Socialist Party Enters Candidate in Wisconsin Special Legislative Election

Wisconsin is holding a special election on January 16, 2018, to fill the vacant Assembly seat, 58th district, in Janesville. The Socialist Party has petitioned to run Christopher Lewis Cook for the seat. Assuming his petition is valid, he will be the first Socialist Party legislative candidate on the ballot anywhere in the U.S. since 2012, when the party had two candidates on for the Indiana legislature. Here is a link to the Wisconsin elections commission site, showing the candidates. Thanks to Michael for the link.


Comments

Socialist Party Enters Candidate in Wisconsin Special Legislative Election — 6 Comments

  1. It is District **58** and it is in West Bend, a northwestern suburb/exurb of Milwaukee. Trump carried the district 66.1% to 28.2% and 3.7% for Clinton and Johnson. A more appropriate headline for your blog entry might be:

    Democratic Party Enters Candidate in Wisconsin Special Legislative Election

    The candidate from Janesville, Spencer Zimmerman, is apparently a perennial candidate. The city clerk of West Bend noted an assembly member must only be resident in a district for 10 days before taking office.

    In 2016, Zimmerman ran for Congress as a Trump Conservative against (Houses Speaker) Paul Ryan, and has run for other legislative seats, plus US Senator from Nebraska in 2012.

  2. Pluralists are attracted to division and so it matters not whether a candidate is of which party.

    If all you can do is divide people and never bother using teamwork than you are from whom we turn away.

    If you cannot collaborate with others who are interested in pure proportional representation then what use are you to anyone?

    The United Coalition has been using pure proportional representation for more than twenty-two consecutive years and it works fine.

    http://www.international-parliament.org/ucc.html

  3. That filing list is simply of those who’ve registered to run. It does not indicate that Cook has actually submitted any petition signatures yet. (You need 200 valid signatures in WI for Assembly).

    It’s not uncommon for there to be a lot of candidates who file, but then either don’t attempt or don’t successfully complete the nomination petitions. Particularly in special elections, where WI has a truncated petitioning period but no reduction in the number of signatures required.

  4. To clarify, WEC lists as “pending” any candidate who has filed some of the other paperwork, but who has not yet completed and had approved their nomination petitions. It does not mean, necessarily, that petitions have already been filed and the only thing pending is WEC’s approval. It still says “pending” even if no nomination petitions have been submitted to WEC yet.

  5. The district is in West Bend (and other areas of Washington County). The candidate from Janesville is a perennial candidate, and Wisconsin constitution only requires a legislator to live in the district 10 days before they take office. The filing deadline is November 21, so we should know by next week whether any other candidates filed. If more than one Republican files, there will be a primary on December 19.

  6. As of 11/20, three Republican candidates have submitted petitions. An additional Republican filed on 11/20, but has not submitted a petition (they are due by 11/21).

    Neither of the minor party candidates, one Democratic, one Socialist, have submitted petitions so far.

    DISTRICT 58 IS IN WEST BEND NOT JANESVILLE.

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