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Ballotpedia: South Dakota House impeaches state attorney general for actions related to 2020 fatal crash

Published on April 13, 2022 at 02:44AM The South Dakota House of Representatives impeached Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) on April 12 for his actions related to a car accident that killed a pedestrian in September 2020. The state House voted 36-31 to approve House Resolution 7002 (HR 7002) which states, “A RESOLUTION, Providing for the impeachment of Jason Ravnsborg, Attorney General of the State of South Dakota, for certain crimes and for malfeasance in office.” Twenty-eight Republicans and eight Democrats voted in favor of the resolution and 31 Republicans voted against it. Ravnsborg fatally struck a pedestrian while driving on Sept. 12, 2020. An investigation led by the South Dakota Highway Patrol found that Ravnsborg was distracted at the time of the crash, and that his car left the road before it struck the victim. Toxicology reports showed that he was not under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of the incident. Ravnsborg was charged with three misdemea...
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Ballotpedia: Democrats defending seven vulnerable trifectas this year, Republicans defending six

Published on March 17, 2022 at 04:09AM Thirteen state government trifectas are vulnerable in 2022, according to Ballotpedia’s annual trifecta vulnerability ratings. Democrats are defending seven vulnerable trifectas and Republicans are defending six. The Democratic trifectas in Delaware and Washington are highly vulnerable. Neither of those two states are holding gubernatorial elections in 2022 but in both states, Democrats have a five-seat or less advantage in the state Senate. Democratic trifectas in Colorado, Maine, and Nevada are moderately vulnerable. Two Democratic trifectas—Illinois and Oregon—are considered somewhat vulnerable. Arizona is the only highly vulnerable Republican trifecta this year. The governor’s race is currently rated as a Toss-up , and Republicans have a one seat majority in both the state House and Senate . Three Republican trifectas in Georgia, New Hampshire, and Texas are classified as moderately vulnerable. The Republican trifectas in Florida and Iowa a...
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Ballotpedia: Thirteen gubernatorial battleground elections to take place in 2022

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Published on March 09, 2022 at 09:16AM Thirty-six states will hold elections for governor in 2022. Of those, Ballotpedia has identified 13 as general election battlegrounds: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. These battleground races were selected using the following criteria: the results of the 2020 presidential election in each state, whether the incumbent is seeking re-election, whether the governor’s office changed partisan control the last time it was up for election, and how the  Cook Political Report ,  Sabato’s Crystal Ball , and  Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales  rated the race. Of the 13, seven are in states with Republican incumbents and six are in states with Democratic incumbents. Six states had a governor of a party different from the candidate who won the state in the 2020 presidential election. The list of battlegrounds may change over th...
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Ballotpedia: Thirty-nine state legislative special elections scheduled for 2022

Published on February 23, 2022 at 07:46AM Thirty-nine state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 19 states in 2022. Fourteen special elections have taken place already. Heading into those races, Democrats had controlled 11 of the seats, and Republicans controlled three. No seats have changed party control as a result of special elections this year. Upcoming special elections include: Mar. 1 Connecticut House of Representatives District 5 Michigan House of Representatives District 15 (primary) Michigan House of Representatives District 36 (primary) Michigan House of Representatives District 43 (primary) Michigan House of Representatives District 74 (primary) Mar. 5 Delaware House of Representatives District 4 Mar. 8 Florida State Senate District 33 Florida House of Representatives District 88 South Carolina House of Representatives District 97 (primary) By this time in 2021, 27 special elections had been called in 16 states. There were 33 special ele...
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Ballotpedia: Confirmation votes for SCOTUS justices appointed since 1967

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Published on February 10, 2022 at 04:56AM President Joe Biden (D) said that he will name his nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the United States Supreme Court by the end of February. Whoever the nominee is, they are set to be the first to require confirmation from a United States Senate divided 50-50. Since 1967, when the U.S. Senate held its first roll call confirmation after Hawaii became the 50th state, the Senate has confirmed 20 individuals to the Supreme Court. Of those, Sandra Day O’Connor received the most yes votes (99), and Brett Kavanaugh received the fewest (50). Amy Coney Barrett is the only justice in that time that was confirmed with yes votes from senators belonging to a single party. The chart below shows the total number of yes votes each Supreme Court justice received in the U.S. Senate since 1967, divided by senators’ party. Blue represents Democratic votes, red represents Republican votes, and grey represents independent or third party votes. Ove...
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Ballotpedia: 2021 Candidate Connections report

Published on February 01, 2022 at 08:43AM A total of 694 candidates completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The largest number of responses came from Colorado, Texas, and New York with 62, 61, and 60 candidates responding to the survey respectively. City candidates made up the largest portion of respondents at 43%. School board candidates accounted for 21% of survey responses.  Of the 694 candidates who completed our survey, 21% went on to win their respective races. Some of those winners include Glenn Youngkin (R), who completed the survey before winning the Virginia governorship, and Michelle Wu (D), who completed the survey before winning the Boston mayoral election.  You can read more about notable respondents and find additional statistics in the full 2021 report .  Additional reading:  Ballotpedia’s 2020 Candidate Connection report Ballotpedia’s 2019 Candidate Connection report Ballotpedia’s 2018 Candidate Connection report Re...
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Ballotpedia: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announces retirement

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Published on January 26, 2022 at 07:45AM Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) Justice Stephen Breyer announced Wednesday he will retire at the end of the 2022 term this October. Breyer, a Bill Clinton (D) appointee, has served on the court since 1994. He is one of three justices on the nine-member court to be appointed by a Democratic president. Breyer’s retirement will be President Joe Biden’s (D) first opportunity to nominate a member to the court; both Donald Trump (R) and Barack Obama (D) nominated three SCOTUS justices while in office. Biden’s nominee will need to win the approval of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full U.S. Senate before taking office. Democrats currently hold a 50-50 majority in the full Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris (D) able to cast a tie-breaking vote. Control of the committee is split 11-11. Under the organizing resolution the U.S. Senate adopted at the beginning of the current Congress, a tied vote in committee will not pre...
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