South Carolina will hold a special election in State House District 109 following the resignation of Sen. Deon Tedder, who won a special election for the Senate District 42 seat on November 7.

The April 2, 2024 election will be preceded by the primary on January 30 and a primary runoff on February 13, if necessary.

Democrats have managed to flip the Virginia House of Representatives in a heated primary.

Several wins in key districts were claimed in an attempt to thwart Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s agenda on topics such as abortion, education, and the economy.

These seats were taken back from Republicans who, in 2021, won a slim majority.

News outlets have stated that the Virginia elections may give a glimpse of the 2024 presidential cycle and show a rallying support for the Democratic Party.

Democrat Deon Tedder has secured Senate District 42 in South Carolina with an overwhelming majority of 82% of the vote.

He defeated his opponent Rosa Kay (R).

Tedder managed to win the seat after a very narrow primary against Wendell Gilliard (D).

The primary went into a runoff with Tedder securing the win by 11 votes.

Now Tedder aims to tackle criminal justice reform, public education, and housing.

Democrat Gabe Amo has won the election for Rhode Island House District 1.

He defeated his opponent, Gerry Leonard (R), and became the state’s first black candidate to be elected to congress.

He states that he “didn’t run to make history” and is eager to serve the state he loves.

He aims to use his position to fight for stronger gun control and to protect social security.

Amo’s other top priority is to ensure the federal government begin to function again.

Amo continues democratic holding of this particular seat.

Republican Andrew Stepp has secured an easy majority in Mississippi House District 23 with 72% of the vote.

He bested his opponents Andy Clark (I) and Danny Lampley (D) in the special election.

Governor Tate Reeves has won the 2023 Mississippi gubernational election by a narrow margin against Democrat Brandon Presley.

Gov. Reeves secured a slim majority of 51.8% of the votes in Mississippi and his opponent secured 46.9% with 95% of votes having been cast.

Gov. Reeves was predicted to have an easy victory but faced steep competition from his opponent.

A late endorsement from former president Trump may have pushed Reeves ahead.

Gov. Brian Kemp called for a special legislative session to begin November 29 due to the recent striking down of Georgia’s legislative and congressional voting maps by a federal judge.

The judge stated the maps violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and has set a deadline of December 8 for state lawmakers to draw new ones.

The maps will be redrawn to include multiple black-majority districts including two new districts for the Senate and five for the House.

Gov. DeSantis called on the state Legislature to hold a special session to discuss further sanctions on Iran in response to Iran’s support of Hamas.

DeSantis wants to expand the number of industries on Florida’s existing scrutinized companies list and strengthen prohibitions against investing in companies that do business with states sponsoring terrorism.

The session is expected to convene on November 6 and adjourn on November 9.

A legislative panel is considering a bill to standardize local election dates.

The legislation would require all local elections to be held on one of three specific days in odd-numbered years.

These dates would fall in March, July, or November.

The purpose of the bill is to eliminate confusion caused by varying election dates across the state.

The bill passed the House earlier this year and will be considered in the Senate as early as next January when Legislature comes back into session.

A Sarasota commissioner has proposed an act to require lobbyist registration for any person hired for the purpose of lobbying.

The act is intended to diminish clandestine lobbying done in secret by private individuals.

This act will affect anyone paid to lobby the city on any matter and require them to disclose their client and the purpose of their lobbying.

The act will exempt those who are not compensated for lobbying activities or those lobbying on behalf of the community.

Finally, the act will establish a public database with a maintained list of lobbyists, their clients, and the subjects of their lobbying.

Matt Simpson, Chair of the Alabama House Ethics and Campaign Finance Committee, is expected to propose changes to the state’s ethics law during the next legislative session.

Changes will include clarification to the definition of lobbyist principal for purposes of gift rules.

Additionally, clarification is expected for how to determine what is a conflict of interest for officials.

The aim of these changes is to help public employees and officials avoid unintentional violations of the law.

The committee’s next meeting is on October 26.