Oregon holds a special election on January 31, 2012, to fill the vacant U.S. House seat, 1st district. The vacancy was caused when incumbent David Wu resigned earlier this year. On September 28, the Oregon Libertarian Party held a nominating convention and chose James Foster. See this story on the party’s web page. The deadline for Oregon’s qualified minor parties to nominate someone is December 1. Republicans and Democrats are choosing a nominee by primary. The all-mail primary ballots are being mailed on October 21, and all major party primary ballots are due by November 8.

Oregon’s other ballot-qualified minor parties are: Pacific Green, Constitution, Working Families, Progressive, and Independent. The Independent Party and the Working Families Party are likely to cross-nominate one of the major party nominees, so they will probably wait until after the major party primaries are held.