Each week, The Weekly Brew brings you a collection of the most viewed stories from The Daily Brew, condensed. Here are the top stories from the week of July 6 - July 10.
Signatures submitted for four ballot measures that would limit legislative changes to the initiative process
Campaigns in four states — Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, and Nebraska — submitted signatures for proposed ballot measures that would limit legislative changes to citizen initiatives and the initiative process.
Twenty-six states have a citizen-initiated ballot measure process. State constitutions and laws govern how measures qualify for the ballot, what vote is required for approval, and whether lawmakers may later amend or repeal voter-approved measures. They also regulate matters such as signature requirements, circulation periods, ballot-language review, and judicial review.
The four proposed measures that voters may decide in 2026 would limit the state legislature’s role in the citizen initiative process or its authority to change that process.
Recalls hit a record high this year, in part due to data center recall efforts
The number of recall efforts hit a record high in the first half of this year, driven in part by 33 efforts across the country related to data center development.
Through June 30, we've identified 205 recall efforts targeting 329 elected officials in 26 states. This is the most recall efforts through the first half of a year dating back to 2014. 2024 had the next most recall efforts with 266.
Voters have removed 8% of officials included in recall efforts this year, down from 10% at this point in 2025, and the fifth-lowest percentage of officials removed from office since 2014.
Seven officials defeated recall votes to remain in office, while 118 recall attempts did not qualify for the ballot. Eighteen recall elections have been scheduled but not yet held, and 151 officials face active recall campaigns.
97% of Trump-endorsed candidates won primaries this election cycle
Candidates who Donald Trump (R) endorsed in 2026 primaries have won 220 of 227 (97%) of their races so far — one percentage point less than the 2020 election cycle, when 98% of Trump-endorsed candidates won their primaries. Those figures include scenarios in which Trump endorsed two candidates in the same race.
In total, Trump has endorsed 307 primary candidates in the 2026 election cycle — more than in any previous election cycle since 2018. Trump endorsed the second-most candidates in an even-year election in 2024, when he endorsed 270 candidates in primary elections.
One hundred fifty-nine of the 227 candidates whose primaries have already happened were incumbents, 42 ran for open seats, and 26 challenged an incumbent. These figures do not include endorsed candidates who withdrew or for whom the election has not happened yet. This includes congressional, state legislative, and state executive races.
Voters to decide at least three ballot measures on abortion this year, following record number in 2024
This year, voters will decide three ballot measures on abortion policy, following a record 11 such measures in 2024 — the most in a single year since 1970.
Nevada and Virginia voters will decide measures that have the support of groups that describe themselves as pro-choice or pro-reproductive rights. Missouri voters will decide on a measure that has the support of groups that describe themselves as pro-life. One group that describes itself as pro-life and groups that describe themselves as pro-choice are opposing the measure in Missouri.
Additional measures with the support of groups that describe themselves as pro-choice could qualify for the ballot in Colorado and Idaho.
