U.S. President Joe Biden at a NATO summit in Brussels, March 24, 2022. Since 2010, elections have taken place over 13 election cycles for 44,639 state legislative seats. In that time, 8,404 (18.8%) of those races have been open, meaning no incumbents ran for re-election. GINTS IVUSKANS/SHUTTERSTOCK.
To celebrate Our News’s 15th Anniversary, this week we highlighted our 15 favorite articles from 2023. Here are the five most viewed from The Daily Brew from the week of July 24 – July 28.
See who is running for U.S. House and U.S. Senate in 2024 in your state
In 2024, all 435 U.S. House districts and 33 of the 100 U.S. Senate seats are up for regular election (that includes 10 seats held by Republicans, 20 held by Democrats, and three held by independents who caucus with Democrats).
“According to our database, 1,056 candidates are running for Congress in 2024, including 192 for the U.S. Senate and 864 for the U.S. House,” said Ballotpedia.
All 10 states with the largest percentages of open seats since 2010 have term limits.
Since 2010, elections have taken place over 13 election cycles for 44,639 state legislative seats. In that time, 8,404 (18.8%) of those races have been open, meaning no incumbents ran for re-election.
The key factor in the number of open seats in a particular state is whether that state has term limits. We found that all 10 states with the largest percentage of open seats since 2010 have term limits.
Number of donor privacy and disclosure bills enacted has increased each year since 2020.
“The number of donor privacy and disclosure bills that states have enacted—which govern the confidentiality of nonprofit donors’ identities and/or personal information—has increased yearly since 2020,” said Ballotpedia.
Ten bills have become law so far in 2023 (19% of introduced bills), compared to eight in 2022 (11%), seven in 2021 (18%), and four in 2020 (9%). The number of bills passed in states with divided government also increased this year, as did the number of Republican-sponsored bills.
How this year’s legislation will affect next year’s elections
Last month, we published our State of Election Administration Legislation report covering all election-related legislative activity from the first half of 2023.
One item that caught our eye as we analyzed trends was an increase in legislation prohibiting ranked-choice voting at different levels of government. There were nine such bills introduced in 2022, compared to 15 during the first half of this year.
A report on state legislators censured so far this year
“A censure is the formal way in which a legislative chamber can express disapproval of the words or actions of a legislator. At the state level, it may be accompanied by other actions such as the legislator being removed from committee assignments, but on its own, a censure stands solely as a symbolic rebuke from the chamber,” said Ballotpedia.
Six legislators—three Democrats and three Republicans—have been censured in five states so far this year. We’ve found a total of 31 cases of censured officials across 14 states between 1838 and 2023. These officials include 12 Democrats, 11 Republicans, and seven members of other parties.
Produced in association with Ballotpedia
Edited by Priscilla Jepchumba and Judy J. Rotich
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