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March 28, 2016Issue No. 9

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What happened last week: March 21 - March 27
What's happening this week: March 28 - April 3

Navigate The Tap by clicking the tabs below:

Federal

What's on tap?

Check out the presidential election results from Western Tuesday and Western Saturday. Then, don't miss our fact-check at the end. Find out if Iowa Congressman Rod Blum voted to cut Social Security benefits by 45 percent.

 

Federal

Last week

Monday, March 21

  • President Barack Obama met with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana. The two leaders answered questions from reporters during a news conference. The press conference touched on issues of human rights and normalizing relations between the two countries. Obama said, “When we share our deepest beliefs on an attitude of mutual respect, then we can both learn and make the lives of our people better.” The last presidential trip to Havana, according to The Guardian, was Calvin Coolidge’s trip there in 1928.
  • The Supreme Court issued two decisions.
    • In Montana v. Wyoming, the court ruled partially in favor of Montana and partially in favor of Wyoming over a dispute involving irrigation systems in waterways that connect the two states.
    • In the case of Caetano v. Massachusetts, the court found that the Second Amendment does not extend to stun guns. According to The Washington Post, the court said that the Massachusetts Supreme Court misread the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. The paper explained, “The justices sent the case back for additional work but did not specifically overturn the Massachusetts law.”
    • See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2015-2016
  • The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) hosted its annual convention. Speakers included all remaining presidential candidates, except Bernie Sanders, as well as Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Paul Ryan. AIPAC is a pro-Israel lobbying group that aims to strengthen Israeli-U.S. relations.
  • USA Today reported that Donald Trump gave his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, a raise in February. Lewandowski's firm, Green Monster Consulting, received $75,000 in February (up from $40,000 in January). Lewandowski has faced scrutiny after two altercations at Trump events, one with a female Breitbart reporter in Florida and one with a protester at a Trump rally in Phoenix.
    • See also: Alleged altercation between Michelle Fields and Trump campaign manager
    • See also: Alleged altercations involving Corey Lewandowski at Donald Trump campaign events
  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) sent a letter to 50 state governors urging them to stop their efforts to comply with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s signature climate change initiative. McConnell said that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent stay of the plan’s implementation validated his comments last year that the Clean Power Plan was an unlawful exercise of the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act. Twenty-nine states and state agencies were victorious in February 2016 when the Supreme Court temporarily halted the plan in order to allow legal challenges to move forward; meanwhile, 18 states have been supportive of the plan. If implemented, the Clean Power Plan will require states to establish plans cutting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. While supporters have argued the plan is necessary to mitigate climate change, opponents have argued that the plan will increase electricity costs with little to no environmental benefit.

