Mississippi Republican gubernatorial candidates debate taxes, Medicaid
expansion ahead of August 6 primary
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Keep reading for this week's highlights in state and local
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Nashville to elect mayor, vice-mayor, and entire metro council August
1
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Incumbent David Briley faces nine challengers in the nonpartisan
election for mayor
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of Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday. If no candidate receives a
majority of the vote, a runoff election will be held September 12.
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Briley succeeded former Mayor Megan Barry upon her resignation in
March 2018. Briley won a special election in May 2018 to complete her
term. Briley's top three challengers are state Rep. John Clemmons (D),
At-Large City Councilmember John Cooper, and former Vanderbilt
professor Carol Swain. 
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Briley has campaigned on his record as mayor, saying his
accomplishments include a $500 million public investment in affordable
housing over the next decade and avoiding property tax increases. 
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Clemmons was the only top candidate to support a recently rejected
property tax increase—saying it was needed to fund teacher and first
responder pay raises—and says he's the candidate with the vision to
lead Nashville. 
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Cooper highlights his background in real estate and finance, saying
he's best equipped to manage development and the city's finances. He
says the city has invested too much in developing downtown as opposed
to neighborhoods. 
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Swain describes herself as a political outsider who would reduce
budgetary waste in the city. She has identified increasing affordable
housing, reducing traffic congestion, and increasing funding for the
police department as initial priorities.
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As part of our coverage of Nashville's mayoral election, Ballotpedia
has compiled campaign themes, key campaign messages, finance data,
endorsements, debate and forum resources, interviews, and
questionnaires. Click here
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for detailed information on the race.
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Nashville voters will also elect all 41 members of the city’s metro
council, including the vice-mayor, and decide two local ballot
measures.
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Mississippi Republican gubernatorial candidates debate taxes, Medicaid
expansion ahead of August 6 primary 
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On Tuesday, state Rep. Robert Foster, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, and former
state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. participated in the
first and only scheduled televised debate ahead of the August 6
Mississippi Republican gubernatorial primary
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Incumbent Gov. Phil Bryant (R) is prevented by term limits from
seeking re-election.
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Here are some highlights from the debate:
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Taxes to fund infrastructure improvements: Foster proposed eliminating
the personal income tax and making small increases to the gas and
sales tax. Waller said he supports increasing the gas tax while
eliminating the 4% income tax bracket. Reeves said he opposes raising
the gas tax. 
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Medicaid expansion: Waller said he supports expanding Medicaid in
Mississippi similar to how Mike Pence did as governor of Indiana.
Reeves said he opposes Medicaid expansion. Foster said all options are
on the table for him.
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Effect of the state flag's Confederate imagery on business: All three
candidates said they did not believe the flag was keeping businesses
out of Mississippi. Foster stated that taxes are having that effect.
Waller said changes to the state flag should be left up to voters and
not the state legislature. Reeves said he opposes action by the
governor or legislature to change the flag and that the issue has not
come up in economic development meetings he has been involved in.
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The candidates also discussed teacher pay, marijuana, the minimum
wage, and the inclusion of women in the next administration.  
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Eight candidates are also running in the August 6 Democratic primary
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The state's last Democratic governor was Ronnie Musgrove, who served
from 1999 to 2003.
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Bryant won the past two general elections with more than 60% of the
vote. Two of three election forecasters tracked by Ballotpedia rate
the November 5 general election as "Leans Republican" and the other
rated it as "Likely Republican."
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Louisiana gubernatorial candidates release TV ads
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone began airing his
first TV ad, titled "Eddie Stands with President Trump" Tuesday.
Rispone, a businessman, said he'll work with the president to "protect
our constitutional rights, to ban sanctuary cities, and to end
taxpayer benefits for illegal immigrants in Louisiana." The Rispone
campaign said
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it is spending $1 million on the ad. On Friday, Rispone began airing
his second TV ad
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focused on his support of Trump's immigration policies. 
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Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) released the second TV ad of his re-election
campaign, titled "Family Tradition," highlighting family members who
have worked in law enforcement and his background as an Airborne
Ranger. "It’s that family tradition of serving and protecting for
generations that made me want to go to West Point and become an
Airborne Ranger," he says in the ad. Edwards' campaign said
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it is spending more than $1 million on the spot.
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Both the Democratic Governors Association and Republican Governors
Association are targeting the state’s gubernatorial contest. In the
2016 presidential election, Trump (R) won Louisiana by 20 percentage
points. Edwards—whose election broke a Republican trifecta
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in the state—defeated U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R) by 12 points to win
his first term in 2015
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So far, Edwards faces Rispone, Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, and
Libertarian Gary Landrieu in the October 12 top-two primary
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The deadline for candidates to enter the race is August 8. If no
candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in October, a general
election will be held November 16. 
