Pennsylvania candidate filing period for state executive and legislative offices ends Feb. 18

------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed] [blank]
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]

Welcome to the weekend! Start it off right by our full version of The State and Local Tap online!

Read the full Tap online ([link removed])

mailto:?&[email protected]&subject=Check out this info I found from Ballotpedia&body=https%3A%2F%2Fballotpedia.org%2FThe_State_and_Local_Tap%3A_Wisconsin_Supreme_Court_primary_takes_place_Feb._18 [blank]    [link removed] [blank] [blank]    [link removed]
------------------------------------------------------------

 
** BALLOT MEASURES UPDATE:
------------------------------------------------------------

 
** 2020
------------------------------------------------------------

* Fifty-five statewide measures ([link removed]) in 24 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot so far.

* Eighteen of the 55 certified measures are citizen-initiated measures. Thirty-six are legislative referrals. One is an automatic constitutional revision commission question.
* No new measures were certified for the 2020 ballot last week.
* Proponents of four additional ballot initiatives or veto referendums ([link removed]) in Alaska, Maine, and Michigan submitted signatures, which are pending verification by state officials.

------------------------------------------------------------

 
** JONATHAN PIZER APPOINTED TO ILLINOIS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
------------------------------------------------------------

* Illinois Democratic party leaders appointed Jonathan Pizer (D) ([link removed]) to represent District 12 ([link removed]) in the state House of Representatives. The seat was vacated when Sen. Sara Feigenholtz (D) ([link removed]) was appointed to the Illinois State Senate on January 21, 2020, following the resignation of former Senate President John Cullerton (D) ([link removed]) .
* Pizer previously declared his candidacy for this year’s election to represent District 12 in the state House. He is one of six candidates on the ballot in the Democratic primary on March 17. There are no Republican primary candidates.
* Pizer owned and operated a small business before becoming the LGBT Liaison for U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D) ([link removed]) , where he worked for the previous five years.
* Pizer’s appointment filled the second vacancy of the year in the Illinois House of Representatives. Democrats hold a 74-44 majority, with no vacancies. The Democratic Party also holds the Illinois governorship and majority control of the state Senate, making Illinois one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas ([link removed]) .

------------------------------------------------------------

 
** RICHARD CHAMPION SWORN IN TO COLORADO HOUSE
------------------------------------------------------------

* Richard Champion (R) ([link removed]) was sworn in to the Colorado House of Representatives, representing District 38 ([link removed]) . His term will end on January 13, 2021. Before Champion was appointed to the Colorado House, he served as the Mayor of Columbine Valley, Colorado, and as one of the town’s trustees.
* Republican Party leaders appointed Champion to the seat on February 8, to succeed former Colorado Rep. Susan Beckman (R). Beckman resigned from the Colorado House ([link removed]) to join President Donald Trump’s (R) administration.
* Vacancies in the Colorado state legislature are filled by vacancy committees consisting of members representing the political party that last held the seat. The person appointed serves the remainder of the resigning officeholder’s term.
* Champion’s appointment to the Colorado House filled the last remaining vacancy in the Colorado General Assembly. He was the third legislator to be appointed to the Colorado General Assembly in 2020 and the seventh appointee since the 2018 general election.

------------------------------------------------------------

 
** SPECIAL ELECTIONS
------------------------------------------------------------

* So far this year, 32 state legislative special elections ([link removed]) have been scheduled in 14 states. Special elections have been held for eight seats so far; heading into those races, Democrats had previously controlled two of the seats while Republicans previously controlled six.

* In special elections between 2011 and 2019, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats nationally each year.
* An average of 55 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010 ([link removed]) : 26, 2012 ([link removed]) : 45, 2014 ([link removed]) : 40, 2016 ([link removed]) : 65, 2018 ([link removed]) : 99).
* An average of 88 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five odd years (2011 ([link removed]) : 94, 2013 ([link removed]) : 84, 2015 ([link removed]) : 88, 2017 ([link removed]) : 98, 2019 ([link removed]) : 77)..

