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The Tap: 1,058 delegates from Tuesday: who won?

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March 21, 2016Issue No. 8

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What happened last week: March 14 - March 20
What's happening this week: March 21 - March 27

Navigate The Tap by clicking the tabs below:

Federal

What's on tap?

Along with Super Tuesday III, March 15 also saw a reversal of a January 2015 proposal that would have opened up parts of the Atlantic for offshore drilling. The Obama administration announced that it would not allow drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the decision on Twitter, saying, “Next 5-year offshore proposed plan protects the Atlantic for future generations.” The department’s press release on the decision cited “current market dynamics, strong local opposition and conflicts with competing commercial and military ocean uses” as reasons for not considering the originally proposed offshore drilling leases. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, which wrote the plan, as much as 3.3 billion barrels of oil and 31.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be recovered from this area. If the proposal had moved forward, it would have been the first time that drilling would have been authorized off the coasts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

 

Federal

Last week

Monday, March 14

  • Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, pushed the U.N. Security Council to act on Iran’s recent ballistic missile test despite resistance from Russia. Power said, “This merits a council response. Russia seems to be lawyering its way to look for reasons not to act ... We're not going to give up at the Security Council, no matter the quibbling that we heard today about this and that."
  • The Senate voted 49-40 to confirm John King as the secretary of education. King has served as the acting secretary since late 2015, when former Secretary Arne Duncan stepped down. King has been with the education department since 2014 and previously worked as a principal, charter school founder and secretary of education for the state of New York. Of the 40 Nay votes, only one, Kirsten Gillibrand, was a Democrat senator.
  • Two additional Breitbart News staffers resigned. National security correspondent Jordan Schachtel and associate editor Jarrett Stepman joined reporter Michelle Fields and PR spokesperson Kurt Bardella in resigning after Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, allegedly grabbed Fields by the arm and forcibly moved her out of Trump’s way. For a comprehensive overview of the event, go here.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Montana’s congressional filing deadline. Montana has one at-large congressional district, which is held by Republican Ryan Zinke.

Tuesday, March 15

Democratic nomination

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Republican nomination

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Wednesday, March 16

  • President Barack Obama announced Merrick Garland, a judge on the Federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, as his nominee for the Supreme Court. Garland has been nominated to fill the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia.
  • A new super PAC, America’s Youth PAC, was formed to support Bernie Sanders. The group is made up of former Sanders staffers and operates out of the same building as Sanders’ campaign in Anchorage, Alaska. Chris Johnson, head of the group, told Time magazine that the super PAC’s staffers left because of disagreements with the campaign: “We were all former staffers on the Bernie Sanders campaign and we came to a realization that there was a niche where we could do some really good work. We really felt like there was a niche of activating new voters that was left untapped.”
  • The Fox News Republican presidential debate scheduled to take place on March 21 in Salt Lake City, Utah, was canceled. Fox News executive Michael Clemente said in a statement, “This morning, Donald Trump announced he would not be participating in the debate. Shortly afterward, John Kasich's campaign announced that without Trump at the debate, Kasich would not participate. Ted Cruz has expressed a willingness to debate Trump or Kasich – or both. But obviously, there needs to be more than one participant. So the Salt Lake City debate is canceled.”
  • Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) endorsed Donald Trump on Wednesday. “This has been a hard fought primary, with an outstanding roster of excellent candidates, including two of Florida's favorite sons, and several Republican governors who are close friends of mine. But the voters are speaking clearly – they want a businessman outsider who will dramatically shake up the status quo in Washington,” Scott said in a statement.

Thursday, March 17

Friday, March 18

 

Congress is IN session SCOTUS is IN session
The Senate will not be in session next week. The House will be in session Monday through Wednesday. SCOTUS will hear five arguments this week Monday through Wednesday, including Wittman v. Personhubullah.

This week

Monday, March 21

  • The United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Wittman v. Personhubullah. The case concerns congressional district lines in Virginia. The hearing scheduled for March 21 will culminate in a final decision on the constitutionality of the new map; this decision is expected to come down in June 2016. For more details about how the case reached this point, see this page.

Tuesday, March 22

Thursday, March 24

  • 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.

