Mississippi Special Senatorial primary: Note: This is the 2-year Senate special election for seat vacated by Thad Cochran.
The three candidates listed will participate in a jungle primary on November 6th, with a runoff (if no candidate gets over 50%) on November 27th.
Conor Lamb (D) beats Rick Saccone (R) in 18th district
A special election was held in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional district:
Oct. 5, 2017: Incumbent Rep. Tim Murphy( R) announced his resignation over sexual misconduct charges.
Oct. 21, 2017: Governor Tom Wolf (D), upon Murphy's exit, set the date for a special election for March 13, 2018
Nov. 11, 2017: Republicans nominate State Rep. Rick Saccone (R), over State Senator Guy Reschenthaler and State Senator Kim Ward.
Nov. 19, 2017: Democrats nominate Conor Lamb (D), over Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli and former Assistant Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Pam Iovino.
March 13, 2018: Conor Lamb (D) wins the special election.
March 15, 2018: Due to redistricting ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to undo gerrymandering, this district and neighboring districts all have their borders redrawn, including...
14th district: After losing a close race in the 18th district, Rick Saccone (R) will run in Pennsylvania's 14th district, against State Senator Guy Reschenthaler (R).
18th district: Neighboring district incumbent Michael Doyle (D, PA-14) will run in the 18th district against Janis Brooks (R).
Source: Numerous news sources and Ballotpedia info on PA-14, PA-17, and PA-18 districts.
State of the State speeches: Feb. 8, 2018
Excerpts from seven governors' speeches, Jan. 9th - Feb. 8th
Every governor makes a State of the State speech annually, including both outgoing and incoming governors.
These occur sometime in January and March; we work to excerpt all 50 states, starting with these:
Feb. 9, 2017: Gov. Robert J. Bentley (R-AL) appoints Luther Strange to fill Jeff Sessions' seat.
Nov. 18, 2016: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) appointed as United States Attorney General.
Minnesota:
Jan. 3, 2018: Lt. Gov. Tina Smith (DFL-MN) sworn in as United States Senator
Dec. 18, 2017: Gov. Mark Dayton (DFL-MN) appoints Tina Smith as interim Senator.
Dec. 7, 2017: Senator Al Franken (DFL-MN) resigns under allegations of sexual misconduct.
Next elections:
Senator Jones will face re-election in 2020 (his term is three years, because he is filling the remaining term of Sen. Sessions)
Senator Smith will face re-election in 2018 (her term is "interim", because she is appointed, like Luther Strange was in Alabama.
The winner of the 2018 election will serve for two years, until what would have been the end of term for Sen. Franken).
We refer to Tina Smith's upcoming election in 2018 as "MN-2" for the Minnesota two-year Senate term,
in contrast to "MN-6", the normal Minnesota six-year Senate term, which will both occur in the same election.
In other words, Minnesota has TWO Senate elections at once in November 2018, which only occurs after resignations.
Alabama didn't end up with two elections at once because the other Alabama Senator's term happens to end in 2022.
Source: Numerous news sources; see Senate membership roster for other resignations and retirements.
Three Congressional resignations: Dec. 5-8, 2017
One Senator and two Congressmen resign over sexual harassment accusations
Three members of Congress resigned this week; following is the status of how they will get replaced.
Dec. 8:
Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ-8) resigned, effective immediately.
Governor Doug Ducey (R-AZ) will set the date for a special election.
(AZ law requires a special election because Rep. Franks resigned more than 6 months before the next scheduled election in Nov. 2018)
Dec. 7:
Senator Al Franken (D-MN) resigned, effective "in the coming weeks".
Governor Mark Dayton (D-MN) will appoint an interim Senator until a special election is held in Nov. 2018.
(Federal law requires that the governor appoint to fill Senate vacancies; then a special election in Nov. 2018 will fill the vacant seat from 2018 until the regularly-scheduled election in Nov. 2020)
Dec. 5:
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI-13) resigned, effective immediately.
Governor Rick Snyder (R-MI) opted to keep the House seat vacant for 11 months, until Nov. 2018.
(MI law allows for a special election anytime between now and the next election; Snyder chose the special election date to coincide with the general election date in Nov. 2018)
Murphy resigns over sexual misconduct; Tiberi resigns for a better job
Two members of Congress resigned this week; following is the status of how they will get replaced.
Oct. 5:
Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA-18) resigned, effective Oct. 21.
Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) set the date for the special election for March 13, 2018.
