Highlights from the Week
1. Former President Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidency on Tuesday, November 16 while speaking at a rally at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. In his speech, Trump called back to familiar campaign slogans, "promising to make America great again." One of the most notable comments from the speech was his declaration that should he regain control of the White House he intends to eliminate all early, absentee, and electronic voting, requiring all votes to be cast in person on Election Day. Click here to see our information on Donald Trump. Click here to see speeches by members of congress mentioning Trump.
2. Republicans have taken control of the U.S. House of Representatives, as of Wednesday night, after Representative Mike Garcia’s results came in and pushed the party over the threshold for control. The Democrats won control of the House in 2018, during the Trump presidency, and retained it during the 2020 election. Results are still coming in for a handful of districts across the country, races which will decide how large of a majority the Republicans will have for the next session. Click here to see all the U.S. congressional election results.
3. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met to discuss international relations and global tensions in Indonesia. Both leaders expressed a desire to avoid conflicts and spoke of intentions to improve U.S.-Chinese relations while also noting the importance of competition to both nations. Some issues remain unresolved, such as tensions over the ownership of Taiwan, but both countries agreed to reopen climate negotiations. Click here to read President Biden’s press release about the meeting, or click here to see all statements by members of Congress which mention Xi Jinping.
Elections
By the Elections Research team (Noah, Zachary, Anthony, Courtney, Seth, Nick & Caleb) and Elections Research Interns (Torin, Tayelon, Juvencio, Maggie, Francesca, and Joelle)
Elections:
Want to learn more about the results of the 2022 midterm elections? You can see the full list of results for these offices below:
Want to learn more about the results of ballot measures from the 2022 midterm elections? You can see the full list of ballot measures here. If you want to learn more about ballot measures in a specific state, click on state and go to the state to learn more!
Issue Positions/Political Courage Test:
Want to learn more about the candidates who took the Political Courage Test and their responses in the 2022 midterm elections? You can see the full list of candidates, their responses, and response rates running in various states by office below:
Officials
By the Officials Research team: Thomas, Bibi, Johanan, Neal, Jake, Craig, Israel, and Katie
Public Statements: 2,059 statements were added this week. See highlights from the week for notable statements.
Key Votes:
States: 26 new votes were added.
Georgia passed HB 1390, which was signed into law, establishing a course of action against government employers who fire, demote, or otherwise punish employees after reporting sexual harassment. The bill authorizes action and defines sexual harassment.
A bill was passed in Alaska reaffirming the government-to-government relationship between the Tribal communities and state government of Alaska and establishing a compact to provide child welfare services to the tribes.
The governor of Wisconsin vetoed SB 296, a bill intended to increase penalties for rioting. The reasoning behind the veto was that the legislation could be used to target political protests.
Federal Legislation: 2 new votes
SJ Res 63, a vote to repeal the state of emergency declared in March 2020 due to COVID-19.
HR 8404, The Respect for Marriage Act, affirming the right to sex-same marriage.
Special Interest Groups:
There were 78 endorsements and 14 rating scorecards released to the live web this week, which can be viewed here (organized by group). This year to date, the SIGs team has rated 116,593 candidates and entered endorsements for 46,006 candidates.