Tuesday, March 22

  • PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS:
    • For more analysis on Tuesday’s elections, see: Split decisions on Western Tuesday
    • With big wins in Idaho and Utah, Bernie Sanders outperformed Hillary Clinton in the delegate count Tuesday night, winning an estimated 74 delegates to her 55. In both Idaho and Utah, Sanders beat Clinton by almost 60 percentage points. Clinton, however, won Arizona 58 to 40 percent and maintains a substantial lead over Sanders in the overall delegate count.
    • On the Republican side Tuesday night, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz took one state each, Arizona and Utah respectively. Arizona, with 58 delegates up for grabs, was a winner-take-all state. In Utah, Trump suffered one of his biggest losses of the primary season in terms of percentage points. He received 14 percent of the vote to Cruz’s 69 percent. His loss in Utah marked only the third time that Trump took less than second place in a state primary contest.
  • Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D) wrote an op-ed in TIME to promote Bernie Sanders as “the only person running for president who has the intelligence, foresight and good judgment to make sound decisions when it comes to the issue of war and peace.” She argued that “while Sanders understands the need to defeat al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist organizations that attacked America on 9/11 and who continue to wage war against us, he has made it clear that he will not waste American treasure and lives on interventionist wars of regime change and so-called nation building.”
  • Secretary of State John Kerry met with leaders in the Colombian government and a delegation from FARC, a Colombian militant rebel group, in Cuba. The delegations met to negotiate peace talks that began in November 2012. According to the BBC, both sides have agreed on “land reform, political participation, the illegal drugs trade and transitional justice” and are now in talks over disarmament. FARC leader Rodrigo Londono said, “[It was] a historic meeting with the U.S. secretary of state, something unprecedented and unthinkable. We received support from him in person for the peace process in Colombia, which fills us with optimism and makes us more certain that we're moving toward peace.”
  • The Supreme Court issued four decisions.
    • In the case of Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, the court ruled that workers at an Iowa plant were able to rely on statistics to prove their case in mass. According to The New York Times, the case “limited the sweep of the court’s 2011 decision in Walmart Stores v. Dukes, which threw out an enormous employment discrimination class-action suit and made it harder for workers, investors and consumers to join together to pursue their claims.”
    • In Nebraska v. Parker, the court unanimously ruled that an 1882 law did not technically diminish tribal lands when it opened portions of the Omaha reservation to white settlers. According to SCOTUSblog, the court ruled that only Congress could diminish reservation land. However, the court also sent the case back to lower courts because “the town could argue that the tribe waited too long to claim the power to tax liquor sales in Pender and that it may have impliedly conceded by doing nothing for so long that it accepted that Pender was not under its legislative control.”
    • In Sturgeon v. Frost, the court unanimously ruled that the National Park Service could not regulate the use of hovercrafts on navigable waters that run through state land. The suit was originally brought by John Sturgeon, a moose hunter who was told he could not ride his hovercraft on a stretch of the Nation River that ran through National Park land, according to The Hill.
    • The court was divided in the case of Hawkins v. Community Bank of Raymore. The case, filed by two wives who were required to sign loan papers submitted by their husbands, questioned whether demanding payment from spouses required to sign as guarantors of loans “constituted discrimination because of marital status, which is prohibited under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act,” according to The Hill. The court’s split decision means that the lower court’s ruling in favor of the bank remains in place.
  • John Canegata, chair of the Virgin Islands Republican Party, disqualified all six delegates selected to represent the party at the Republican National Convention. Canegata said that delegates must confirm their selection within five days, and the selected delegates failed to do so. On March 10, the Virgin Islands GOP selected its six delegates, including Michigan political strategist and former Rand Paul aide John Yob. The eligibility of Yob and others is in the court system, as the territory's GOP leaders have questioned whether the selected delegates were citizens of the Virgin Islands.
  • Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi released an op-ed in the New York Times criticizing a tax package passed in December of last year. The package extended almost 50 tax breaks to businesses and individuals; it was estimated to result in approximately $650 billion in tax cuts over the next 10 years and a potential increase in the national deficit of about $2 trillion over the next 20 years. Pelosi wrote that the Republicans who sponsored those tax breaks did not adequately prepare for the reduction in revenue that would result from the tax package. Pelosi argued that Congress is obligated to answer for revenue reductions in one area (i.e., tax cuts) with increases in revenue or spending cuts. This system is referred to as a “pay-as-you-go” or “paygo” budget, and it was part of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 under President George H. W. Bush. The law expired in 2002, but Pelosi argued Congress should return to those principles as it resulted in a budget surplus in 1998. The content of Pelosi’s editorial was largely partisan, casting most of the blame of the current plan’s deficit onto the Republican majority. She did not elaborate on any discussions or actions in which Democrats may or may not have been involved.

