Highlights from the Week
1. On Saturday morning, Prince Charles became King Charles III and ascended to the throne of the English monarchy after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. The events of the coronation ceremony took place at St. James Palace in London, and the King plans to spend the first ten days of his reign mourning the late queen. Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest at Windsor Castle next to her late husband. Click here to see statements from members of Congress regarding the death of Queen Elizabeth II, or click here to see President Biden’s statement on the new King.
2. President Biden honored the memory of the lives lost in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. This year was the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and President Biden took time to pay tribute to the families of over 3,000 victims. Click here to see President Biden’s speech regarding the anniversary of 9/11.
3. Representative Mary Pelota was sworn in as the newest representative for the state of Alaska in the U.S. House of Representatives. The special election she won last month generated a great deal of media attention due to the high profile match-up of Republican Sarah Palin, who has established herself as an aggressive and outspoken champion for conservative values, and Democrat Mary Pelota, an Alaskan Native who ran her campaign on values of moderate politics, environmental protections, and rural development. Peltola will face Palin again in November when she defends her seat in the general election. Click here to see Democratic Majority Leader, Representative Steve Hoyer’s, statement on Peltola’s swearing in, or click here to see a statement from Representative Peltola.
Elections
By the Elections Research team (Noah, Courtney, Seth, Nick, Caleb, & Anthony) and Elections Research interns (Tayelon, Juvencio, Robert, Maggie, Joelle, and Nicholas)
Elections:
Want to learn more about the candidates who are running in Connecticut's general election? You can see the full list of candidates by office below:
Want to learn more about the candidates who are running in North Dakota’s general election? You can see the full list of candidates by office below:
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 ahead of the general election? 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: 947 statements were added this week. See highlights from the week for notable statements.
Key Votes:
States: 31 new votes were added.
Washington passed HB 1914, Expanding Motion Picture Competitiveness, and sent the bill to the governor for signing. The bill is intended to reduce barriers to entering the field of motion pictures for individuals from marginalized communities.
The governor of Vermont vetoed H 728, a bill expanding policies for addressing the opioid epidemic. The bill required the Department of Health to submit a report to the House and Senate regarding updates to the community-based needle exchange program and established an Overdose Prevention Site Working Group to identify possible overdose prevention sites in Vermont.
Pennsylvania governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-held state legislature that would ban transgender girls from playing on female sports teams. The vote passed the House in a 115–84 vote and the Senate on a 30–20 vote, with support from a few select Democrats, but failed to move past the governor.
Federal Legislation: No new votes.
Special Interest Groups
There were 45 endorsements and 1 rating scorecard released to the live web this week, which can be viewed here (organized by group). This year to date, the SIGs team has rated 83,794 candidates and entered endorsements for 24,680 candidates.