The second day of the year brings the first election of 2024.
South Carolina State Senate District 19
Republicans hold a 30-14 partisan edge over Democrats in the South Carolina State Senate. There is one independent. Members serve four-year terms; the next regular elections are this November.
2024 begins with two vacancies in the U.S. House. One is in CA-20, where former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's resignation was effective as of December 31. The other vacancy is in NY-03; George Santos was expelled on December 1.
With these departures, the Republican majority has narrowed. When the House reconvenes next week, the party will hold 220 seats, with Democrats controlling 213.
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said Wednesday that she will seek reelection to Congress in Colorado's 4th congressional district, switching from District 3, where she is currently completing her second term.
The move allows her to avoid a prospective rematch against Adam Frisch, a well-funded Democrat who came within roughly 500 votes of defeating the incumbent in 2022. The race was the closest U.S. House race that year, despite the conservative lean of the district.
We wrote earlier this month about several Oklahoma legislative special elections as the final ones for 2023. It turns out things weren't quite finished, which brings us to Thursday's State House special election in Delaware.
Delaware State House District 37
Democrats hold a 26-14 partisan edge in the Delaware House of Representatives. There is one vacancy to be filled with this special election. Members serve two year terms; the next regular elections are in 2024.
While clearly not today's biggest news around the 2024 presidential election, we wanted to note two ratings changes from The Cook Political Report.
The forecaster moved Michigan and Nevada from Leans Democratic to Toss-up. These were the first updates since their initial ratings were released this past summer. Read the analysis ($)>
Oklahoma closes out the 2023 election calendar with a State Senate special general election and a State House special primary.
Polls close at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.
Oklahoma State Senate District 32
Houston is the nation's 4th largest city, with a population of approximately 2.3 million. Mayor Sylvester Turner was ineligible to run for a third four-year term.
A large field competed in the November 7 election to succeed Turner. As widely expected, State Sen. John Whitmire (42% of the vote) and U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee (36%) finished well ahead of the field. Saturday's runoff is required as neither received a majority.
Both candidates are Democrats, although the election is officially nonpartisan.
Republican Kevin McCarthy (CA-20), who served as House Speaker for nine months before being ousted in October, will resign from Congress at the end of the year.
He made the announcement as part of an opinion piece posted to WSJ.com on Wednesday.
McCarthy is in his 9th term, currently representing California's 20th Congressional District. He was reelected by a 34% margin in 2022, the largest GOP margin in the state that year.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry said Tuesday that he will not stand for reelection in 2024. Click the tweet below for his full statement.
I will be retiring from Congress at the end of my current term. I believe there is a season for everything and—for me—this season has come to an end. I look forward to what comes next for my family and me.https://t.co/QCVurSYuhm
— Patrick McHenry (@PatrickMcHenry) December 5, 2023
First elected in 2004, McHenry is in his 10th term, and is currently Chair of the House Financial Services Committee. In October, he served for three weeks as Acting Speaker, when Kevin McCarthy (CA-20) was ousted.
McHenry represents the 10th Congressional District of North Carolina. It is currently the state's most conservative; McHenry won reelection by a 45% margin in 2022.
Due to a recently-completed midcycle redistricting, the boundaries of each district will shift for the 2024 elections. However, district 10 remains safely Republican. Overall, the new map is expected to result in three or four seats flipping to Republicans in 2024.
The 2023 election calendar is winding down. The remaining race with the most interest is this Saturday's Houston mayoral runoff. Aside from that, there are a number of legislative special elections December 5 and 12.
This Tuesday, we're following State House special general elections in Florida and Minnesota. In New Hampshire, there are party primaries for two vacancies.
Florida State House District 118
