Election News

Democrats selected Virginia state Sen. Jennifer McClellan as their nominee for a February special election to fill the vacancy in the state's 4th congressional district. McClellan won 85% of the vote in Tuesday's party-run primary, which included three other hopefuls. After hand-counting the vote, full results were released early Thursday morning.

McClellan will be favored in the February 21 special election for this Richmond area district. A win would make her the state's first Black woman in Congress.

The 2023-2024 Interactive Governor Map is now available. 14 states will hold gubernatorial elections through 2024. Three of those - Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi - will take place in 2023.

Nine new governors elected in 2022 will take office through January 18, at which time the partisan composition will be 26 Republicans and 24 Democrats. 

The following Library Maps are initially available. Click on any of them for an interactive version.

Tuesday's Special Democratic Primary in Georgia State House District 129 will wrap up the 2022 election calendar (at least for races we follow). 

The November general election for this seat was won posthumously by Democrat Henry Howard, who was running unopposed. Howard, who had served in the State House since 2007, died in October. Note that Howard had been serving as District 124 representative prior to his death; District 129 is the successor created in redistricting.

Interestingly, because no other parties qualified for the regular November election, only Democrats are eligible to win the seat in this special election. There are four on the ballot.  If a candidate gets a majority of the vote, they are elected. Otherwise, the top two finishers will meet in a January 17 runoff.

On Election Day, there were 17 mayoral elections across the nation's 100 largest cities.^{1 1}Population rankings are based on July 1, 2021 Census Bureau population estimates. They are for the city itself, not the associated metropolitan area.In Laredo, the smallest of those cities, no candidate received a majority of the vote, requiring this runoff.

A ten-person field competed in the nonpartisan (NPA) November 8 election, with four candidates receiving over 15% support. The top two finishers were Mercurio Martinez (22% of the vote) and Victor Trevino (21%). They were separated by just over 300 votes. Martinez is a former City Councilmember, while Trevino was previously the top doctor at the city's health authority.

Polls close at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.

On Election Day, there were 17 mayoral elections across the nation's 100 largest cities^{1 1}Population rankings are based on July 1, 2021 Census Bureau population estimates. They are for the city itself, not the associated metropolitan area., including three in Texas. In two of those - Austin and Laredo - no candidate received a majority of the vote, requiring a top two runoff election.

The Austin runoff is today; Laredo follows on Saturday. Both elections are officially nonpartisan, although we do note party affiliations where known. Polls close at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.

Austin

State Rep. Celia Israel (42% of the vote) and former State Sen. Kirk Watson (36%) advanced from the five-candidate field. Both are Democrats; Watson previously served as the city's mayor from 1997 to 2001.

Affordable housing seems to be the driving issue in this race. 

On Monday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) set February 21 for a special election in the state's 4th congressional district. The seat has been vacant since Democrat Donald McEachin died late last month.

This Richmond area seat is safely Democratic; McEachin had won reelection by 65% to 35% just weeks before his death. The party will choose its nominee in a firehouse primary next Tuesday, December 20.

Freshman Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is leaving the Democratic Party to register as an independent. She explained the reasoning behind her decision in an opinion piece for The Arizona Republic.

In an interview, Sinema told Politico that "she will not caucus with Republicans and suggested that she intends to vote the same way she has for four years in the Senate."

Tuesday's Georgia runoff election will determine if the Senate remains evenly divided, or whether Democrats hold a 51-49 edge. While Democrats will retain control in the new Congress regardless of the outcome, there are significant organizational advantages associated with winning a true majority.

Polls close at 7:00 PM Eastern Time. 

== Updated December 5 for new polls and final early voting totals. ==

These polls are associated with the Georgia Senate runoff election on December 6, 2022. The runoff was necessitated when no candidate received 50% in the November 8, 2022 general election.

While the polling has largely been within the margin of error, it has been consistent with a small lead for Warnock.

Indiana Sen. Mike Braun has filed paperwork to run for governor in 2024. Braun will be looking to succeed fellow Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who is ineligible to run for a third consecutive term.

An official announcement of Braun's candidacy is expected soon, per the Senator's Chief of Staff.  Should that happen, a crowded Senate GOP primary field may evolve. 

Indiana is one of just 10 GOP-held seats up in 2024. Democrats will be defending 21 seats. Two seats held by Senate independents that caucus with the Democrats are also on the ballot.