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Each week, The Weekly Brew brings you a collection of the most viewed stories from The Daily Brew, condensed. If you like this newsletter, sign up to The Daily Brew with one click to wake up and learn something new each day.
Here are the top stories from the week of February 24 - February 28. |
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Total partisan composition of state legislatures changed by less than one percentage point in 2024
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As lawmakers around the country meet in the 2025 legislative sessions, we’re continuing our analysis of the elections that brought them there. In Monday’s Brew, we looked at the seats that changed party hands.
In the Nov. 5 elections:
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Republicans gained 55 state legislative seats
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Democrats lost 54 seats
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Independents and minor party officeholders lost one seat
That means the overall partisan composition across all 50 state legislatures changed by 0.7% in favor of Republicans. |
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St. Louis will pick its next mayor with approval voting
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Incumbent Mayor Tishaura Jones, Michael Butler, Andrew Jones Jr., and Cara Spencer are running in the nonpartisan primary for Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri, on March 4.
This mayoral primary is the second in St. Louis to use approval voting, which allows voters to vote for any number of candidates. The two with the most votes advance to a runoff. In 2020, St. Louis voters approved Proposition D, 68.1% to 31.8%, which implemented approval voting in local primary elections beginning in 2021. |
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Campaigns raised more than $1.3 billion in the 2024 ballot measure cycle
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Campaigns supporting and opposing the 159 measures on statewide ballots in 2024 raised more than $1.3 billion—the most for an even-year election in the past four cycles.
Here's a look at the five states whose ballot measures raised the most in 2024.
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The 11 measures in California raised $392.7 million, or slightly less than a third of the 2024 total
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The six measures in Florida raised $315.4 million, or 24.3%
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The eight measures in Missouri raised $108.4 million, or 8.2%
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The four measures in Washington raised $57.6 million, or 4.4%
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The 13 measures in Arizona raised $54.8 million, or 4.2%
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Maine voter ID citizen initiative will appear on the November ballot unless lawmakers enact it
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On Feb. 19, the Maine Secretary of State's Office announced that the campaign Voter ID for ME collected enough signatures to place a citizen initiative requiring photo voter identification, among other changes, on the November ballot unless the Maine Legislature approves it first.
Maine is one of 15 states that does not currently have a voter ID requirement.
There are two possible next steps:
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The state legislature can approve the initiative. If the governor signs it, it will take effect like any other law passed by the legislature.
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The state legislature can reject the initiative or take no action. If the governor vetoes it and the veto is not overridden, the initiative will be placed on the November ballot for voters to decide.
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