 

Where was the president last week? Federal judiciary
With his Supreme Court nomination announcement last week, President Barack Obama stayed in Washington, D.C. until March 20. On the 20th, he landed in Cuba for a diplomatic visit. This marks the first U.S president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge, 88 years ago.  
  • 83 total federal judicial vacancies and one Supreme Court vacancy
  • 48 pending nominations
  • 14 future vacancies

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State and Local

What's on tap?


 

Highlights

State

  • According to a report on Oklahoma’s state finances, the state’s general revenue fund was 18 percent below its estimate for February 2016, which was the greatest underestimation of the state’s funds for the fiscal year so far. The general fund supplies funding for all of the state’s major operations. As a result of this shortfall, state officials implemented a 7 percent cut across the board to all state agencies. The Oklahoma Senate passed legislation that would use $79 million from the state’s rainy day fund to offset these cuts for public education and corrections. Overall, total general fund collections for the state have been nearly 9 percent lower than estimations for the first eight months of fiscal year 2016. Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman (R) announced the plan to appropriate the state’s rainy day funds. He praised the state’s Senate for quickly addressing the shortfall with this legislation and also stated that the legislature had previously avoided making deep education cuts. With regard to future efforts to reduce similar budget shortfalls, Oklahoma’s state finance secretary, Preston Doerflinger, expressed a desire for the state to add “stable, recurring revenues to the next budget,” which is scheduled to begin on July 1, 2017.

Local

  • On Wednesday, March 16, the filing deadline passed to run for six of the 13 seats on the Washington, D.C., City Council. Former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D), who served from 2011 to 2015, filed to challenge incumbent Yvette Alexander (D) for the Ward 7 seat on the city council. The primary election will be on June 14, 2016, and the general election will be on November 8, 2016. Washington, D.C., is the 24th-largest city by population in the United States.
 

State

Last week

Monday, March 14

  • The New Jersey Legislature voted to put the New Jersey Casino Expansion Amendment on the November 8 ballot. Upon voter approval, it would add two casinos in North Jersey, which would end a four-decade casino monopoly in Atlantic City. This measure is the second to be certified for the New Jersey ballot in November. Earlier in March, another gambling-related measure was certified for the ballot in Rhode Island.
  • Just in time for the March 31 convention, North Dakota State Rep. Marvin Nelson (D) announced his candidacy for the 2016 governor's race, which is currently rated 'Likely Republican.' He is the first North Dakotan Democrat to declare a run for statewide office in 2016. North Dakotans haven't elected a Democratic governor since 1988, and Republicans currently have a long-standing trifecta. Nelson has served in the House since 2010.
  • Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R) signed legislation that places new regulations on the prescribing of opiate painkillers. Under the law, patients can only receive a seven-day supply of their opioid prescriptions at a time. In the event of an overdose, healthcare providers must evaluate the patient within 24 hours for signs of substance abuse and provide information on treatment options. The law also requires schools to verbally screen students for opioid abuse, although “[p]arents could opt their child out of the screenings.” The New England region of the United States has faced rising rates of opioid and heroin abuse and overdoses over the past decade. Other states in the region, including Vermont, have also taken steps to address the issue, such as instituting new rules on primary care physicians to assess substance abuse risk before prescribing opiate painkillers to patients.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Montana

Tuesday, March 15

  • Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Eakin resigned in advance of his scheduled trial before the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline. He had been suspended since December 2015 over allegations of inappropriate emails rising to the level of judicial misconduct.
  • Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D) signed legislation affirming the state government’s November 2015 decision to remove gray wolves from Oregon’s list of endangered species. House Bill 4040, which was passed by the Democratic legislature, would all but prevent environmental groups from succeeding in a lawsuit challenging the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission’s decision on scientific grounds. The bill was supported by the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, which argued that the legislation would prevent unnecessary litigation and aid wolf management. Oregon Wild, an environmental group, argued that the bill prevents the state government from being held accountable through judicial review and would ultimately harm wolves. The gray wolf remains a federally protected species in Oregon, meaning it is illegal to kill a wolf except in rare circumstances.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Maine

March 15 election results

Statewide ballot measures

State legislatures

State executives

  • North Carolina: Four incumbent Democrats are pursuing state executive seats in November. Attorney General Roy Cooper won the Democratic nomination for governor and will challenge incumbent Pat McCrory (R) in the November 8 general election; two state senators will compete for the vacant A.G. seat. Linda Coleman (D), who lost the lieutenant governor seat in 2012 by a margin of just 0.2 percent, will get a rematch with incumbent Dan Forest (R). Low approval ratings for the Republican-led General Assembly foreshadow competitive races for the state's top offices in 2016. North Carolina is one of 23 Republican trifectas.

