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Let's dive into this week's edition of the State and Local Tap for all the important events in state and local politics. For a complete review of the week, click the button below and launch the full edition.

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Louisiana voters to decide state executive, legislative races in general election

• Louisiana is holding a general election for 33 state government offices. The top-two finishers in the October 12 primary advanced to the general election if no candidate received a majority of votes. In Louisiana, all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, face off in the primary election. This year, 160 seats were on the October ballot. The general election features three state executive positions, 29 state legislative seats, and one state judgeship.

  • All 39 Louisiana State Senate seats were on the primary ballot. Five races advanced to the general election: those in Districts 3, 11, 16, 35, and 36. The District 35 and District 36 races both feature Republican incumbents facing Republican challengers. The remaining races are for open seats. In District 3, two Democrats will face off; in District 11, two Republicans will face off; and in District 16, one Democrat and one Republican will face off.

  • Twenty-four of the 105 seats in the Louisiana House of Representatives advanced to the general election. All but four are races for open seats. Incumbents in Districts 62, 94, and 105 face challengers from a different party; in District 46, incumbent Mike Huval faces a fellow Republican. Seven races are guaranteed to be won by Democrats, nine will be won by Republicans, and eight feature candidates from two parties.

  • Four candidates ran in the secretary of state primary. Incumbent Kyle Ardoin (R) faced one Democratic and two Republican challengers. Ardoin faces Gwen Collins-Greenup (D) in the general election after receiving 41.1% of the vote. Collins-Greenup received 33.8% of the vote. 

    • The outcome of the secretary of state race and the gubernatorial race will decide if the state government remains divided or becomes a Republican triplex. A state government triplex exists when one political party holds the office of governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. State Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) won re-election in the primary. If a Democrat wins either the gubernatorial or the secretary of state race, Louisiana will have a divided government. If a Republican wins both races, the state will have a Republican triplex for the first time since 2015.

  • The three remaining offices on the general ballot are governor, Louisiana Supreme Court 1st District, and Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 6.
     

Edwards, Rispone face off in Louisiana gubernatorial election

• Incumbent Gov. John Bel Edwards and businessman Eddie Rispone (R) are running in Saturday's general election for governor of Louisiana. The two advanced from an all-party primary field of six candidates; the general election is being held as no candidate received a majority of the primary vote.

• The race is rated a Toss-up by two ratings outlets. A third outlet changed its rating from Toss-up to Leans Democratic on Thursday. Polling ahead of the general election has shown Edwards and Rispone tied within margins of error.

• Edwards is the first incumbent Louisiana governor to run in a general election since the state adopted an all-party primary system in 1975. Of the 11 gubernatorial elections from 1975 to 2015, six featured incumbents seeking re-election. One incumbent advanced to a general election—Edwin Edwards (no known relation to John Bel) in 1987—but he conceded to his opponent before the election. Of the other five incumbents who ran for re-election, two lost in primaries and three won outright in primaries.

• John Bel Edwards was elected governor in 2015. He is the only Democratic governor in the Deep South, and he is the only Democrat holding statewide office in Louisiana. Both the Democratic Governors Association and Republican Governors Association have targeted the race. President Donald Trump (R) has held rallies in the state in support of Rispone.

• Edwards has campaigned on what he considers accomplishments of his administration, including Medicaid expansion, the end of the state's budget deficit, and teacher pay raises. Rispone has described himself as a conservative outsider and job creator and highlighted that he was endorsed by Trump. He says Louisiana has ranked toward the bottom in healthcare, the economy, and more under Edwards. Edwards says Rispone would make cuts to healthcare and education.

• Republicans maintained their majorities in the state House and Senate following the October 12 primary elections. The state will remain under divided government if Edwards wins on Saturday, or it will become a Republican trifecta if Rispone wins.
   

Bevin concedes, Beshear wins Kentucky governor's race

• Following a recanvass of election results, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) conceded the Kentucky gubernatorial election to state Attorney General Andy Beshear (D). Beshear's victory breaks the Republican trifecta in the state and keeps the state under divided triplex control. Beshear is the son of former Gov. Steve Beshear (D), who served until 2015.

• Unofficial results on election night gave Beshear a 5,000 vote lead. Bevin did not concede the race and instead called on the state to conduct a recanvass. A recanvass is a process by which counties confirm that correct results were transmitted to the secretary of state's office. Unlike a recount, no ballot counting took place.

• Kentucky's trifecta change was the second to take place as a result of the 2019 elections. Democrats gained a trifecta in Virginia following victories in both chambers of the state legislature on November 4. Louisiana's gubernatorial election on November 16 will decide trifecta control of that state—it will either become a Republican trifecta or remain under divided government.

Seattle city council incumbents win re-election

• Seven of nine seats on the Seattle City Council were up for election on Nov. 5. Three incumbents ran for re-election, and all three won. The other four races were open. Ballotpedia called the races on Nov. 12, after almost all mail ballots had been counted. The two at-large seats on the council were not up for election in 2019.

• The election winners are:

  • District 1: Lisa Herbold (incumbent)
  • District 2: Tammy Morales
  • District 3: Kshama Sawant (incumbent)
  • District 4: Alex Pedersen
  • District 5: Debora Juarez (incumbent)
  • District 6: Dan Strauss
  • District 7: Andrew Lewis

• Five of the seven council races were won by candidates supported by the political action committee Civic Alliance for a Progressive Economy (CAPE) or committees affiliated with UNITE HERE!, a labor union. This included two incumbents, Lisa Herbold and Kshama Sawant. 

• Two races were won by candidates endorsed by the local chamber of commerce's PAC—Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE)—including incumbent Debora Juarez. Amazon contributed $1.5 million to CASE, which endorsed candidates in each race, including challengers to Herbold and Sawant. A 2018 head tax proposal, which the council passed and subsequently repealed, met with opposition from the chamber of commerce and Amazon.

