We wrote earlier this month about several Oklahoma legislative special elections as the final ones for 2023. It turns out things weren't quite finished, which brings us to Thursday's State House special election in Delaware.
Delaware State House District 37
Democrats hold a 26-14 partisan edge in the Delaware House of Representatives. There is one vacancy to be filled with this special election. Members serve two year terms; the next regular elections are in 2024.
While clearly not today's biggest news around the 2024 presidential election, we wanted to note two ratings changes from The Cook Political Report.
The forecaster moved Michigan and Nevada from Leans Democratic to Toss-up. These were the first updates since their initial ratings were released this past summer. Read the analysis ($)>
Oklahoma closes out the 2023 election calendar with a State Senate special general election and a State House special primary.
Polls close at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.
Oklahoma State Senate District 32
Houston is the nation's 4th largest city, with a population of approximately 2.3 million. Mayor Sylvester Turner was ineligible to run for a third four-year term.
A large field competed in the November 7 election to succeed Turner. As widely expected, State Sen. John Whitmire (42% of the vote) and U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee (36%) finished well ahead of the field. Saturday's runoff is required as neither received a majority.
Both candidates are Democrats, although the election is officially nonpartisan.
Republican Kevin McCarthy (CA-20), who served as House Speaker for nine months before being ousted in October, will resign from Congress at the end of the year.
He made the announcement as part of an opinion piece posted to WSJ.com on Wednesday.
McCarthy is in his 9th term, currently representing California's 20th Congressional District. He was reelected by a 34% margin in 2022, the largest GOP margin in the state that year.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry said Tuesday that he will not stand for reelection in 2024. Click the tweet below for his full statement.
I will be retiring from Congress at the end of my current term. I believe there is a season for everything and—for me—this season has come to an end. I look forward to what comes next for my family and me.https://t.co/QCVurSYuhm
— Patrick McHenry (@PatrickMcHenry) December 5, 2023
First elected in 2004, McHenry is in his 10th term, and is currently Chair of the House Financial Services Committee. In October, he served for three weeks as Acting Speaker, when Kevin McCarthy (CA-20) was ousted.
McHenry represents the 10th Congressional District of North Carolina. It is currently the state's most conservative; McHenry won reelection by a 45% margin in 2022.
Due to a recently-completed midcycle redistricting, the boundaries of each district will shift for the 2024 elections. However, district 10 remains safely Republican. Overall, the new map is expected to result in three or four seats flipping to Republicans in 2024.
The 2023 election calendar is winding down. The remaining race with the most interest is this Saturday's Houston mayoral runoff. Aside from that, there are a number of legislative special elections December 5 and 12.
This Tuesday, we're following State House special general elections in Florida and Minnesota. In New Hampshire, there are party primaries for two vacancies.
Florida State House District 118
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced Monday that he is ending his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
The House of Representatives voted Friday to remove New York Republican George Santos from office. The vote was 311-114 in favor of expulsion. Eight members did not vote, while two voted 'present'.
Two-thirds of the House - 290 members - was needed for the resolution to pass, a hurdle that was cleared fairly easily. Republicans were nearly split, while all but two Democrats voted in favor.
Click the graphic below to see how each member voted.
Rep. Celeste Maloy (UT-02) is the newest member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was sworn in by Speaker Mike Johnson late Tuesday.
Maloy won a November 21 special election to fill the vacancy created when fellow Republican Chris Stewart resigned in September.
The House is now back at full strength, comprised of 222 Republicans and 213 Democrats. This is the same partisan composition as after the 2022 midterm elections.