State courts

Thursday, March 17

  • The Alabama Legislature voted to place the Alabama Amendment 8 on the November ballot. The measure would prohibit employers from denying employment to potential employees on the basis of membership or non-membership in a labor union.
  • The U.S. House Oversight Committee held a hearing on the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, featuring testimony from Republican Governor Rick Snyder and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. Snyder blamed the EPA and state bureaucrats for not properly treating lead from aging pipes when Flint switched to the Flint River for water in order to save money in 2014. McCarthy blamed the Michigan government and Snyder in particular for not requiring the river water to be treated for corrosion. The Safe Drinking Water Act mandates that drinking water systems contain reduced levels of lead to avoid health problems. Roughly 8,000 children were potentially exposed to lead as a result of untreated pipes in Flint. Democratic committee members said Snyder should resign over his role during the crisis, while Republican committee members said McCarthy should resign.
  • United States District Court Judge Richard Story invalidated Georgia's petition signature requirement for independent and minor party presidential candidates. Prior to Story's ruling, state law required independent and minor party presidential candidates to collect signatures equaling 1 percent of the total number of registered and eligible voters in the most recent presidential election. Under this requirement, independent presidential candidates in Georgia would have been required to collect more than 49,000 signatures in order to get their names on the ballot in November 2016. Story's ruling applies only to 2016; state lawmakers will have to revise the requirement for future presidential elections. It is currently estimated that an independent presidential candidate would need to collect in excess of 880,000 signatures in order to have his or her name printed on the November ballot in every state. Prior to Story's ruling, this total exceeded 900,000 signatures.
  • President Obama has nominated Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Lisabeth Tabor Hughes to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Utah

Friday, March 18

  • FILING DEADLINE: Iowa
    • Iowa has 25 state Senate and 100 state House seats up for election in 2016. Two Republican organizations are targeting the state Senate as one of the most likely to have a new Republican majority. Both chambers have been identified as battleground chambers by Ballotpedia. Thirty-nine state House districts were won by a competitive margin of victory in the 2012 presidential election. Twenty-two of those 39 state House districts were highly competitive, while 17 districts were considered mildly competitive. Under Ballotpedia’s competitiveness criteria, districts that have a margin of victory of less than 5 percent are considered highly competitive, while districts with a margin of victory from 5 to 10 percent are considered mildly competitive.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Nevada
    • There are 11 state Senate and 42 state Assembly seats up for election. Since Democrats only need to gain one seat to retake the chamber, they are targeting two open Republican seats, as well as other districts that appear favorable based on previous elections. The Senate's Democratic Caucus raised over $270,000, while the Republican Caucus raised around $84,000.

 

This week

Tuesday, March 22

Friday, March 25

  • The impromptu filing period closes for candidates running for the North Carolina Supreme Court seat of Justice Robert Edmunds. Justice Edmunds was to have stood in a retention election in November—the first of its kind in North Carolina—until earlier in March, when a panel of three judges in Wake County ruled North Carolina’s 2015 retention-election law unconstitutional. Under the election board’s motion, candidates may now file from March 16-25 to run in a contested election for the seat. Justice Edmunds was required to file to run in this election. If three or more candidates file to run, the state will hold a primary on June 7, the date set for North Carolina’s special 2016 second primary for U.S. House of Representatives races. Justice Edmunds is part of the court’s 4-3 conservative majority, and he narrowly won re-election in his 2008 race against Democrat Suzanne Reynolds. The state’s supreme court is set to begin hearing an appeal on April 13; Edmunds has recused himself from the case.
  • The Idaho State Legislature is projected to adjourn 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.