Wednesday, March 23

  • Jeb Bush endorsed Ted Cruz. He said in a statement, “Washington is broken, and the only way Republicans can hope to win back the White House and put our nation on a better path is to support a nominee who can articulate how conservative policies will help people rise up and reach their full potential.”
  • Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey (R) announced that he would meet with Judge Merrick Garland "out of courtesy to both Judge Garland and the president" but said he still opposed any action on replacing Justice Scalia until after the presidential election in 2016.
  • The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case Zubik v. Burwell. The case is related to the court’s 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, when it was ruled that a closely held for-profit organization could be exempt from providing contraceptive coverage—as mandated by the Affordable Care Act—based on religious objections. Zubik v. Burwell was brought by a group of religious hospitals and schools, and it addresses the question of whether the accommodation offered in Hobby Lobby “burdens their free exercise of religion” by making these organizations “complicit in providing contraceptive coverage in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).”
  • The Club for Growth PAC, the political arm of the fiscally conservative 501(c)(4) Club for Growth, endorsed Ted Cruz for president. It is the first time that the PAC has endorsed a candidate in a presidential race. The organization's president, David McIntosh, said, "Ted Cruz is the best free-market, pro-growth, limited-government candidate in the presidential race."
  • Shira Scheindlin, a federal judge on senior status with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, announced that she would retire from the bench on April 29, 2016, to join an unidentified New York City law firm as of counsel. Judge Scheindlin is perhaps best known for her rulings against the NYPD’s stop and frisk procedures, as well as her rulings on rules of discovery for electronic evidence (e-discovery). Of her decisions in the NYPD cases, Darius Charney, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, told The New York Times, “She has put her stamp on changes to a police practice … that has affected thousands, if not millions, of New Yorkers over several decades.”

Thursday, March 24

  • Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. The talks centered on Kerry’s attempts to convince the Russian officials to support efforts to end Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria. The two sides also discussed the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
  • Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech at Georgetown Law School on the Merrick Garland nomination and the current Senate’s process for providing advice and consent on the nomination. In his speech, the vice president said, “We’re watching a constitutional crisis in the making because of the dysfunction in Washington.”
  • In an interview on C-SPAN’s ’Newsmakers’ program, Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole (R) suggested his support for House Speaker Paul Ryan as the Republican nominee for president if there is a contested Republican convention. Cole said, “He’s already been vetted, he’s been on a national ticket, millions of people have already voted for him … Frankly, he does represent the kind of vision and values that as a Republican you would want to put forward.” Cole’s statements echo those of former Speaker John Boehner, who told an audience in Boca Raton, Florida, on March 16, 2016, “If we don't have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I'm for none of the above … They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I'm for none of the above. I'm for Paul Ryan to be our nominee.”

Friday, March 25

  • FILING DEADLINE: North Carolina revised U.S. House filing deadline
    • There are 13 U.S. House seats up for election in 2016. Currently, three are held by Democrats and 10 are held by Republicans.
    • None of the U.S. House seats are currently considered battleground districts in 2016. We will be evaluating the newly drawn districts as the cycle continues.
    • The new filing deadline is a result of ongoing legal battles relating to the North Carolina districts. While the state primaries were held earlier in March, the congressional primary will take place on June 7.
  • Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Brussels to demonstrate U.S. support for Belgium after Tuesday’s terrorist attacks, which killed 31 people. Kerry said, “We will not be intimidated, we will not be deterred. And we will come back with greater resolve, with greater strength, and we will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs and cowardice from the face of this earth.”

Saturday, March 26

  • PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS:
    • For more analysis on Saturday’s elections, please see: Sanders sweeps Western Saturday
    • On Saturday, Bernie Sanders continued his winning streak from earlier in the week, earning victories in Democratic caucuses in Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. Sanders won all three states by substantial margins: Washington by more than 40 points; Alaska by more than 60 points; and Hawaii by 40 points. The biggest prize of the night was the state of Washington where 101 pledged delegates were up for grabs.
    • Despite his wins throughout the week, Sanders still trails Hillary Clinton in the delegate count. As of 11:30 am EST on March 27, 2016, Sanders had 1,102 pledged delegates to Clinton’s 1,251, according to CNN. With superdelegates included, he trails Clinton 1,039 to 1,733. Of the total pledged delegates in the Democratic nominating process, roughly 43 percent remain unclaimed.

 

Congress is NOT in session SCOTUS is IN session
Congress is out of session this week due to the holiday. SCOTUS will hear six arguments this week Monday through Wednesday.

This week

There are no presidential primary contests this week. The next primary election will be in Wisconsin on April 5.