 
** UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTIONS INCLUDE:
------------------------------------------------------------

* February 25

* Kentucky House of Representatives District 67 ([link removed])
* Kentucky House of Representatives District 99 ([link removed])
* Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 190 ([link removed])

* March 3

* Arkansas House of Representatives District 22 ([link removed])
* Arkansas House of Representatives District 34 ([link removed])
* California State Senate District 28 (primary) ([link removed])
* Georgia State Senate District 13 (general runoff) ([link removed])
* Maine House of Representatives District 128 ([link removed])
* Massachusetts State Senate Second Hampden & Hampshire District (primary) ([link removed])
* Massachusetts State Senate Plymouth & Barnstable District (primary) ([link removed])
* Massachusetts House of Representatives Third Bristol District (primary) ([link removed])
* Massachusetts House of Representatives Thirty-second Middlesex District ([link removed])
* Massachusetts House of Representatives Thirty-seventh Middlesex District (primary) ([link removed])
* Rhode Island House of Representatives District 56 ([link removed])

* March 10

* Michigan House of Representatives District 34 ([link removed])
* New Hampshire House of Representatives Merrimack 24 District ( [link removed])

------------------------------------------------------------

 
** PENNSYLVANIA CANDIDATE FILING PERIOD FOR STATE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE OFFICES ENDS FEB. 18
------------------------------------------------------------

* The filing deadline ([link removed]) to run for elected office in Pennsylvania is on February 18, 2020. In Pennsylvania, prospective candidates may file for the following state offices:

* State auditor general, attorney general, and treasurer
* 25 seats in the Pennsylvania State Senate and 203 seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

* The primary is scheduled for April 28, and the general election is scheduled for November 3, 2020. Pennsylvania’s filing deadline is the 13th to take place in the 2020 election cycle. The next statewide filing deadline is on March 2 in Nebraska.
* Pennsylvania has a divided government, and no political party holds a state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and both state legislative chambers.

------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]
------------------------------------------------------------

 
** WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT PRIMARY TAKES PLACE FEB. 18
------------------------------------------------------------

* A nonpartisan primary ([link removed]) will take place on Feb. 18 to narrow the candidate field in the 2020 election of a justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
* Incumbent Daniel Kelly ([link removed])) , Ed Fallone ([link removed]) , and Jill Karofsky ([link removed]) are running in the primary. Kelly is a member of the court's 5-2 conservative majority. Fallone and Karofsky have each pledged to join the court's liberal minority. Although the race is officially nonpartisan, Kelly has received support from Republican-affiliated groups and Fallone and Karofsky from Democratic-affiliated groups.
* Kelly was appointed to the court in 2016 by then-Gov. Scott Walker (R) to fill a vacancy opened by the retirement of David Prosser.
* Fallone is a law professor at Marquette University who ran for state supreme court in 2013.
* Karofsky is a judge on the Dane County Circuit Court who was elected in 2017.
* All three candidates say they are running to oppose politicization of the court.
* The top two finishers in the primary will advance to a general election on April 7. The winner of the general election will begin a 10-year term.
* A win for either Fallone or Karofsky would reduce the size of the conservative majority on the court to 4-3, meaning control of the court would be at stake during the next election in 2023. A win for Kelly would preserve the current 5-2 balance, meaning that control of the court will not be at stake until the 2026 election assuming no justices leave the bench early.
* Recent Wisconsin Supreme Court elections have been decided by narrow margins. In the 2019 election ([link removed]) , conservative Brian Hagedorn defeated liberal Lisa Neubauer by a margin of 50.2% to 49.7%. Setting aside the 2017 election (in which the incumbent was unopposed), the widest margin of victory for a Wisconsin Supreme Court election in the past decade was Ann Walsh Bradley's 58.1% to 41.9% win in 2015.

