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Welcome to the Thursday, Feb. 6, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Impeachment trial of President Trump concludes
- Local Roundup
- Mfume and Klacik advance to special general election in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District
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Impeachment trial ends
The U.S. Senate acquitted President Donald Trump (R) of abuse of power by a vote of 52-48 and obstruction of Congress by a vote of 53-47 on Wednesday.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was the only Republican to vote guilty on the abuse of power charge, becoming the first senator in U.S. history to vote to convict a president from his own party in an impeachment trial. The vote on obstruction of Congress ran along party lines.
Trump is the third president in U.S. history to be impeached by the House. President Andrew Johnson was acquitted of violating the Tenure of Office Act in 1868 and President Bill Clinton was acquitted of perjury and obstruction of justice in 1999.
Here’s a quick rundown of how we got here:
- September 24, 2019: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the U.S. House of Representatives would pursue an inquiry into Trump following allegations that he requested the Ukrainian government investigate former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and his son, Hunter Biden, in exchange for aid.
- December 28, 2019: The U.S. House voted to impeach Trump, charging him with abuse of power by a vote of 230-197 and obstruction of Congress by a vote of 229-198.
- January 16, 2020: The impeachment trial formally began after seven impeachment managers from the House presented two articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate.
- January 22, 2020: The Senate adopted trial rules by a party-line vote of 53-47.
- January 31, 2020: The Senate rejected a motion to allow witnesses and documents to be subpoenaed by a vote of 51 to 49.
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Local Roundup
We cover all officeholders in the nation's 100 largest cities, plus every election on the ballot in these cities, such as special districts, county officials, and local ballot measures. Here's what's happening in those cities this week.
Oklahoma Public Schools
Ballotpedia is covering 29 school board races across 26 Oklahoma school districts in 2020. Six of those races will feature a primary on February 11 since three or more candidates qualified for the ballot. The six primaries will take place in five school districts—Bixby, Luther, Moore, Owasso, and Tulsa Public Schools.
Among the 23 school board races that are not holding primaries, 18 feature one candidate running unopposed. In 2019, 16 candidates ran unopposed in the same 26 districts. These school districts served 261,543 students in the 2016-2017 school year.
In one Oklahoma school district—the Yukon Public Schools Board of Education—there are no candidates currently on the ballot for one seat after the sole candidate withdrew from the race. The remaining four races in that district advanced to the general election on April 7 since two candidates qualified for the ballot in each race.
Ballotpedia is covering school board elections in 353 districts spanning 29 states in 2020. 975 seats are up for election.
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Mfume and Klacik advance to special general election in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District
Kweisi Mfume (D) and Kim Klacik (R) advanced from their party’s primaries to the special general election being held on April 28 in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District. The winner of that election will serve the remainder of the late Congressman Elijah Cummings’ (D) term in the 116th Congress.
- On the Democratic side, Mfume won 43% of the vote to defeat 23 opponents. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings came in second with 17%, and Jill Carter came in third with 16%.
- On the Republican side, Klacik won 41% of the vote to defeat seven opponents. Elizabeth Matory came in second with 25%, and James Arnold came in third with 12%.
A member of the Democratic Party has represented the 7th Congressional District since 1953 when the seat was reinstated in Maryland's district map after the 1950 census. In the 2018 general election, Cummings defeated Richmond Davis (R) 76% to 21%.
The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+26, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 26 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Maryland's 7th Congressional District the 41st-most Democratic nationally.
Eight special elections have been called during the 116th Congress so far. Six of those are for seats in the U.S. House, and two are for seats in the U.S. Senate. Forty special elections were held from the 113th to the 115th Congress.
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