• The races saw record-breaking satellite spending of over $4 million. In 2015, the last time the seven district seats were up for election, satellite spending totaled $785,000.

• Heading into the election, the council was made up of one member who was backed by CASE in a previous election, four that were backed by UNITE HERE!, three that both groups had endorsed, and one member appointed after the resignation of a CASE-endorsed member. The post-election council will have two CASE-endorsed members, six UNITE HERE!-backed members, and one at-large member both groups endorsed in a previous election. CAPE formed in 2019 and therefore did not endorse in previous elections.
   

Boudin elected San Francisco District Attorney

• Chesa Boudin defeated Suzy Loftus, Leif Dautch, and Nancy Tung in the November 5 nonpartisan election for San Francisco District Attorney. Loftus conceded the race Saturday after mail-in ballots tallied over the course of the week indicated Boudin would win.

• Under San Francisco's system of ranked-choice voting, voters may select up to 10 candidates for each office on the ballot and rank their preferences. Votes are initially allocated to each voter's first-place candidate. If no candidate wins a majority of the first-place vote, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their voters' voters are reassigned to their next preferred candidate.

• Boudin won 35.7% of the first-place vote to Loftus' 31.1%. His final margin over Loftus was 1.66 percentage points, or 2,825 votes.

• This was the first open-seat election for San Francisco District Attorney since 1909. The race attracted national attention, with presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris issuing endorsements. Sanders endorsed Boudin while Harris, who held the office herself before winning election as California attorney general, endorsed Loftus.

• Other Boudin endorsers included Our Revolution and the city branch of the Green Party, while other Loftus endorsers included Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), Mayor London Breed, and the city branch of the Democratic Party.
   

Candidates file for state and federal offices in Arkansas

• The filing deadline for candidates seeking election to state and federal offices in Arkansas passed. The primary is March 3, 2020, and the general election is November 3. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two vote-getters will compete in a primary runoff on March 31. Offices up for election in 2020 include one U.S. Senate seat, four U.S. House seats, 17 state senate seats, all 100 state house seats, one state supreme court seat, and four appellate court seats.

  • U.S. Senate: Incumbent Tom Cotton (R) will face Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. (L) and Dan Whitfield (ind.) in the general election. Democrat Josh Mahony dropped out of the race hours after the filing deadline. According to Dr. Eric Ostermeier of Smart Politics, since 1913, only four states—Alabama, California, Mississippi, and Virginia—have failed to field both a Democratic and Republican candidate in a U.S. Senate general election. If Democrats fail to field a candidate, Arkansas will become the fifth state.

  • U.S. House: All four incumbent representatives have filed for re-election, and none will face a primary challenge.  

    • Incumbent Rick Crawford (R) is unopposed for the 1st Congressional District. In 2018, Crawford was re-elected with 68.9% of the vote.

    • Incumbent French Hill (R), state Sen. Joyce Elliott (D), and J. Glenn Smith (ind.) will face off in the general election for the 2nd Congressional District. In 2018, Hill was re-elected with 52.1% of the vote. 

    • Incumbent Steve Womack (R), Celeste Williams (D), and Michael Kalagias (L) are competing in the general election for the 3rd Congressional District. He won re-election in 2018 with 64.7% of the vote.

    • Incumbent Bruce Westerman (R), William Hanson (D), and Frank Gilbert (L) will face off in the general election. In 2018, Westerman was re-elected with 66.7% of the vote.

  • State Senate: Of the 17 seats on the ballot in 2020, five primaries—three Republican and two Democratic—are set for March 3. Two Republican incumbents and one Democrat incumbent are facing primary challengers; the other two primaries are open-seat races.  

  • State House: Of the 100 seats on the ballot in 2020, one Democrat and nine Republicans are not running for re-election. One seat is currently vacant but was previously held by Republican Mickey Gates. In total, 16 primaries—three Democratic and 13 Republican—are set for March 3. One Democratic incumbent and five Republican incumbents are facing primary challengers.

  • Arkansas is one of 22 Republican state government trifectas. A state government trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and both state legislative chambers.

Ballot measures update

2019:

• Thirty-two statewide measures were on Nov. 2019 ballots in Colorado, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington. 

  • On Nov. 5, 19 statewide measures were approved, 12 were defeated, and one was approved by voters but is pending a court ruling.
  • Click here to view election results for all 32 Nov. 5 statewide measures.
  • Four Louisiana measures were on the Oct. 12 ballot. Two were approved, and two were defeated.

2020:

• Forty-three statewide measures in 20 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot so far.

  • Eight of the 42 certified 2020 measures are citizen-initiated measures. Thirty-four are legislative referrals. One is an automatic constitutional revision commission question.
  • Last week, one statewide citizen initiative—Amendment 2—was certified for the Nov. 2020 ballot in Florida. Amendment 2 would increase the state's minimum wage incrementally until reaching $15 per hour in September 2026.
     

State legislative special elections

• So far this year, 77 state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 24 states. Special elections have been held for 72 seats so far; heading into those races, Democrats had previously controlled 37 of the seats while Republicans previously controlled 35. Five seats have flipped from Democratic control to Republican control. Two seats have flipped from Republican control to Democratic control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to an independent officeholder. 

  • In special elections between 2011 and 2018, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats nationally each year.
  • An average of 91 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past four odd years (2011: 94, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98).
  • 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).

Upcoming special elections include:

December 3

• Georgia House of Representatives District 152 (general runoff)

December 10

• Arkansas House of Representatives District 22 (primary)

December 19

• Tennessee House of Representatives District 77

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