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Washington voters could decide in November whether to allow
affirmative action without quotas
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The Let People Vote PAC reported filing 176,956 signatures for a veto
referendum
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to overturn Initiative 1000
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indirect initiative, known as an Initiative to the Legislature in
Washington—that state legislators approved on April 28. At least
129,811, or 73.4%, of the submitted signatures need to be valid. Let
the People Vote said an additional 20,000 signatures would be
submitted before the final deadline on July 27. 
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Initiative 1000 was designed to allow affirmative action without the
use of quotas in the state of Washington. This means that a person’s
demographic characteristics, such as race and sex, could be used as
factors when considering a person for education or employment
opportunities. Initiative 1000 stated that a person’s demographic
characteristics could not be the sole factor when considering a person
for education or employment opportunities. Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who is
running for president, supported the Initiative to the Legislature.
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Of all the Initiatives to the Legislature that have been certified in
Washington, state legislators approved five of them. Referendum
efforts were subsequently filed against two of the legislatively
approved indirect initiatives, and voters repealed the laws. 
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In 1944
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voters repealed an indirect initiative related to public power
resources and utilities. In 1995
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voters repealed an indirect initiative designed to extend the
government's responsibilities to improve property values caused by
regulations.
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Since the first veto referendum in 1914, voters have decided 37
statewide veto referendums
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in Washington. Thirty—81.1%—of the veto referendums were
successful at the ballot box, thus overturning the targeted
laws.   
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Six candidates vying for Republican nomination in special election for
South Carolina House seat
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Republicans Cody Anderson
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Danny Feagin
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Ralph Gunter
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Melissa Oremus
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Alvin Padgett
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and Sean Pumphrey
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are competing in the special Republican primary election for District
84
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of the South Carolina House of Representatives
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No Democratic candidates filed for the seat. If no candidate receives
a majority of the vote, a primary runoff will be held on August 13.
The special general election
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was scheduled for October 1.
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District 84 became vacant after Ronnie Young
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(R) passed away on May 19. Young had served in the state House since
2017. He won re-election in 2018 with 65% of the vote in the general
election.
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Heading into this special election, Republicans have a 78-44 majority
in the state House with two vacancies. A special election in state
House District 19 is scheduled for August 20. South Carolina is a
Republican trifecta as they hold the governor’s office and
majorities in both state legislative chambers.
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As of July, 66 state legislative special elections
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have been scheduled or held in 24 states. Between 2011 and 2018, an
average of 77 special elections took place each year.
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Ballot Measures Update
2019:
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Twenty-two statewide measures
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are certified for the 2019 ballot so far in Colorado, Kansas,
Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.
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No new measures were certified for the ballot last week.
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Four of the 26 states
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with a process for citizen-initiated measures allow for ballot
initiatives or veto referendums on ballots in any odd-numbered years:
Colorado
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Maine
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Ohio
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and Washington
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2020:
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Thirty-eight statewide measures
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in 18 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot so far.
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Four of the 36 certified 2020 measures are citizen-initiated measures.
Thirty-three are legislative referrals. One is an automatic
constitutional revision commission question.
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Special Elections
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So far this year, 66 state legislative special elections
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have been scheduled in 24 states. Special elections have been held for
49 seats so far; heading into those races, Democrats had previously
controlled 29 of the seats while Republicans previously controlled 20.
Four seats have flipped from Democratic control to Republican control.
One seat has flipped from Republican control to Democratic control.
One seat has flipped from Republican control to an independent
officeholder. 
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In special elections between 2011 and 2018, one party (either
Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats
nationally each year.
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An average of 91 seats were filled through special elections in each
of the past four odd years (2011
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94, 2013
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84, 2015
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88, 2017
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98).
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An average of 55 seats were filled through special elections in each
of the past five even years (2010
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26, 2012
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45, 2014
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40, 2016
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65, 2018
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99).
Upcoming special elections include:
July 30
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South Carolina House of Representatives District 84 (primary)
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August 6
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Arkansas House of Representatives District 36 (primary)
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Iowa House of Representatives District 46
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Washington State Senate District 40 (primary)
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Washington House of Representatives District 13-Position 2 (primary)
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States in session
Five states—Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and
Wisconsin—are in regular session
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Alaska is in special session. California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and West Virginia are in recess. Thirty-nine states have
adjourned their 2019 legislative sessions.
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