 

State government in session

Twenty-nine states are in regular session; Washington is in special session. AL, AK, AZ, CO, CT, DE, GA, HI, ID, IL, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, NE, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, VT. Six states are in recess:

  • NH until 3/23/2016
  • NJ until 3/24/2016
  • CA until 3/28/2016
  • MO and SD until 3/29/2016
  • WI until 4/5/2016

Adjourned regular sessions:

  • FL, 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 legislative special elections have been held 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 16 (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

Monday, March 14

  • A survey of 6,000 New York Police Department officers conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) found that 96 percent of the officers held an unfavorable view of Mayor Bill de Blasio (D). The mayor has had a contentious relationship with city police officers following the death of Eric Garner, an African-American man killed by a police officer's chokehold during an arrest attempt, as well as the deaths of police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, who were shot by a lone gunman in December 2014. Of the survey respondents, 95 percent believed that New York City was on the wrong track and 95 percent also stated that they felt "less safe" while on duty as a police officer. The New York City Council received a similarly poor mark, with a 97 percent negative rating. New York magazine cast some doubt on the source of the survey and noted that the PBA is led by “the noted rabble-rouser Pat Lynch” who has feuded with multiple New York City mayors. In response to the survey, the mayor’s spokesperson stated, “These findings are highly suspect and fly in the face of the facts. [...] We are experiencing historic lows in criminal activity. Murders and shootings are at their lowest in modern history. NYPD is the most effective police force in the country thanks to our officers' dedication and commitment to their job.”

Tuesday, March 15

  • In North Carolina, Winston-Salem held a primary election for three seats on the city council. The Northeast Ward and South Ward both held Democratic primaries, while the Northwest Ward held a Republican primary. In the South Ward primary, Carolyn Highsmith was ahead of John Larson by only four votes following the unofficial tally. Larson stated that he would decide whether or not to seek a recount based on the county's final canvass of votes on March 22, 2016. 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.
  • In North Carolina, seven of the state’s largest school districts held primary elections, and another four districts held general elections for school board. Durham, Onslow County, Robeson County and Wilkes County were the four school districts that held general elections. In 2016, 640 of America's 1,000 largest school districts by enrollment are holding elections.
  • Peoria Public Schools District 150 in Illinois will hold a general election for two of its seven school board seats. The school district had 13,778 students enrolled during the 2013-2014 school year.
  • Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio will hold primary elections for local judgeships. All three states hold partisan primary elections for judges. The general election in all three states will be November 8, 2016. Ballotpedia is covering elections for general and limited jurisdiction judges across the United States in 2016.

Wednesday, March 16

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for the District 6 seat on the Stockton City Council in California. This was an extension from the original filing deadline on March 11, 2016. City election officials extended the deadline for five days due to a lack of candidates by the original deadline. Five candidates filed by the second deadline. The city will hold a primary election for the mayor’s office and three of the six city council seats on June 7, 2016, and the general election will be on November 8, 2016. Stockton is the 63rd-largest city by population in the United States.

Thursday, March 17

  • In Texas, an effort to recall Floresville Mayor Sherry Castillo and City Councilmembers Daniel Tejada and Juan Ortiz was removed from the ballot by Judge Dick Alcala. On March 10, 2016, the city council had voted 3-2 to hold a recall election on November 8, 2016. This council vote was nullified by Judge Alcala on the basis that it violated the city charter by failing to hold the election on the May municipal election date. Former councilmember Eric Rodriguez had initiated the recall due to the council spending more than the approved budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Rodriguez was barred from future city council meetings in early February 2016 via a criminal trespass warrant issued following a meeting on February 4, 2016. Mayor Castillo stated that Rodriguez was banned because Rodriguez repeatedly interrupted council meetings. Rodriguez responded, "They kicked me out because I am getting too close to the truth."
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for a total of 48 seats across 14 of Utah’s largest school districts by student enrollment. The general election will be on November 8, 2016.

Friday, March 18

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for a total of 12 seats across three of Utah’s largest school districts by student enrollment. The three school districts are Clark County, Elko County and Washoe County. The primary election will be on June 14, 2016, and the general election will be on November 8, 2016.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for three of the seven seats on the Reno City Council in Nevada. The primary election will be on June 14, 2016, and the general election will be on November 8, 2016. Reno is the 89th-largest city by population in the United States.

 

This week

Thursday, March 24

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline 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.

 

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Ballotpedia wants to keep you in the know. In this weekly newsletter, we let you know the important things that happened last week in the federal, state and local levels of government, as well as what you should look for this week. The Tap covers election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events—everything you need to stay up-to-date on American politics. A summary of the in-depth, nonpartisan content that is added to Ballotpedia every week is now available in this digestible format for free to anyone who wants to be informed.

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