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Dive into this week's state and local news below!

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Florida Supreme Court nullifies appointment, orders governor to select new nominee

• Five members of the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) appointment of Renatha Francis to the state’s supreme court. The court ordered DeSantis to select a new nominee from a list of seven recommended by a judicial nominating commission. 
   
• DeSantis had appointed Francis to the state supreme court on May 26 to succeed Robert Luck. In July, State Rep. Geraldine Thompson (D-District 44) filed a lawsuit challenging Francis’ appointment. Thompson argued Francis was unqualified for the post because she had not been a member of the Florida Bar for the amount of time (10 years) required under the Florida Constitution. Francis will reach the 10-year membership requirement on September 24.
   
• The court held that Francis was not eligible because she did not meet the eligibility requirements under the state constitution. It also held the governor violated the 60-day deadline for filling state supreme court vacancies provided by the state constitution. The court wrote in its opinion, "The Governor has not satisfied his legal obligation to fill the vacancy by making a constitutionally valid appointment. ... The Governor has not complied with the constitution’s clear commands." DeSantis has until September 14 to select a replacement.
   
• The Florida Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort. Justices are chosen through a process of assisted appointment whereby a judicial nominating commission screens potential judicial candidates and submits a list of nominees to the governor. The governor must appoint a judge from this list. Newly appointed judges serve for at least one year, after which they appear in a yes-no retention election held during the next general election. If retained, judges serve six-year terms.

New Hampshire, Rhode Island hold state executive, legislative primaries

• New Hampshire and Rhode Island held statewide primaries on September 8.
   
• Here is a summary of results from New Hampshire:
  • Governor: Incumbent Chris Sununu (R) faced two primary challengers and advanced to the general election. He faces Dan Feltes (D) and Darryl Perry (L) in the general election.
     
  • Executive Council (5 seats): Three incumbents filed for re-election, two Democrats and one Republican. All three incumbents were unopposed and advanced to the general election.
     
  • State Senate (24 seats): Twenty-one incumbents filed for re-election—11 Democrats and 10 Republicans. Three incumbents faced a primary challenger. Of these, one incumbent, David Starr (R-1), lost his bid for re-election. The remaining 20 incumbents advanced to the general election.
     
  • State House of Representatives (400 seats): Three-hundred and twenty-two incumbents filed for re-election—198 Democrats and 124 Republicans. Ninety-six incumbents faced a primary challenger. According to results as of September 10, eight incumbents lost their bids for re-election, 281 incumbents advanced, and 33 incumbents’ races had not been called.
     
• Here is a summary of results from Rhode Island:
  • State Senate (38 seats): Thirty-four incumbents filed for re-election—29 Democrats and five Republicans. Ten incumbents faced a primary challenger. According to results as of September 10, the races involving contested incumbents had not yet been called. 
     
  • State House of Representatives (75 seats): Sixty-nine incumbents filed for re-election—61 Democrats and eight Republicans. Sixteen incumbents faced a primary challenger. According to results as of September 10, no incumbents had lost their bids for re-election, but 15 incumbents’ races had not been called. Fifty-four incumbents advanced to the general election.
     
• Ballotpedia identified two state-level battleground primaries in New Hampshire:
  • Democratic gubernatorial primary: Dan Feltes defeated Andru Volinsky to win the Democratic nomination for governor. As of 5:00 p.m. ET on Sept. 10, Feltes had 53% of the vote to Volinsky’s 48%. Feltes, the state senate majority leader, had endorsements from End Citizens United, Let America Vote, and the Voter Protection Project. Volinsky, one of five members of the New Hampshire Executive Council, had endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Blue America, and the Sierra Club. Feltes will face incumbent Chris Sununu (R) and Darryl Perry (L) in the November general election.
     
  • Democratic Executive Council District 2 primary: As of 5:00 p.m. ET on Sept. 10, this race remained too close to call. Cinde Warmington led the six-candidate field with 27% of the vote, followed by Leah Plunkett with 25% and Emmett Soldati with 21%. The winner will face Jim Beard (R) in the November general election. Incumbent Andru Volinsky (D) ran for governor rather than seek re-election.
     
• New Hampshire has a divided government, meaning no political party holds a state government trifecta. Rhode Island has a Democratic state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.

Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York update list of states affected by quarantine order

•  Govs. Ned Lamont (D-Conn.), Phil Murphy (D-N.J.), and Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) announced that Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia had been added to the joint travel advisory list on Tuesday. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were removed from the list.
  • The total number of states and U.S. territories on the list sat at 35 states as of September 11.

School year begins with virtual classes in Maryland

• On Tuesday, public schools in Maryland were allowed to reopen virtually. How long virtual instruction will last varies by district. Many of the state’s largest districts have committed to virtual-only education through the end of 2020. According to the state Board of Education, schools must provide a minimum of six hours of instruction for at least 180 days this school year. Schools in the state have been closed to in-person instruction since March 16.
   
• In March and April, 48 states closed schools to in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year. Those states accounted for 99.4% of the nation's 50.6 million public school students. Montana and Wyoming did not end in-person instruction for the year. Montana schools were allowed to reopen on May 7 and Wyoming schools were allowed to reopen on May 15.
   
• The current status of school reopenings is as follows: four states (N.M., R.I., Vt., W.V.) have a state-ordered school closure, two states (Calif., Hawaii) have a state-ordered regional school closure, three states (Del., N.C., Va.) are open for hybrid or remote instruction only, five states (Ark., Fla., Iowa, Mo., Texas) have state-ordered in-person instruction, and thirty-six states have reopenings that vary by school or district.

Voters to decide state executive, legislative primaries in Delaware

• Delaware will hold a statewide primary election on September 15. This is the last statewide primary before the November general election. 
   
• A total of 55 seats are up for election, including three state executive seats and 52 state legislative seats.  Candidates are running in elections for the following offices:
  • Governor
  • Lieutenant Governor
  • Insurance Commissioner
  • State Senate (11 out of 21 seats)
  • State House (all 41 seats)
     
• Delaware has a Democratic state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.

No states made changes to orders requiring use of masks, face coverings

• No states issued new statewide mask orders or lifted existing face-covering restrictions between Sept. 4 and 11. The most recent state to issue a statewide public mask order was Mississippi on Aug. 5.
   
• Thirty-four states have statewide orders requiring individuals to wear masks in indoor or outdoor public spaces. All 24 states with a Democratic governor have statewide mask orders, while 10 out of 26 Republican states require face coverings.

Ballot Measures Update

• To date, 124 statewide measures in 34 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot.
  • Last week, court rulings added three measures to the ballot and removed two.
    • The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that three initiatives related to gaming at racetracks met the state’s single-subject rule and ordered the secretary of state to add them to the ballot. The Nebraska Supreme Court also ruled that a medical marijuana initiative that had been previously certified for the ballot did not meet the state’s single-subject rule and removed it from the ballot.
       
    • The Maine Supreme Judicial Court stayed a lower court ruling that had ordered the secretary of state to count additional signatures as valid and certify the Ranked-Choice Voting for Presidential Elections Referendum for the ballot.
       
  • There are no more citizen-initiated measures pending signature verification for the election on Nov. 3. 
     
  • Forty-four of the certified measures are citizen-initiated measures. Seventy-nine are legislative referrals. One is an automatic constitutional revision commission question. 
     
  • Eight statewide measures have been on the ballot so far this year. The remaining 116 are on the November ballot.
     
  • The most recent election on a statewide ballot measure was on August 4, when Missouri voters approved Amendment 2, an initiative to expand Medicaid coverage. The vote was 53% to 47%.

Special Elections

• Fifty-eight state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 26 states so far this year, with 37 seats having taken place already. Heading into those races, Democrats had previously controlled 14 of the seats, while Republicans previously controlled 23. One seat flipped from Democratic control to Republican control, and six seats flipped from Republican control to Democratic control.
  • 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 56 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010: 30, 2012: 46, 2014: 40, 2016: 66, 2018: 99).
     
  • An average of 88 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five odd years (2011: 95, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98, 2019: 77).
     
• Upcoming special elections include:
  • September 22
    • Mississippi State Senate District 15
    • Mississippi State Senate District 39
    • Mississippi House of Representatives District 37
    • Mississippi House of Representatives District 66
       
  • September 29
    • Texas State Senate District 30

States in session

Eight states—Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Vermont—are in regular session.

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