Monday, March 28

  • The White House will host the 138th Annual Easter Egg Roll on the lawn. The egg roll tradition began at the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. The event was moved to the White House grounds in 1878 under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Tuesday, March 29

Wednesday, March 30

Thursday, March 31

 

Where was the president last week? Federal judiciary
President Barack Obama began the week by visiting Cuba. On Wednesday, Obama traveled to Argentina, where he held a town hall regarding U.S. and Latin American relations and met with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri. On Thursday night, Obama returned to Washington, D.C.  
  • 84 total federal judicial vacancies and one Supreme Court vacancy
  • 49 pending nominations
  • 14 future vacancies

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State and Local

What's on tap?


 

Highlights

State

  • On Monday, March 28, State Sen. Virgil Smith (D) is expected to appear in a Wayne County courtroom to discuss the fate of his plea deal. Smith is accused of shooting at his ex-wife's Mercedes Benz after she caught him with another woman in May 2015. On February 11, 2016, Smith accepted a plea deal that required him to resign from the legislature, plead guilty to felony malicious destruction of property over $20,000, and serve 10 months in jail. On March 14, 2016, Smith was sentenced to 10 months in prison and five years of probation, but Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon did not require him to give up his seat. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy submitted a court brief last week that argues that since Sen. Smith has not resigned his seat, he is in violation of his plea deal. Worthy wants the plea deal revoked and for Smith to stand trial.

Local

  • On March 21, Tampa, Florida, Mayor Bob Buckhorn (D) signed an ordinance to decriminalize the possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana. Police officers will impose fines between $75 to $450 instead of arresting offenders. The Tampa City Council had recently voted 5-1 to enact the ordinance. Councilmember Charlie Miranda was the only person to vote against the ordinance, which will be put into effect in April or May 2016. Tampa is the 53rd-largest city in the United States. Ballotpedia covers local ballot measures related to marijuana across the United States.
 

State

Last week

Monday, March 21

  • California’s health insurance exchange proposed removing poorly performing and high-cost providers from its insurers’ networks. If the proposal is approved by the five-member board, insurers will have to identify providers that are outliers in terms of cost and quality, and beginning in 2019, they will be “expected to expel poor performers from their exchange networks.” Peter Lee, executive director of the exchange, said the proposal is about moving beyond enrollment numbers and using the market power of the exchange to make healthcare delivery “more cost effective and higher quality.” The proposal was met with opposition from providers and insurers, who say the exchange is “overstepping its authority.” Others have expressed concern that the proposal will worsen the state of the exchange’s already narrow physician networks. The board will vote on the proposal next month.
  • In Georgia, at Emory University, students reacted to sidewalk chalk statements supporting Trump, which they saw as racist microaggressions, because of statements the candidate has made in this presidential campaign. This is the latest in a series of free speech incidents on campuses, where the students claim they do not feel safe and are harmed by political speech that they view as hate speech. Student protesters met with the president of the university, Jim Wagner, who said they “voiced their genuine concern and pain in the face of this perceived intimidation,” which he understood because “they heard a message...about values regarding diversity and respect that clash with Emory’s own.”
  • North Carolina State Senator Josh Stein (D) resigned in order to focus on his attorney general campaign. He had served in the Senate since 2008. Stein will compete with State Senator Buck Newton (R) in the November 8 general election. North Carolina is one of 23 Republican trifectas.