(Republicans nominated State Rep. Rick Saccone on Nov. 11; Democrats nominated Conor Lamb Nov. 19)
Oct. 19:
Congressman Pat Tiberi (R-OH-12) resigned, effective Jan. 31, 2018, to take a job with the Ohio Business Roundtable, leaving his constituents unrepresented, and then requiring taxpayers to foot the bill for a special election to replace him.
Governor John Kasich (R-OH) will set the special election date after Tiberi's resignation takes effect.
(Contenders include Democratic Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott and Republican State Sen. Troy Balderson)
OnTheIssues covers the major candidates in the Virginia gubernatorial race; the election will take place on Nov. 7, 2017 (only two states will elect governors in 2017: VA and NJ):
Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey seated after Governor resigns; calls for Special Senate Election
Feb. 8: Senator Jeff Sessions (R) appointed by Donald Trump as U.S. Attorney General.
Feb. 9: Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange (R) appointed by Gov. Bentley to the U.S. Senate to replace Jeff Sessions, while Strange was investigating Bentley for impeachment.
April 10: Gov. Robert Bentley (R) resigned instead of facing impeachment, and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges.
April 18: Newly-seated Gov. Kay Ivey (R) calls for special Senate election to un-do Bentley's Senate appointment, as a "victory for the rule of law."
April 20: State Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore (R) suspended from the Supreme Court, for the second time since 2003; Moore then announced his candidacy for the Senate (Moore defeated Strange in the runoff on Sept. 26; then Moore was accused of sexual misconduct).
Trump's addrss to joint session of Congress, plus hte Democratic response
Pres. Trump's first address to a joint session of Congress was popularly called the "State of the Union" address, although that formal speech is not constitutionally required of an incoming president. Some excerpts:
Budget & Economy:
Restart engine after worst financial recovery in 65 years.
As a result of President Trump's cabinet appointments, and one Senate election,
several new officeholders have assumed office (listed below).
There will also be five special elections for the U.S. House of Representatives, later this spring,
to replace additional cabinet appointments (governors don't make House appointments; only Senate and Attorney General appointments like those below).
Jan. 14: New Iowa governor Kim Reynolds (R, was Lieutenant Governor)
Jan. 24: New California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D, was U.S. House member; appointed by Governor)
Jan. 24: New South Carolina governor Henry McMaster (R, was Lieutenant Governor)
Feb. 9: New Alabama Senator Luther Strange (R, was State Attorney General; appointed by Governor)
Source: OnTheIssues archives; see House coverage for additional upcoming special elections.
Cabinet appointee replacements: Jan. 26, 2017
Who will replace Trump's cabinet nominees?
Following is a list of Cabinet nominees who are also elected officials, and the status of the election to replace them:
Alabama Senate special election to replace Sen. Jeff Sessions, appointed as Attorney General,
will have his replacement appointed by Gov. Robert Bentley(R), who could also call for a special election.
Gov. Bentley is under threat of impeachment from Alabama's Attorney General, Luther Strange, who is also the frontrunner in the special election.
Montana House special election to replace Rep. Ryan Zinke, appointed as Secretary of Interior,
should have his replacement appointed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock(D), under a new 2015 law, but
the Montana Secretary of State (who would be in charge of a special election) claims that the new law establishing House appointments is unconstitutional.
Former gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte(R) and Rob Quist (D) have announced their candidacy, among others.
Kansas House special election to replace Rep. Mike Pompeo, appointed as CIA Director:
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback set April 11 as the date for the special election to replace Rep. Pompeo.
Former Rep. Todd Tiahrt(R) and former State Rep. and former Treasurer Dennis McKinney(D) have announced their candidacy, among others.
South Carolina gubernatorial succession: Gov. Nikki Haley appointed as UN Ambassador:
Gov. Haley resigned and Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster became governor.
McMaster spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention, delivering the official nomination speech for Trump.
Iowa gubernatorial succession: : Gov. Terry Branstad appointed as Ambassador to China:
Gov. Branstad will resign and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will become governor.
South Carolina House special election to replace Rep. Mick Mulvaney appointed as Budget Director:
Gov. Henry McMaster will set the date for the special election to replace Rep. Mulvaney.
State Rep. Ralph Norman(R) and State Rep. Tommy Pope (R) are likely contenders, among others.
California House special election to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra: (not related to Trump's Cabinet!)
California Attorney General Kamala Harris was elected in November to the U.S. Senate;
Governor Jerry_Brown then appointed Rep. Becerra to replace Sen. Harris as Attorney General.
Gov. Brown then set a date of April 4 for the special election to replace A.G. Becerra, with a runoff date of June 6, if no candidate gets over 50% of the vote.
