Election News

GOP Rep. Ted Budd (NC-13) announced his candidacy for the 2022 U.S. Senate election in North Carolina.  He becomes the third prominent Republican hoping to succeed retiring fellow Republican Sen. Richard Burr. 

Budd posted a launch video to YouTube.

On Tuesday, Connecticut holds a State House special election. There's also a GOP primary runoff in Alabama for an open State House seat. Polls in both close at 8:00 PM ET.

State House Special General Election

Connecticut District 145

There are 151 State House districts in Connecticut. Currently, the chamber has 96 Democrats and 54 Republicans. The next regularly scheduled election is in 2022.  Earlier this month, a vacancy in District 112 was won by Republican Tony Scott. Scott was seated on April 19. 

The District 145 vacancy was created by the resignation of Democrat Patricia Miller on March 8. Miller had won a special election for an open State Senate seat the prior week.

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan announced Monday that he will run for U.S. Senate in 2022. He becomes the first prominent Democrat to enter the race, hoping to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.

The Census Bureau announced Monday that the resident population of the U.S. on April 1, 2020 - the official date of the Census - was 331,449,281. The Bureau also released apportionment results for the 50 states.  This updates the number of congressional districts that each state will have over the next decade. That in turn updates the electoral map that will be used for the 2024 and 2028 presidential election.

We've updated the interactive electoral map to include both 2020 and 2024 numbers, as well as the ability to see the change associated with the apportionment. For example, taking the actual results of the 2020 election, the change map looks like this:

The vacancy in Louisiana's 2nd congressional district will be filled Saturday.  There is also a special election to fill an opening in the State House. Both races feature two candidates of the same party, so there's no suspense from that perspective. 

Polls close at 9:00 PM ET; live results will be available below.

Congressional District 2

The GOP primary for New Hampshire State House Merrimack District 23 is Tuesday.  The candidates are Christopher Lins and John Martin. Polls close at 7:00 PM.

The only Democrat to qualify was Muriel Hall. She will face off against the GOP nominee in the general special election on June 8.

The 400 member New Hampshire House is the largest one in the United States. There are currently 212 Republicans, 186 Democrats, with the GOP gaining a majority this past November. There are also two vacancies. Republican Bill Boyd won one of the vacancies last week; he has not yet been seated. The next regularly scheduled election is 2022.

The 23rd Merrimack District is a multi-member district with 3 representatives. Both incumbents are Democrats. The vacancy was previously held by Democrat Samantha Fox. She resigned on January 12. 

Six term Republican Rep. Steve Stivers will resign from Congress effective May 16.  Stivers, who had been viewed as a possible candidate for retiring Sen. Rob Portman's seat in 2022, will instead serve as President and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. 

Stivers represents Ohio's 15th district, located in the southcentral part of the state. It has been safely Republican turf since the last redistricting. Most recently, Stivers was reelected with 63% of the vote last November, while Donald Trump beat Joe Biden by 56% to 42%.

Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady said Wednesday that this term, his 13th in Congress, will be his last. 

I am optimistic about our country, because I have faith in our people. I’ve seen up close how remarkable you are, and while I am leaving Congress I am excited about our future.

God Bless Texas, and God Bless the United States of America.

Full statment: https://t.co/biY4cvHuWr

— Rep. Kevin Brady (@RepKevinBrady) April 14, 2021

Brady represents the 8th district in Texas, which extends northward from the northern Houston suburbs. Although the district boundaries have changed somewhat through the years, he has been reelected with at least 70% of the vote since 2008. In 2020, he earned 72.5% of the vote.

This brings to 8 the number of House retirements announced thus far this cycle.

Connecticut and New Hampshire hold State House special elections on Tuesday, April 13.

State House Special General Elections

Connecticut District 112

There are 151 State House districts in Connecticut. Currently, the chamber has 96 Democrats and 53 Republicans, with two vacancies. The next regularly scheduled election is in 2022. 

The District 112 special general election will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Republican J.P. Sredzinski in February. Sredzinski was in his fourth term, and had been unopposed for reelection since first winning the seat in 2014. 

Rep. Lee Zeldin said Thursday that he is running for governor of New York in 2022. After first making the announcement on "Fox and Friends", he released an introductory video on Twitter. 

This is it, folks! This is our last chance to SAVE OUR STATE. I'm all in to bring NY back from the brink & return it to glory, which is why I'm running for Gov of NY in 2022. To save New York, #CuomosGottaGo & losing is not an option. https://t.co/pb8jXjIkpn pic.twitter.com/68BOKahDBy

— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) April 8, 2021

Zeldin is the first prominent Republican to formally declare for the race. Others who have expressed interest include Andrew Giuliani, son of the former New York City mayor, and Rob Astorino, the party's 2014 nominee. Gov. Mario Cuomo won his second term that year, defeating Astorino by 14%.

Cuomo won a third term by 23% over Republican Mark Molinaro in 2018. However, his prospects for a fourth term in 2022 have been clouded by numerous allegations of sexual harassment. 

The last Republican to be elected New York governor was George Pataki, who won a third term in 2002.