Tuesday, March 22

Wednesday, March 23

  • Before a local LGBT ordinance in Charlotte, N.C., could go into effect on April 1, legislators in the General Assembly of North Carolina called a one-day special session to address the issue. The ordinance would have prevented businesses from discriminating against LGBT customers. It also would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom of their choosing based on the gender with which they identify. During the special session, the Senate and House passed a bill that overrules the local ordinance and prevents local governments from setting up their own anti-discrimination rules. The House passed the bill by a vote of 82-26, and the Senate passed the bill by a 32-0 vote. Eleven Democrats broke from their party in the House to vote in favor of the legislation, while 11 Senate Democrats walked out in protest before the vote. Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed the bill late Wednesday.
  • Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) named Kaiser executive Donna Lynne to replace outgoing Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia (D). Garcia announced his resignation in November 2015, to take effect June 30, 2016. Like Garcia, Lynne will serve dual roles as lieutenant governor and as the state director of higher education. Hickenlooper has been suggested as a potential cabinet member if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election. If he takes a post in Washington, Lynne would assume the governorship. Lynne has stated she has no plans to run for re-election to a full term in 2018. Colorado is one of 20 states with a divided government.
  • The Oklahoma House Elections and Ethics Committee unanimously approved SB 896, which, if enacted, would make it easier for a political party to retain ballot status in Oklahoma. Current state law stipulates that a party's candidate for governor or president must receive at least 10 percent of the statewide general election vote in order for that party to remain ballot-qualified in Oklahoma. SB 896 would lower that threshold to 2.5 percent. The bill passed the Oklahoma State Senate by a vote of 42-1 on March 10, 2016. The House Elections and Ethics Committee amended the bill slightly, moving its effective date from January 1, 2017, to November 1, 2016. If the bill is approved by the House as a whole, it will return to the Senate for a vote.
  • The Alaska House of Representatives Resource Committee approved a bill that would undo most of the cuts Gov. Bill Walker made to the state's oil and gas subsidies. In December 2015, Walker proposed cutting the state's oil and gas subsidies by $400 million in addition to levying a new $100 million tax on the industry. According to Juneau Empire, were the committee's bill to pass and oil prices to remain the same, Alaska would pay more in subsidies to oil and gas companies than the state would earn in royalties and tax receipts. If the bill, HB 247, passes the Finance Committee, it will head to a full vote in front of the Alaska House of Representatives.
  • After nearly nine months of budget discussion, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf declined to sign or veto a budget bill passed by the state’s General Assembly, which effectively allows the budget to become law on April 3. The budget does not include any new taxes, but it does include a 5 percent increase in state appropriations to some state universities. The budget also includes an increase of $200 million for state K-12 schools, instead of the $400 million that Wolf had proposed last year. While Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R) expressed gratitude that the budget impasse was over, Governor Wolf argued that this year’s budget only solves short-term problems and creates a larger deficit to address for the next fiscal year.
  • South Dakota Governor Daugaard signed into law the first tax-credit scholarship program for low-income students, the Partners in Education Tax Credit Program, which will go into effect in the 2016-2017 school year. This makes South Dakota the 29th state to have this type of private school choice program. The bill, S.B. 159, which the legislature passed earlier in March, allows for a tax credit to insurance companies that contribute to a fund, which will then disburse the scholarships to eligible students.

Thursday, March 24

Friday, March 25

  • Former head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Spencer Collier alleged that Governor Robert Bentley had an extramarital affair with senior political adviser Rebekah Mason, pointing to recordings of the governor allegedly making comments of a sexual nature to Mason. Alabama state auditor Jim Zeigler asked the Alabama Ethics Commission to investigate allegations of the affair. He also raised concerns that Mason’s salary was being paid by a private political organization loyal to the governor. Gov. Bentley apologized for making sexual comments to Mason, but denied having an affair with her.
  • Filing Deadline: North Carolina June Primary
    • Supreme Court: The filing period to run for the North Carolina Supreme Court seat of Justice Robert Edmunds closed Friday, March 25. Justice Edmunds was to have stood in a retention election, but the 2015 retention-election law was ruled unconstitutional on March 4. As of Friday morning, three candidates—Judge Michael Morgan, attorney Daniel G. Robertson, and attorney Sabra Faires—had filed to run against Justice Edmunds, who also filed. Faires is the plaintiff in the case that produced the ruling striking down the retention-election law. The state of North Carolina has appealed the ruling, and the state supreme court will hear the case on April 13. Justice Edmunds has recused himself from the case; the remaining six justices will be deciding the constitutionality of retention elections from which they themselves might benefit.
  • The Idaho State Legislature adjourned its regular session. The state is currently one of 23 Republican state government trifectas. Republicans currently hold the governor's office, the House by 42 seats, and the Senate by 21 seats.

