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Off-year elections are an often neglected part of the American political discourse. These elections, which take place in odd numbered years, attract little attention due to the fact that they focus primarily on state and local issues with little national significance. Off-year elections do not involve elections to the House, Senate, or the White House and the states that hold these types of contests – Virginia, New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky – tend to draw a small pool of registered voters. Nevertheless, off-year elections do matter for the voters of the states that hold them as new governors and state officials are elected and ballot measures are submitted for ratification. For example, in 2015 voters in Houston rejected an equal rights ordinance that would have covered homosexuals and transgender individuals, while Ohio voters rejected a proposal to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Furthermore, the recent elections provide continued evidence that the Republican Party thrives in non-presidential contests as they retained control of Mississippi’s governor’s mansion, won the Kentucky gubernatorial election for the first time since 2007, and fought off a Democratic attempt to win the Virginia Senate. It is unclear whether these off-year elections can affect 2016, but politicians on both sides of the aisle would be wise to pick the data apart and see if there is something to be learned from the successes and failures of various campaigns in the recent election cycle.
This topic brief will depart from our usual format by only having two sections. The first section will summarize some of the major races that were contested in the 2015 elections, while the second will analyze what significance, if any, the 2015 election results have for next year’s national elections.
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