all candidates will advance from the primary. The general election, which will also feature nine judges up for retention election, will be held on November 8, 2016.
    • New Mexico: Four district court judgeships and two metropolitan court judgeships will be up for partisan primary election. Two of the district court races and both of the metropolitan court races are Democratic primaries, and the other two district court races are Republican primaries. Four of the six races feature an incumbent running for re-election. The primary winners will advance to the general election, which will also feature five district court judges, five probate court judges, and two magistrate court judges running in retention elections. Nine of the 12 incumbents are Republicans, and the other three are Democrats serving on district courts. The general election will be held on November 8, 2016.
  • California and South Dakota will hold general elections for school boards.
    • California: Two of the state’s largest school districts by student enrollment are holding elections.
      • Three of the five school board seats in the San Diego Unified School District will be up for primary election. The general election will be held on November 8, 2016. The San Diego Unified School District served 130,303 students during the 2013-2014 school year.
      • Four of the seven school board seats in the Twin Rivers Unified School District will be up for general election. Only three of the seats will appear on the ballot, however, since only incumbent Michael Baker ran for the Trustee Area 1 seat. The Trustee Area 5 race features two newcomers, Michelle Deleon and Basim Elkarra, competing for the open seat. The Democratic Party of Sacramento County endorsed Elkarra and challenged Deleon's ability to label herself an "educator" on her candidate statement. After a judge ruled in favor of the party's challenge, Deleon was required to change her description to "community volunteer." The Twin Rivers Unified School District served 31,122 students during the 2013-2014 school year.
    • South Dakota: Two of the seven school board seats in the Rapid City Area School District will be up for general election. The Area 3 race features incumbent Dave Davis facing a pair of challenges for his re-election bid. In Area 6, three newcomers are competing for an open seat. The Rapid City Area School District served 13,353 students during the 2013-2014 school year.
  • In California, Yermo Community Services District directors Bob Smith and Geoff Berner are facing a recall election. The recall effort began due to accusations that Smith and Berner had mismanaged the district and failed to take responsibility for their actions. A group called Citizens For a Better Yermo organized the recall effort. Smith initially announced his intention to resign from office in September 2015, but he rescinded his resignation in December 2015. Another member of the board of directors, Sean Cloughen, was also originally targeted for recall, but he resigned before the election. The Yermo Community Services District is facing two lawsuits: one for wrongful death and another for wrongful termination. A fourth director, David Jensen, criticized the recall effort and stated that members of Citizens For a Better Yermo are “non taxpayers, non property owners, felons, liars and those who sue the CSD for profit.”
    • In 2015, Ballotpedia covered 180 recall efforts organized against 275 officials. Of the 61 officials whose recalls made it to the ballot, 40 were ousted and 21 were retained.
    • Click here for more California recalls and here for more historical special district recalls.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to run for the mayor's office and five city council seats in Honolulu, Hawaii. The city primary election will be held on August 13, 2016, and the general election will be held on November 8, 2016. Mayor Kirk Caldwell (D) is running for re-election to his office. Honolulu is the largest city in Hawaii and the 54th-largest city in the United States by population.

 

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