This Week in Research: July 4 – July 8

Highlights from the Week

1. On July 4th, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, that left more than two dozen injured and seven dead. The shooting is one in a series of attacks that have raised public awareness of gun violence over the last few weeks and increased the demands for gun control legislation. To see statements from members of Congress on guns, click here. To see President Biden’s statement on the Highland Park shooting, click here.

2. President Joe Biden presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to seventeen individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. Among the recipients were Olympic athlete Simone Biles, Sister Simone Campbell of the NETWORK social justice organization, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Steve Jobs of Apple, and former US Senator John McCain. Click here to see President Biden’s statement on the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

3. Former Prime Minister of Japan Abe Shinzo was assassinated on July 8th, 2022. Japan, a country known worldwide for its effective gun control measures, was left shocked by the shooting, which appears to have been carried out using an improvised, double-barreled weapon. Mr. Abe, the longest serving Prime Minister in Japanese history, passed away on Friday evening. Click here to see President Biden’s statement on the incident.

Elections

By the Elections Research team (Noah, Seth, Nick, Caleb, & Anthony) and Elections Interns (Andres, Liam, Luke, Muzhi, Ephriam, Hugh, Riley, Mia, & Charles) Elections: Want to learn more about the candidates running in primary elections? You can see the full list of candidates running for various offices by state below:

• Massachusetts

  • Congressional Primary Candidates

  • Gubernatorial Primary Candidates

  • Statewide Primary Candidates

  • State Legislative Primary Candidates

• Ohio

  • State Legislative Primary Candidates

Biographies: Want to learn more about the candidates running in Oregon’s State Legislative primary elections? You can see the full list of candidates running here. If you want to learn more about a candidate, click on a candidate and go to their ‘Bio’ tab to learn more. Want to learn more about the candidates running in Connecticut Gubernatorial Primary Candidates primary elections? You can see the full list of candidates running here. If you want to learn more about a candidate, click on a candidate and go to their ‘Bio’ tab to learn more.

Issue Positions/Political Courage Test:

Want to learn more about the candidates who are currently being tested and their responses to the Political Courage Test? You can see the full list of candidates, their responses, and response rates running for various offices below:

• Alabama Congressional Primary Candidates

• Alaska Congressional Primary Candidates

• Arkansas Congressional Primary Candidates

• Arizona Congressional Primary Candidates

• California Congressional Primary Candidates

• Colorado Congressional Primary Candidates

• Connecticut Congressional Primary Candidates

• Florida Congressional Primary Candidates

• Georgia Congressional Primary Candidates

• Hawaii Congressional Primary Candidates

• Idaho Congressional Primary Candidates

• Illinois Congressional Primary Candidates

• Indiana Congressional Primary Candidates

• Iowa Congressional Primary Candidates

• Kansas Congressional Primary Candidates

• Kentucky Congressional Primary Candidates

• Maine Congressional Primary Candidates

• Maryland Congressional Primary Candidates

• Massachusetts Congressional Primary Candidates

• Michigan Congressional Primary Candidates

• Minnesota Congressional Primary Candidates

• Mississippi Congressional Primary Candidates

• Missouri Congressional Primary Candidates

• Montana Congressional Primary Candidates

• Nebraska Congressional Primary Candidates

• Nevada Congressional Primary Candidates

• New Jersey Congressional Primary Candidates

• New Mexico Congressional Primary Candidates

• North Carolina Congressional Primary Candidates

• North Dakota Congressional Primary Candidates

• Oklahoma Congressional Primary Candidates

• Oregon Congressional Primary Candidates

• Pennsylvania Congressional Primary Candidates

• South Carolina Congressional Primary Candidates

• South Dakota Congressional Primary Candidates

• Tennessee Congressional Primary Candidates

• Texas Congressional Primary Candidates

• Virginia Congressional Primary Candidates

• Vermont Congressional Primary Candidates

• Washington Congressional Primary Candidates

• West Virginia Congressional Primary Candidates

• Wisconsin Congressional Primary Candidates

• Wyoming Congressional Primary Candidates

Officials

By the Officials Research team: Thomas, Bibi, Eliana, Johanan, Neal, Jake, Craig, Israel, Wyatt, and Katie

Public Statements: 2,894 statements were added this week. See highlights from the week for notable statements.

Key Votes:

• States: 40 new votes were added, 15 bills were updated with new information.

  • In North Carolina a bill has passed the State House and Senate that would legalize sports wagering in the state. This is the second attempt to pass this legislation, the first having failed to pass the North Carolina House in late June 2022. The bill specifies a required license for interactive sports wagering, requires background checks, and establishes a tax on operators.

  • The California Senate passed SB 1273, a bill intended to provide protection to pupils enrolled in school. This bill establishes that any individual who willfully disturbs any public school or any public school meeting is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of no more than 500 dollars (the law does NOT apply to current students of the school).

  • New York banned the sale of cats, dogs, and rabbits in commercial pet stores with S 1130, which was passed by the House and Senate and sent to the governor to be signed. The bill defines a “retail pet shop” as any for-profit place of business that sells animals to be kept as household pets or sells food and supplies for pets, but it does NOT affect breeders who sell directly to consumers and raise animals on the breeder’s residential premises.
    

• Federal Legislation: No new votes were added. One bill was updated with new information.

Special Interest Groups

• There were 181 endorsements and 29 ratings released to the live web this week, which can be viewed here (organized by group). This year to date, the SIGs team has rated 71,945 candidates and entered endorsements for 12,394 candidates.