Election News

Four legislative special elections - three in Virginia, and one in Mississippi - are being contested Tuesday, January 10.

Polls close at 7:00 PM in Virginia and 8:00 PM in Mississippi (all times Eastern).

Virginia State Senate District 7

Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow will not seek a fifth term in 2024, she announced Thursday. 

Inspired by a new generation of leaders, I have decided to pass the torch in the U.S. Senate. I am announcing today that I will not seek re-election and will leave the U.S. Senate at the end of my term on January 3, 2025.

Read my full statement:https://t.co/qYJE6lyRJ3 pic.twitter.com/Fq659Aevs0

— Sen. Debbie Stabenow (@SenStabenow) January 5, 2023

Stabenow is the second Senator to retire this cycle, joining Republican Mike Braun, who is running for Indiana governor.

Inside Election's Erin Covey has this overview of who might try to succeed Stabenow. Covey notes that "it’s likely to be one of the top races in the country for the entire cycle, with the presidential race at the top of the ballot having an impact on the Senate winner."

The 2024 Senate Map

Georgia kicks off the 2023 special election calendar Tuesday. Republican David Ralston, the powerful long-time House Speaker, died in November, shortly after announcing he would be stepping down from that role due to health issues. 

House District 7 is in a very conservative part of North Georgia. That is reflected on the special election ballot, where five Republicans are looking to succeed Ralston. The candidates include his widow, Sheree. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, the top two finishers will meet in a January 31 runoff.

Polls close at 7:00 PM Eastern Time.

The 2024 House Interactive Map is now available. Republicans took control of the House in the 2022 midterms, and will hold a 222-213 partisan edge when the new Congress is seated on January 3. Interestingly, that total is a mirror of the 222-213 Democratic margin prior to the election.

Note that the Democratic total includes a vacancy in Virginia's 4th congressional district, which Democrats are favored to hold in a February 21 special election. Until then, and barring any other vacancies, the GOP will hold a 222-212 margin.

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

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.