Election News

Buffalo mayor Byron Brown, seeking an unprecedented fifth term in office, was defeated in Tuesday's Democratic primary. India Walton, a first time candidate challenging Brown from the far left, led Brown by about 7% as of Wednesday afternoon. While absentee ballots remain to be counted, the race has been called by both Decision Desk and the Associated Press. Decision Desk provides election results to 270toWin. Brown has not yet conceded.

Primary voters in America's largest city head to the polls Tuesday to select their party nominees for mayor. The current mayor, Democrat Bill de Blasio, cannot run due to term limits.

Almost all of the interest is on the Democratic side as the nominee will be the overwhelming favorite to be elected in November. However, we probably won't know who that person is for several weeks. 

There are 13 Democrats on the ballot. See The Candidates section below the results for more information. 

The mayoral primaries in New York City will command most of the attention Tuesday, with the winner of the Democratic primary almost certain to be elected mayor of America's largest city in November.

New York City Mayoral Primary Results >>

There are two other elections we're following. We may know the winners Tuesday night, which is not likely to be the case in NYC.

There has not been a closely-contested mayoral primaries in New York City since 2013, the year Democrat Bill de Blasio was elected. Now completing his second term, the incumbent is ineligible to run this year.

This year, thirteen Democrats and two Republicans are vying for their respective party's nominations. Almost all the focus is on the Democratic side, as the winner of Tuesday's primary will be an overwhelming favorite to be elected in November.  

There have been a number of significant changes in election law and administration over the past couple years that will be put to the test for the first time in a NYC mayoral election.  While the overall goals are laudable - increasing turnout and finding a winner preferred by a majority of the electorate - the changes also mean it will likely be several weeks before we know who the Democratic nominee will be. 

It will be a while before we know what the congressional district map will look like for the 2022 midterm elections. Each state with more than one district will go through a census-driven redistricting process later this year. This is not limited to states gaining or losing seats. As the detailed data needed for these efforts has been significantly delayed, many states won't have new maps finalized until sometime next year.  

For purposes of actual representation, the current district boundaries will be in effect through the end of this Congress, with the new ones taking effect with the swearing in of the 118th Congress in January, 2023. You can look up your current elected officials here.

The 2021 House of Representatives Map lets you view the partisan composition of the House. The table below the map displays incumbent information, as well as the margin of victory this past November.^{1 1} Any subsequent elections, such as special elections for vacancies that occur, are not included. It also includes the margin within each district for the 2020 presidential election. 

A competitive special election for a vacant Georgia State House district near Atlanta is the highlight among three elections on Tuesday. 

State House Special General Elections

Georgia Districts 34 and 156

There are 180 State House districts in Georgia. Currently, the chamber has 101 Republicans and 77 Democrats. The next regularly scheduled elections are in 2022.

Tuesday's elections are for the two vacancies. Under Georgia special election law, all candidates from all parties appear on a single ballot. If a candidate gets a majority of the vote, they are elected. Otherwise, the top two finishers advance to a runoff. 

A new WNBC/Telemundo 47/POLITICO/Marist Poll shows Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams the first choice of 24% of 876 likely Democratic voters in next Tuesday's New York City mayoral primary. Also seeing double-digit support in the large field are former Sanitation Department Commissioner Kathryn Garcia (17%), civil rights attorney Maya Wiley (15%) and entrepreneur Andrew Yang (13%).  City Comptroller Scott Stringer was 5th with 7%; no other candidate had more than 3%. There are still 13% of voters that are undecided.

The poll also simulated Ranked Choice Voting, which will be used for the first time. There were no shifts during this process - the competitive candidates were eliminated in the same order as they placed in round 1, with Adams crossing 50% in Round 12. Note that while the poll's margin of error for first choice is 3.8%, the statistical uncertainty increases with each round of ranking.

About Ranked Choice Voting: Approved for certain elections in a 2019 referendum, voters can select up to five candidates, ranking them in order of preference.  Initially, each voter's first choice is counted. If one candidate has a majority, that person is the winner. If not, the candidate with the lowest support is eliminated and the second choices on the associated ballots are redistributed to the remaining candidates. If no candidate has a majority, the process repeats until one candidate crosses that threshold. 

The Louisiana State Senate is dominated by Republicans. That party controls 27 of the 39 seats. The next regularly scheduled election is 2023. 

The District 7 vacancy occurred when the former incumbent, Democrat Troy Carter, resigned on May 10. Carter was elected to Congress in an April special election. The New Orleans area district is heavily Democratic. No Republicans ran in 2015 when Carter was first elected; he ran unopposed in 2019.

This is an all-party primary. There are three Democrats on the ballot and one Republican. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, a top two general election will be held on July 10.

Missouri GOP Rep. Vicky Hartzler (MO-4) announced Thursday that she is running for the state's open U.S. Senate seat in 2022. The current incumbent, Republican Roy Blunt, is retiring.

Hartzler joins former Gov. Eric Greitens and Attorney General Eric Schmitt in the race. Also in the race is attorney Mark McCloskey who gained a measure of fame during last summer's Black Lives Matter protests.  Most of Hartzler's GOP colleagues in the state delegation have also given consideration to running. The most prominent Democrat to announce is former State Sen. Scott Sifton. The current consensus rating is Likely Republican.

Democratic Rep. Val Demings (FL-10) launched her bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.  While the move had been widely reported last month, Wednesday marked the official announcement. 

Demings is in her third term representing the Central Florida 10th district. Prior to that, she was Orlando's police chief, which capped a long career in law enforcement. Rubio is completing his second term in the Senate.