Welcome to the Thursday, July 9, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. An update on school reopenings
2. Previewing the Alabama Republican U.S. Senate primary runoff
3. Voters approve Colorado sheriff recall

An update on school reopenings 

On July 7, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath released guidance for reopening K-12 public schools in the fall. Parents will be able to choose between on-campus and distance learning options. Schools must also comply with the governor’s executive order on face coverings, which means that students, teachers, and staff must wear face coverings when practical and when social distancing cannot be maintained.

This is one of many announcements released recently about the status of school reopenings. As August draws nearer, school districts and education officials are discussing and deciding on whether to reopen school this fall—and if so—what that will look like. Here’s a snapshot of how states are preparing for the fall.

• Thirteen states have released reopening guidance but have not made a statement on when schools will reopen

• Two states have announced reopenings but have not released guidance

• Eleven states have both announced reopenings and released guidance

• One state's (Missouri) officials delegated the decision to local districts

• Seven states are currently allowed to reopen

• Sixteen states have not made any announcement

Find out what your state is saying about how it will address school reopenings by clicking the link below.

Learn more

       

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Previewing the Alabama Republican U.S. Senate primary runoff

Looking for Tuesday’s Garden States election updates? The New Jersey primary results are in! Click here to view vote totals from the U.S. Senate election and all 12 U.S. House races, as well as local results.

Yesterday, we kicked off our July 14 battleground election previews with the Democratic primary runoff for the U.S. Senate seat from Texas. Today, let’s look at the Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate seat from Alabama.

Jeff Sessions and Tommy Tuberville are running for the Republican Party nomination to face incumbent Doug Jones (D) in the general election. 

Sessions held this Senate seat for 20 years before President Trump appointed him as U.S. attorney general in 2017. Following Sessions’ departure, former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) appointed Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange (R) to the seat until a special election was held later that year. Jones won the Democratic primary, while the Republican primary resulted in a runoff between Strange and former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore. Moore won the runoff and went on to face Jones. Jones then won the general election by 1.7 percentage points.

Sessions says he was committed to the Trump agenda as a U.S. senator and in the Department of Justice. Several U.S. senators, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, and the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund endorsed Sessions.

Tuberville, a former college football coach, calls himself the outsider in the race who will stand with Trump. The president endorsed Tuberville on March 10. FarmPAC—the political action committee of the Alabama Farmers Federation—and the Club for Growth PAC also endorsed him.

Trump and Tuberville have criticized Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election during his time as attorney general. Sessions has said Tuberville is not from Alabama and is a tourist in the state.

In the March 3 primary, Tuberville received 33.4% of the vote to Sessions' 31.6%. The runoff was originally scheduled for March 31. Gov. Kay Ivey (R) postponed it until July 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three election forecasters currently have different ratings for the general election: Toss-up, Lean Republican, and Likely Republican. Jones was the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama since 1992. Roll Call listed him as the most vulnerable senator up for re-election in 2020. Jones won the 2017 Senate election by 1.7 percentage points against Roy Moore. Trump won Alabama by 28 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.

Voters approve Colorado sheriff recall

On June 30, voters approved a recall seeking to remove Lance FitzGerald from his position as Ouray County Sheriff in Colorado. Justin Perry (unaffiliated) defeated Ted Wolfe (R) in the election to replace FitzGerald after the recall was successful with 92.8% of the vote. The election was conducted by mail-in ballot.

So far this year, Ballotpedia has tracked 13 elected officials who have been recalled. Of the 97 recalls attempted, those 13 officials make up a recall success rate of 10%. From 2016-2020, recall attempts were successful between 52% and 63% of the time.

Ballotpedia has identified four recall efforts, including the FitzGerald recall, in Colorado this year. They target a county clerk, mayor, and a mayor and city council together. In 2019, 16 recall efforts took place in the state, and in 2018, there were seven.

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