 

This week

Tuesday, March 29

Wednesday, March 30

  • Filing Deadline: South Carolina
    • State legislatures: South Carolina has 46 state Senate and 124 state House seats up for election in 2016. Both chambers are firmly held by Republicans. South Carolina has a Republican governor, making it one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta. In 2014, South Carolina had the 46th most competitive elections, according to Ballotpedia’s competitive analysis. The competitive index analyzed the 46 states with state legislature elections in 2014.

 

State government in session

Twenty-four states are in regular session; California and Washington are in special session. AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IA, IL, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MS, NY, OH, OK, RI, SC, TN, VT. Nine states are in recess:

  • MN, MO, NE, and SD until 3/29/2016
  • NH Senate until 3/31/2016
  • NJ and PA until 4/04/2016
  • WI until 4/5/2016
  • NH House until 4/6/2016
  • SC House until 4/12/2016
  • KS until 4/27/2016

Adjourned regular sessions:

  • FL, GA, ID, IN, NM, OR, UT, VA, WA, 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, 24 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 17 (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).

Last week

This week

Local

Last week

Tuesday, March 22

  • New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) affordable housing plan was approved via a pair of zoning text amendments passed by the city council through votes of 42-5 and 40-6. Crain’s New York Business claimed that “[t]he mandatory inclusionary housing policy defines de Blasio's political agenda. It was proposed as a counterweight to the trend of rising residential rents and the displacement of longtime residents from their neighborhoods.” Following the plan’s passage, city real estate lawyers questioned whether it would be effective since the city's tax breaks to incentivize the construction of mixed-income buildings had expired earlier in the year. New York is the largest city in the United States.

Wednesday, March 23

  • Following Arizona's presidential primary election on March 22, 2016, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton (D) called on U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to investigate problems experienced by Maricopa County residents who attempted to vote in the election. Those issues included a reduction in polling locations from 200 in 2012 to 60 in 2016, which resulted in long lines and hours of waiting to vote. Governor Doug Ducey (R) described the wait as “unacceptable.” Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell (R) stated she "screwed up" by cutting too many polling places but refused to resign. Phoenix is the sixth-largest city in the United States.

Thursday, March 24

  • In North Carolina, Winston-Salem city election officials completed a full canvass of the vote from the city council’s primary election held on March 15, 2016. Following the unofficial vote tally, Carolyn Highsmith was ahead of John Larson by only four votes in the Democratic primary for the open South Ward seat. After the vote canvass was completed, her lead extended to six votes out of the 4,052 total votes cast in the race. Larson announced his intention to request an official recount, and Highsmith agreed and stated, “People who went to vote did not get to vote. We've seen that today and on Tuesday.” The general election for the mayor’s office and all eight city council seats will be November 8, 2016. The 2016 election is the first even-year election for the city's mayor and city council, following a 2011 state law moving municipal elections from odd years. In 2016, 43 of America’s 100 largest cities by population are holding elections.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for three of the nine seats on the Billings Public Schools school board in Montana. The general election will be on May 5, 2016. Billings was the largest school district by student enrollment in Montana and served 16,328 students during the 2013-2014 school year.

 

This week

Tuesday, March 29

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to run for two of the seven seats on the Rapid City school board in South Dakota. The general election will be on June 7, 2016. Rapid City was the second-largest school district by student enrollment in South Dakota and served 13,353 students during the 2013–2014 school year.

Wednesday, March 30

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to run for five of the nine seats on the Kershaw County school board in South Carolina. The general election will be on June 14, 2016. Kershaw County was the 22nd-largest school district by student enrollment in South Carolina and served 10,493 students during the 2013–2014 school year.

Saturday, April 2

  • A special runoff election will be held in Laredo, Texas, for the District 2 seat on the city council. The seat became vacant when incumbent Esteban Rangel resigned in order to run for the Webb County Commission. Vidal Rodriguez and Jose Perez III were the top vote recipients out of the five-candidate field in the general election held on February 13, 2016. Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election was scheduled. Laredo is the 81st-largest city in the United States, and it will hold regular city council elections for four of seven seats later this year. The general election date for the regular election has not yet been determined.

 

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