After nearly 12 weeks, the Virginia General Assembly ended its special session on November 9.

Lawmakers approved changes returned by Gov. Northam on a handful of bills and finally agreed on a final passage of the budget.

Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue failed to secure a majority in his reelection bid, which means now both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate races will be decided by runoff elections on January 5, 2021.

Perdue will face Democratic challenger Jon Ossof and Democrat Raphael Warnock will face Republican Kelly Loefflerin.

The runoffs will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the sixth special session of the Legislature beginning November 12.

Walz plans to extend the COVID-19 peacetime emergency by 30 days to continue to respond to the pandemic.

The governor is obligated by law to call a special session for the Legislature to approve the emergency declaration.

The length of the session will be determined by the Legislature.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a special election to be held on February 2, 2021 for City Council District 24.

The seat is vacant after Councilman Rory Lancman was appointed by Gov. Cuomo as Special Counsel for Ratepayer Protection at the Department of Public Service.

Voters in Oklahoma City approved a proposition relating to accepting things of value from private businesses.

Proposition 9 amends the city charter to reorganize and update provisions banning city employees from accepting things of value from private businesses on better terms than available to the general public.

Article IV, Section 12 of the Oklahoma City Charter prohibits city officers and employees from directly or indirectly accepting or receiving any salary, commission, compensation, free or discounted service, or other thing of value of any kind from certain specified privately-owned businesses within the city on terms more favorable than is granted to the public generally.

Proposition 9 provides an exception allowing the granting of a city franchise or other city contract conditioned upon free service to the city and to its officers and employees while they are engaged in the performance of their duties.

Proposition 9 took effect when passed 70% to 30% on November 3.

Voters in Oklahoma City approved a proposition relating to mayoral and city council elections.

Proposition 1 amends the city charter by changing the names of “primary” and “general” elections to “general” and “runoff” elections.

Additionally, the proposition sets the regular general election date for mayoral elections to the second Tuesday in February 2022 and every four years going forward instead of existing primary mayoral election dates set as the second Tuesday in March.

Proposition 1 also sets the regular general election date for city council elections as the second Tuesday in odd-numbered years instead of the existing primary city council election date set as the first Tuesday in March.

The regular runoff election date for both mayoral and city council elections would be set to the first Tuesday in April immediately following the general election.

Lastly, the proposition adds specific processes for if the city council creates more than eight city wards and provides elected officials take officer four weeks rather than one week after the runoff election.

Proposition 1 took effect when passed 73% to 27% on November 3.

Voters in Laredo approved a proposition exempting certain public officials from the prohibition on participating in political activity.

Proposition D amends the city charter to explicitly exempt the mayor, in addition to individual city council members, from the prohibition against political activity by city employees.

Proposition D took effect when passed 70% to 30% on November 3.

Voters in Laredo, Texas approved a proposition to trigger an automatic recall for certain criminal convictions of mayor and city council members.

Proposition A amends the city charter to require city council members and mayors convicted of non-felony crimes to be automatically recalled.

Additionally, these non-felony crimes will be determined based on the district court’s assessment of whether the crime involves “moral turpitude.”

The proposition took effect when passed 77% to 23% on November 3.

Akron, Ohio voters approved Charter Amendment Issue 4, amending the city charter to increase the amount of a city project or purchase requiring the mayor to obtain City Council approval from $15,000 to $50,000.

The amendment also increases the amount requiring approval from the Board of Control from $5,000 to $15,000.

The amendment also provides for greater access to bidding opportunities and reduces administrative costs by allowing for publication online.

The intent is to provide the city with greater flexibility to obtain goods and services from local vendors at competitive prices.

With no candidate securing a majority, one of Georgia’s U.S. Senate races is heading for a runoff election.

Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Kelly Loeffler will face each other in the runoff election scheduled for January 5, 2021.

Ohio Republicans maintained a supermajority in the state Senate and House of Representatives in yesterday’s election.

Most notably, Rep. Larry Householder was reelected after being removed from his leadership post as House speaker.

This came following his arrest and indictment earlier this year in connection with a $60 million federal racketeering case related to House Bill 6.

Householder was the only name on the ballot and was endorsed by the local Republican party.

Republican colleagues in the House considered removing him from the chamber earlier this fall.

However, if they had done so before his reelection they would not be able to remove him again, as a lawmaker cannot be expelled twice.

The only option now is to wait until the legislative session begins in January to consider expulsion or impeachment.

Householder would be automatically removed from office if he is convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering.

Ohio law prohibits anyone convicted of a felony or bribery charges from holding public office.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Parson won reelection as governor of Missouri over Democratic challenger Nicole Galloway by roughly 16 percentage points as of Wednesday morning with greater than 98% of votes counted.

Third-party candidates, Libertarian Rik Combs and Green Party candidate Jerome Bauer pulled in just over 2% of the votes combined.

Voters passed a state constitutional amendment paving the way for the Oregon State Legislature and local lawmakers to limit political contributions and expenditures.

Measure 107 also allows for rules regarding disclosure of campaign activity in order to require campaigns to be transparent about who paid for political advertisements.

Currently, there are no contribution limits due to Oregon Supreme Court rulings declaring campaign finance reform to be in violation of the state constitution. Measure 107 is retroactive, but only to legislation passed on or after January 1, 2016.

Incumbent Gov. Phil Scott won reelection for a third term as Governor of Vermont and defeated a challenge from current Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman.

Gov. Scott has one of the highest governor approval ratings in the country and won the reelection by receiving nearly 69% of the vote.