Election News

We're tracking one legislative special election this week.

California State Assembly District 17

Democrats hold 57 of 80 seats in the California Assembly. There are 19 Republicans and one independent. Members serve two year terms. The next regularly scheduled elections are in November. Those will be contested under redistricted boundaries.

Three seats are open, all were previously held by Democrats. Vacancies in Districts 62 and 80 held primaries on April 5. Those general elections will be June 7, the same date as the statewide primary.

District 17 is located in San Francisco. The seat became vacant when Democrat David Chiu was sworn in as San Francisco City Attorney in November. 

In a joint statement issued Monday, Republican leaders of both branches of the Florida Legislature announced they will defer to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on congressional redistricting. The Legislature is awaiting a map acceptable to the governor, which they will evaluate and presumably pass during the upcoming April 19-22 special session.

DeSantis had previously vetoed a plan passed by the Legislature. While the map was favorable to Republicans, it did not go far enough in meeting the governor's demand to make District 5 more compact.

In its current format, District 5 stretches across the northern tier of the state. It was shaped that way after court-ordered redistricting prior to the 2016 election and is intended to let Black voters elect a representative of their choice. Democrat Al Lawson is now in his third term there.

This week, we have an unusual Thursday special election to to fill a legislative vacancy.

New York State Assembly District 20

Democrats hold a large majority in the New York State Assembly. The party controls 106 seats, alongside 42 Republicans and one Independence Party member.

Members serve two-year terms. The next regularly scheduled elections will be in November. These will be contested using redistricted boundaries. Note that these new districts are being challenged in court. A judge ruled the maps unconstitutional on March 31. That decision has been stayed by a higher court while the appeal proceeds.

District 20 borders the New York City borough of Queens in southwestern Long Island. Republican Melissa Miller resigned in February after being appointed to the Hempstead town board. She won her third term by 59% to 41% in 2020.

Citing an "irresponsible" redistricting process, six-term Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Gibbs (OH-07) announced his retirement Wednesday. Gibbs will serve through the end of this Congress.

Since 2011, I’ve had the honor of serving the people of Ohio’s 18th, then 7th District. I helped reform federal water resources policy, made clean water utilities more affordable for low-income communities, cut taxes & red tape for millions of American families & businesses… pic.twitter.com/xABqVFGHjw

— Gibbs for Congress (@Bob_Gibbs) April 6, 2022

In his statement, Gibbs expressed frustration that the new congressional map was finalized - and perhaps only in effect for 2022 - just a week prior to the start of early voting, particularly since the new 7th district only contains about 10% population overlap with the existing 7th. (Gibbs isn't the only member seeing large shifts, some of which is driven by the fact that Ohio is losing a district.)

Per Cleveland.com, Gibbs was also facing some primary challengers "including Max Miller, a well-funded former White House aide to [and endorsed by] ex-President Donald Trump." 

Early voting for the May 3 primary began on Monday. Due to ongoing redistricting litigation around the state legislative maps, the primary for those elections will be conducted at a later date.

This week, we're tracking a number of special elections, highlighted by the all-party primary for a vacant congressional district in California. There are legislative races in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. On the municipal front, voters in Milwaukee will elect a mayor.

Congressional Special Primary Election

California District 22

This seat has been open since the start of the 117th Congress in January. Republican Devin Nunes vacated the seat to lead Trump Media & Technology Group. 

In California, all candidates appear on a single primary ballot. In regular elections, the top two advance to the general election. This is also the case in special elections, unless one candidate gets a majority of the primary vote. In that case, they are elected. If a special general election is needed, that will take place on June 7, the same date as the statewide primary. 

Michigan Rep. Fred Upton (MI-06) announced Tuesday that he won't seek reelection this year. Now serving his 18th term, Upton is third in House Republican seniority.

Upton was one of 10 House Republicans that voted to impeach Donald Trump last January. He is the fourth of those to retire; most of the others are facing a Trump-endorsed primary challenger.

On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a special election proclamation for the vacancy in TX-34. As a result, we now have election dates for each open U.S. House seat.

Democrats currently hold a 221-209 edge over Republicans. There are five vacancies.

These special elections will all use the existing district boundaries (prior to redistricting). Table is ordered by the date of the first election in each district.

Don Young (R) had been Alaska's lone U.S. House representative for over 49 years when he died on March 18. There is clearly a lot of pent-up demand, as 51 candidates have filed to take his place. A nonpartisan primary will take place entirely by mail. Ballots will be sent out in May and must be postmarked by June 11. 

The top four finishers in the primary will advance to the August 16 special general election, which will use ranked choice voting to determine a winner. Both the all-mail primary and the structure of the election are firsts for Alaska. August 16 is the same date as the statewide primary, where voters will separately choose four nominees for the full two-year term to be contested in November's general election.

The party distribution of the 51 candidates: 17 Republican (R), 13 nonpartisan (N), 10 undeclared (U), 6 Democratic (D), 3 Libertarian (L), 1 Alaska Independence (AK), 1 American Independent (AI).

Louisiana: Barring any changes from expected litigation, congressional redistricting in Louisiana is complete. On March 30, the Republican-controlled Legislature overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. The new district shapes have been added to the 2022 House Interactive Map.

The new map largely maintained the status quo of the last decade, which translates to five seats for Republicans and one for Democrats. None of these are competitive from a party control perspective. Democrats, led by Edwards, had wanted the new map to include a second majority-minority district given that Blacks now comprise about 33% of the state's population. 

South Carolina State Senate District 31

Republicans hold a 29-16 edge over Democrats in the 46-member South Carolina State Senate. Terms are for four years; the next regular elections are in 2024. These will be contested using redistricted boundaries.

District 31 is located in and around Florence, close to the coast in the northeastern part of the state. Republican Hugh Leatherman, who had been in the State Senate since 1981, died last November 12. Leatherman was unopposed in the three elections (2012, 2016, 2020) since the last redistricting.

There are two candidates on the ballot. Republican Mike Reichenbach narrowly won his party's January 25 primary. The Democratic nominee is Suzanne La Rochelle; she faced no primary opposition.