On Tuesday, Texans voted to loosen some home lending regulations in place since the foreclosure crisis.

By a two-thirds margin, the ballot measure expanding who can make a home equity loan and allowing homeowners to convert home equity loans into conventional mortgage loans was approved.

The measure was widely opposed by fair housing advocates and supported by lenders and the real estate industry. This is the second time in the last five years Texans have voted in favor of more relaxed lending laws.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, voters overwhelmingly approved a $1.05 billion bond package focused on repairing the city’s infrastructure and recreational amenities.

New York voters rejected a ballot question calling for a constitutional convention. If passed, a constitutional convention would have been set for 2019 and would have allowed a total review of the New York Constitution. The question is automatically added to the ballot every 20 years.

On the other hand, voters approved a proposal revoking the pension of a public official convicted of a felony and another proposal creating a forest preserve land bank for qualifying local projects.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio won a second term as Mayor. De Blasio’s victory marks the first time in 32 years a Democratic mayor was re-elected in New York City.

Additionally, Democrat Byron Brown won his fourth term as Mayor of Buffalo.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam will be Virginia’s next governor after defeating former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie.

In what was expected to be a close race, Lt. Gov. Northam won by nearly nine points, the largest margin of victory in decades for a Virginia governor.

By winning over a large number of suburban voters, who typically lean Republican, the resounding win is seen by many as a rebuke of President Trump.

Northam will be joined by fellow Democrats Justin Fairfax and Mark Herring, who easily won races for lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Vi Lyles defeated Kenny Smith to become Charlotte’s next mayor.

Lyles captured 59 percent of the vote with 100 percent of precincts reporting.

Lyles will become the first African-American woman to become mayor of Charlotte.

Jenny Durkan is expected to defeat Cary Moon and become Seattle’s next mayor.

With 39 percent of the vote tallied, Durkan captured 61 percent of the vote Tuesday night.

Durkan is a former U.S. Attorney General and Seattle’s first female mayor since the 1920s.

Photo of Jenny Durkan By Dennis Bratland via Wikimedia Commons

Democrat Phil Murphy was elected as New Jersey’s 56th governor.

Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive and U.S. Ambassador to Germany, may impact Congress if he appoints a replacement for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.

Menendez is currently on trial for corruption charges and the jury began deliberations on November 6, 2017.  If convicted, Menendez will face pressure to step down allowing a Democrat, opposed to exiting Republican Gov. Chris Christie, to appoint a replacement.

Murphy is set to take office on January 16, 2018.

Gov. Rick Scott signed an executive order calling for a special election to replace state Sen. Jeff Clemens.

A special primary will be held on January 30, 2018, with a special general election to follow on April 10. Clemens resigned his Senate District 31 seat on October 27 after reports stated he had an extramarital affair with a lobbyist.

The winner of the election will serve the remainder of Clemens’s term, running through election day in 2020.

A special election will be held on January 23, 2018, to consider a veto referendum on taxes included in a 2017 legislative session bill.

The taxes at issue are on healthcare insurance premiums intended to provide funding for people on the Oregon Health Plan, Oregon’s version of Medicaid.

A recall petition seeking to remove Democratic Senator Joyce Woodhouse has enough valid signatures to force a recall election according to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office.

The recall petition was filed in August by a former Nevada Republican Assemblyman with no reason cited. State democrats are fighting the recall efforts with a “Decline to sign” campaign as well as a federal Voting Rights Act lawsuit filed on behalf of five voters seeking to end the recall before a special election could occur.

Attorneys fighting the recall efforts assert the recall would undermine a republican form of government by threatening to upend the undisputed results of legitimate and regularly scheduled elections.

Two other Nevada Republican-led recall campaigns targeting both Democratic and Independent state senators have signature deadlines this month.

On November 5, Elections Canada announced several by-elections for the House of Commons will be held on December 11. The federal by-elections will be held for the electoral districts of Battlefords–Lloydminster (Saskatchewan), Bonavista–Burin–Trinity (Newfoundland and Labrador), Scarborough–Agincourt (Ontario), and South Surrey–White Rock (British Columbia) to fill vacancies in the House of Commons.

Battlefords–Lloydminster (Saskatchewan) MP Gerry Ritz resigned on August 31 in order to retire from politics.

Bonavista–Burin–Trinity (Newfoundland and Labrador) MP Judy Foote resigned Bonavista-Burin-Trinity in September. Foote has been on leave since April for personal family medical reasons. In August, she had resigned her position as Minister of Public Services and Procurement.

The seat for Scarborough–Agincourt (Ontario) became vacant on September 14 when MP Arnold Chan died at the age of 50 of cancer after a three-year battle.

South Surrey–White Rock (British Columbia) MP Dianne Watts resigned to run for the provincial Liberal leadership.

Jon Spontarelli is here with this week’s government and ethics news you can use from a busy week around the country!

Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for Senate District 3. The special election has been called to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of State Sen. Bill Anderson.

In September, Anderson accepted a job as the director of the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation, but Reynolds had to wait until Anderson submitted his formal resignation to call the special election.

With a formal resignation date of November 1, 2017, Reynolds has set the special election for December 12, 2017.

On October 30, a bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia banning corporate and union political contributions for local elections in the Canadian province. Bill 15, Local Elections Campaign Financing Amendment Act, 2017, was introduced by Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson.

Among other related changes, the legislation also caps contributions from individual donors to $1,200 for the 2018 elections with contribution limits then indexed for inflation in sequent election years. If passed, the law would be in effect for British Columbia’s October 28, 2018, municipal elections and would be retroactive to October 31, 2017.

The Legislature of Guam passed one bill and is contemplating another that will change the electoral process in the territory.

Bill 156-34, passed Friday, Ocotober 27, 2017, proposes moving the date of primary elections and changing the filing date for candidate nomination papers; while Bill 45-34 calls for the elimination of primary elections in their entirety.

If Bill 45-34 also passes and both bills are signed by the governor, whichever bill is signed second will void the one that is signed first.