We’ve got May 17 primary election results!
Elections took place in at least eight states on Tuesday, including statewide primaries in Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Here’s a look at some noteworthy results in battleground races:
- Ted Budd wins GOP nomination in North Carolina: Budd defeated 13 other candidates to win the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in North Carolina. Budd, a U.S. representative running with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump (R), had 59% of the vote. Pat McCrory (R), a former governor, had 25%.
- Brad Little wins re-nomination as governor of Idaho: Idaho Gov. Brad Little defeated Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin and six others to win the Republican nomination for a second term. Little had 61% of the vote to McGeachin’s 25%.
- Madison Cawthorn loses re-nomination: Chuck Edwards (R) defeated seven other candidates, including incumbent Madison Cawthorn (R), to win the Republican nomination in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. Cawthorn, who was first elected in 2020, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump (R). Edwards had an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R). Cawthorn is the third member of the U.S. House to lose renomination this cycle.
Looking at the two most recent SCOTUS decisions
SCOTUS issued its two most recent decisions on May 16 in Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate and Patel v. Garland.
In Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, the court struck down a campaign finance law that limited the monetary amount of post-election contributions a candidate could use to pay back personal loans made to their campaign in a 6-3 ruling.
In Patel v. Garland, the court held 5-4 that federal courts do not have jurisdiction to review facts found during discretionary-relief proceedings under federal immigration law. Discretionary-relief proceedings are those in which the law grants immigration judges discretion over the type of relief they can award.
This is how many statewide measures have been certified for the ballot this year
So far, we’ve tracked 93 statewide ballot measures that have been certified for the ballot in 33 states. That’s 10 fewer than the average number certified at this point in other even-numbered years from 2010 to 2020.
Seven new measure were certified last week:
- Colorado Charitable Gaming Amendment
- Colorado Homestead Exemption to Surviving Spouses of U.S. Armed Forces Members and Veterans Amendment
- Colorado Income Tax Deduction Caps to Fund School Meals Program Measure
- Colorado Table of Changes to Income Tax Owed Required for Citizen Initiatives Measure
- Georgia Timber Equipment Exempt from Property Taxes Measure
- Michigan Legislative Term Limits and Financial Disclosure Amendment
- Missouri Department of the National Guard Amendment
Signatures have been submitted and are pending verification for 10 initiatives in California, Idaho, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota:
- California Art and Music K-12 Education Funding Initiative
- California Dialysis Clinic Requirements Initiative
- California Legalize Sports Betting and Revenue for Homelessness Prevention Fund Initiative
- California Pandemic Early Detection and Prevention Institute Initiative
- Idaho Income Tax Increases for Education Funding Initiative
- Missouri Marijuana Legalization Initiative
- Missouri Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative
- North Dakota Single-Subject and 60% Supermajority Approval Requirements for Constitutional Amendments Initiative
- South Dakota Marijuana Legalization Initiative
- South Dakota Medicaid Expansion Initiative
Enough signatures were verified for two initiatives in Alaska and Ohio to certify them to the legislature:
- Alaska State Recognition of American Indian Tribes Initiative (2022)
- Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2022)
The latest on redistricting in Florida and Kansas
Here’s the latest on court challenges to the Florida and Kansas district maps:
Florida
On May 12, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Layne Smith ruled that the congressional district boundaries that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law on April 22 were unconstitutional. In his opinion, Smith wrote that the enacted plan “would diminish the ability of Black voters to elect their candidate of choice in North Florida,” specifically in the state’s current Fifth Congressional District.
Smith ordered Florida to use a revised congressional map for the 2022 elections that the legislature had previously proposed that restores a version of the Fifth Congressional District.
Kansas
On May 18, the Kansas Supreme Court overturned a district court’s ruling that found that the state’s enacted congressional district boundaries were unconstitutional. Justice Caleb Stegall wrote for the court, “A majority of the court holds that, on the record before us, plaintiffs have not prevailed on their claims that Substitute for Senate Bill 355 violates the Kansas Constitution.”
Wyandotte County District Court Judge Bill Klapper had struck down Kansas’ enacted congressional map on April 25.
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