Some of those elections above sure look like "the swamp" that Trump pledged to drain!
Republicans introduce first set of bills for 2017-2018
Congress introduces many bills as soon as Congress convenes (which occured on Jan. 3)
Some of those bills are "re-filings" from previous Congresses -- the same purpose, the same text, but it didn't pass last time, so the sponsor is trying again this year.
For newly-inaugurated first-time members of Congress, this is the best means to establish their priorities (since they are unlikely, as incoming freshmen, to have written a bill already!)
We looked over our collection of "key bills" from previous Congresses, identifying those which have been re-filed, and then added to those any new co-sponsors (with a 2017 date instead of the old date).
The list on the left are the bills from previous Congresses, with new incoming freshmen added with 2017 dates.
The list on the right are the corresponding bills from the 115th Congress, which we'll check again in a few weeks for more co-sponsors.
Most of these bills are Republican-favored bills; the sponsor has re-filed them because they failed while Obama was President, and are now hoping for passage under President Trump.
Bill from previous Congress, with links to new co-sponsors
Bill from 115th Congress, with all current co-sponsors
The pairs of bills below meet the same criteria as the set above, but they have no new co-sponsors yet.
Often, a bill's main sponsor has to take some time to gather up co-sponsors to sign the bill.
We'll check back in a few weeks and add the new co-sponsors, again focusing on incoming freshmen Members.
For now, we link the bill from the previous Congresses to the corresponding bill from the 115th Congress (the links include the currently-empty list of new sponsors)
We'll do the same for the 115th Senate in a few weeks too -- the Senate is traditionally slower at filing bills than the House.
Bill from previous Congress, which have no new co-sponsors so far
Bill from 115th Congress, awaiting new co-sponsors
Republican majorities in both chambers elect leadership (and Democrats too)
The person who is 2nd in line for the Presidency, and the person who is 3rd in line for the Presidency, were elected today, but hardly anyone noticed despite the importance of this vote for the Constitutionally-defined "line of succcession."
The Constitution specifies that the Speaker of the House is 2nd in line, after the Vice President -- and further specifies that the President Pro-Tem of the Senate is 3rd in line -- those two positions were filled by elections today.
Try googling this event and you will find very little -- so we summarize the results here.
New members of the 115th Congress are sworn in today, two weeks ahead of the presidential inauguration.
The first order of business, for both chambers, is to elect new leadership.
Leadership positions are elected by partisan votes, with separate votes for each party's leadership positions.
The new Congressional leaders are:
All of the newly-inaugurated members are now fully covered on the issues, on our Senate pages and our House of Representatives page.
And if you're wondering who's 4th in line for Presidency after Paul Ryan and Orrin Hatch -- that would be Secretary of State John Kerry, until Trump's Secretary of State nominee gets confirmed.
The rest of the Cabinet fills in the line of succession from 5th in line and onwards -- see our Cabinet succession list for details!
OnTheIssues.org presents our annual IFFY awards for "iffy" candidates
OnTheIssues condemns candidates with an "IFFY Award" for running an "Issue-Free campaign." These are "iffy" candidates because they refused to provide voters with information on what they believe and how they will legislate. They are likely to be "iffy legislators" too -- never providing their constituents with information, on the belief that the less voters know, the more likely the "iffy" candidates are to get re-elected.
An IFFY award is a non-partisan condemnation: OnTheIssues doesn't care WHAT candidates' issue stances are -- as long as they HAVE issue stances!
At OnTheIssues, we believe that candidates should make clear their issue stances, and if they don't do that, then they should not run for office at all, and if they get elected and still won't divulge their issue stances, that they should resign or be driven from office by outraged constituents.
The following candidates comprise our IFFY award recipients for 2016.
One of them was elected Governor, and the other four will be seated in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2017 -- and we recommend that you write to them demanding that they speak on the issues!
Anthony Brown Democrat U.S. Rep Maryland- district 4
Jim Justice West Virginia Democratic Governor-elect
Lou Correa Democrat U.S. Rep California- district 46
Ted Budd Republican U.S. Rep North Carolina- district 13
Lousiana's elections on November 8th left three seats in Congress undecided,
because Louisiana law requires a "runoff" election between the top two vote-getters if no one gets over 50% of the vote.
Who will get nominated? Actual accouncements plus speculation
Following is a list of Cabinet nominees, followed by a list of upcoming possible nominees, with links to their issues coverage for all candidates for whom we have issues pages (we'll update as further announcements come, with dates):
