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The South Dakota House of Representatives impeached Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) on April 12 for his actions related to a car accident that killed a pedestrian in September 2020. The state House voted 36-31 to approve House Resolution 7002 (HR 7002) which states, “A RESOLUTION, Providing for the impeachment of Jason Ravnsborg, Attorney General of the State of South Dakota, for certain crimes and for malfeasance in office.” Twenty-eight Republicans and eight Democrats voted in favor of the resolution and 31 Republicans voted against it. Ravnsborg fatally struck a pedestrian while driving on Sept. 12, 2020. An investigation led by the South Dakota Highway Patrol found that Ravnsborg was distracted at the time of the crash, and that his car left the road before it struck the victim. Toxicology reports showed that he was not under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of the incident. Ravnsborg was charged with three misdemeanors, including careless driving, oper...

Thirteen state government trifectas are vulnerable in 2022, according to Ballotpedia’s annual trifecta vulnerability ratings. Democrats are defending seven vulnerable trifectas and Republicans are defending six. The Democratic trifectas in Delaware and Washington are highly vulnerable. Neither of those two states are holding gubernatorial elections in 2022 but in both states, Democrats have a five-seat or less advantage in the state Senate. Democratic trifectas in Colorado, Maine, and Nevada are moderately vulnerable. Two Democratic trifectas—Illinois and Oregon—are considered somewhat vulnerable. Arizona is the only highly vulnerable Republican trifecta this year. The governor’s race is currently rated as a Toss-up , and Republicans have a one seat majority in both the state House and Senate . Three Republican trifectas in Georgia, New Hampshire, and Texas are classified as moderately vulnerable. The Republican trifectas in Florida and Iowa are somewhat vulnerable. Ballotpedia a...

Thirty-six states will hold elections for governor in 2022. Of those, Ballotpedia has identified 13 as general election battlegrounds: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. These battleground races were selected using the following criteria: the results of the 2020 presidential election in each state, whether the incumbent is seeking re-election, whether the governor’s office changed partisan control the last time it was up for election, and how the  Cook Political Report ,  Sabato’s Crystal Ball , and  Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales  rated the race. Of the 13, seven are in states with Republican incumbents and six are in states with Democratic incumbents. Six states had a governor of a party different from the candidate who won the state in the 2020 presidential election. The list of battlegrounds may change over the course of 2022. The following map d...

Thirty-nine state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 19 states in 2022. Fourteen special elections have taken place already. Heading into those races, Democrats had controlled 11 of the seats, and Republicans controlled three. No seats have changed party control as a result of special elections this year. Upcoming special elections include: Mar. 1 Connecticut House of Representatives District 5 Michigan House of Representatives District 15 (primary) Michigan House of Representatives District 36 (primary) Michigan House of Representatives District 43 (primary) Michigan House of Representatives District 74 (primary) Mar. 5 Delaware House of Representatives District 4 Mar. 8 Florida State Senate District 33 Florida House of Representatives District 88 South Carolina House of Representatives District 97 (primary) By this time in 2021, 27 special elections had been called in 16 states. There were 33 special elections called in 15 states by this time i...