[link removed]
------------------------------------------------------------

 
** CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR RECALL EFFORT SIGNATURE DEADLINE PASSES
------------------------------------------------------------

* Supporters of the effort ([link removed])) to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom ([link removed]) (D) had until February 13 to submit 1,495,709 signatures to force a recall election. Republican congressional candidate Erin Cruz ([link removed]) submitted the recall. Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) approved the recall for circulation on September 6, 2019. As of January 29 this year, there were 197,150 signatures submitted, and 134,357 had been deemed valid by the secretary of state.
* The recall petition alleges that Newsom mismanaged the state and caused poor schools, deteriorating infrastructure, high costs for gas and utilities, and increased homelessness and debt. The recall petition also criticized Newsom’s support of policies such as Medicare for All and laws that aid immigrants living in the country illegally.
* In response to the recall efforts, Newsom filed a statement with the secretary of state in August 2019. In his statement, Newsom said ([link removed]) that the "…recall effort will cost California taxpayers $81 million dollars! It is being pushed by political extremists supporting President Trump’s hateful attacks on California."
* California became a Democratic trifecta in 2011. A state government trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and both state legislative chambers. Democrats control the California state House by a 61-18 margin with one vacancy and the state Senate by a 29-10 margin with one vacancy. Newsom succeeded Jerry Brown (D) as governor in 2019. He won the 2018 election with 61.9% of the vote.
* Three gubernatorial recall efforts are currently underway in 2020. From 2003 to 2019, Ballotpedia tracked 22 gubernatorial recall efforts. During that time, two recalls made the ballot, and one governor was successfully recalled. Former California Gov. Gray Davis (D) was recalled in 2003 and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger (R). In 2012, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was retained in a recall election. The only other governor to ever be successfully recalled was former North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier (R) in 1921.

------------------------------------------------------------

 
** STATES IN SESSION
------------------------------------------------------------

Forty-three states—Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming—are in regular session. ([link removed])

------------------------------------------------------------

 
** LOCAL POLITICS: THE WEEK IN REVIEW
------------------------------------------------------------

* In 2020, Ballotpedia is providing comprehensive coverage of elections in America's 100 largest cities ([link removed]) by population. This encompasses every office on the ballot in these cities, including their municipal elections ([link removed]) , trial court elections ([link removed]) , school board elections ([link removed]) , and local ballot measures ([link removed]) . Ballotpedia is also covering all local recall elections ([link removed]) as well as all local ballot measures in California ([link removed]) .

* 2020

* FEBRUARY 11 - NEBRASKA ([link removed])) : Voters in Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska will decide a $290 million bond issue ([link removed])) .

* MARCH 3 - CALIFORNIA: ([link removed]) Local voters in California will decide about 300 local ballot measures on the ballot in different jurisdictions across 48 different counties.

* Measures include a Los Angeles county citizen initiative—Measure R ([link removed])) —that would authorize the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission to develop a Comprehensive Public Safety Reinvestment Plan designed to reduce jail population and incarceration and granting the commission subpoena power to investigate complaints.
* San Diego County voters will also decide two measures concerning land use and development.
* San Francisco voters will decide five measures, including Proposition E ([link removed])) , a citizen initiative that would limit city office development based on progress on annual housing goals.

* MARCH 3 - OKLAHOMA ([link removed]) : Voters in Oklahoma City will decide a citizen initiative ([link removed])) that would levy an additional 0.125% sales tax to fund city parks, thereby increasing the total sales tax rate in the city from 8.625% to 8.75%.
* MARCH 10 - ARIZONA: ([link removed]) Voters in Chandler will decide a charter amendment ([link removed])) to make the city’s charter compatible with state law governing local election dates.
* MARCH 17 - OHIO: ([link removed]) Voters in Cleveland will decide three charter amendments concerning election procedures, city council salaries, and city council meetings. Voters in the Columbus State Community College will decide a $300 million bond issue.

BALLOTPEDIA DEPENDS ON THE SUPPORT OF OUR READERS.

The Lucy Burns Institute, publisher of Ballotpedia, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations to the Lucy Burns Institute or Ballotpedia do not support any candidates or campaigns.
 

Click here to support our work ([link removed])
 
------------------------------------------------------------

============================================================
Decide which emails you want from Ballotpedia.
** Unsubscribe from all emails [link removed]
or ** update your subscription preferences [link removed]
.
 
Ballotpedia

The Encyclopedia of American Politics

** 8383 Greenway Blvd., Suite 600 ([link removed])

** Middleton, WI 53562 ([link removed])

** [Facebook] ([link removed])

 

** [Twitter] ([link removed])