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Welcome to the weekend! Start it off right by our full version of The State and Local Tap online!
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Ballot Measures Update:
2020
- Fifty-five statewide measures 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 in Alaska, Maine, and Michigan submitted signatures, which are pending verification by state officials.
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Jonathan Pizer appointed to Illinois House of Representatives
- Illinois Democratic party leaders appointed Jonathan Pizer (D) to represent District 12 in the state House of Representatives. The seat was vacated when Sen. Sara Feigenholtz (D) was appointed to the Illinois State Senate on January 21, 2020, following the resignation of former Senate President John Cullerton (D).
- 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), 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.
Richard Champion sworn in to Colorado House
- Richard Champion (R) was sworn in to the Colorado House of Representatives, representing District 38. 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 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 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: 26, 2012: 45, 2014: 40, 2016: 65, 2018: 99).
- An average of 88 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five odd years (2011: 94, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98, 2019: 77).
Upcoming Special Elections Include:
- February 25
- March 3
- March 10
Pennsylvania candidate filing period for state executive and legislative offices ends Feb. 18
- The filing deadline 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.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court primary takes place Feb. 18
- A nonpartisan primary 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, Ed Fallone, and Jill Karofsky 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, 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.
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California governor recall effort signature deadline passes
- Supporters of the effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had until February 13 to submit 1,495,709 signatures to force a recall election. Republican congressional candidate Erin Cruz 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 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.
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Local Politics: The Week in Review
- In 2020, Ballotpedia is providing comprehensive coverage of elections in America's 100 largest cities by population. This encompasses every office on the ballot in these cities, including their municipal elections, trial court elections, school board elections, and local ballot measures. Ballotpedia is also covering all local recall elections as well as all local ballot measures in California.
- 2020
- February 11 - Nebraska: Voters in Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska will decide a $290 million bond issue.
- March 3 - California: 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—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, a citizen initiative that would limit city office development based on progress on annual housing goals.
- March 3 - Oklahoma: Voters in Oklahoma City will decide a citizen initiative 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: Voters in Chandler will decide a charter amendment to make the city’s charter compatible with state law governing local election dates.
- March 17 - Ohio: 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.
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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.
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