TWO FORMER REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS LIKELY TO SEEK MINOR PARTY PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS

During November, two former Republican Governors stated publicly that they are seriously thinking about seeking the presidential nomination of a minor party. On November 25, Gary Johnson told the Santa Fe New Mexican that he is seriously considering seeking the Libertarian Party presidential nomination, and on November 29 he said he won’t pursue the Republican nomination. And on November 30, Buddy Roemer said on the Neil Cavuto show on Fox News that he had decided to seek the Americans Elect nomination.

Never before in U.S. history have two former Governors run in the same presidential general election as nominees of minor or new parties.

Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson was elected Governor of New Mexico as a Republican in November 1994.with 49.8% of the vote. He benefited from the presence of a strong Green Party nominee, Roberto Mondragon, who polled 10.3%. In 1998, Johnson was re-elected with 54.5%. In 1999 he called for the decriminalization of marijuana, and some Libertarian Party activists then tried to persuade him to seek the Libertarian presidential nomination in 2000, although he was not then interested.

If Johnson becomes the Libertarian nominee, he would be only the third person to run for President as a minor party nominee after having served two terms as a Governor. The others are John P. St. John, who was the 1884 Prohibition Party presidential nominee and who had served two terms as a Republican Governor of Kansas; and Robert La Follette Sr., an independent Progressive candidate for President in 1924 who had served three terms as a Republican Governor of Wisconsin.

Buddy Roemer

Buddy Roemer was elected to Congress as a Democrat from Louisiana in 1980. He remained in the U.S. House until he was elected Governor in 1987. In 1991 he sought a second term, switching from Democratic to Republican in March, but he was defeated, placing third behind Edwin Edwards and David Duke.

If Roemer becomes Americans Elect’s nominee, he will be only the fourth person to be the presidential nominee of a new or minor party who had previously served both as a member of Congress and a Governor. The others are Martin Van Buren, Free Soil Party presidential nominee in 1848 (who was also an ex-President); Benjamin F. Butler, Greenback Party presidential nominee in 1884; J. Frank Hanly, Prohibition Party presidential nominee in 1916; and Robert La Follette.

On November 28, Roemer told a reporter that his ideal vice-presidential running mate would be U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman. However, later that day, Senator Lieberman said he was pleased to be considered, but that he was not interested in running for Vice-President again.

On November 29, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said that he intends to found a new political party, and also to seek that party’s presidential nomination this year. He says the party will be called either the Justice Party, or the National Interest Party.

The party will be launched at a national convention in Salt Lake City, February 18-20.

Anderson resigned from the Democratic Party on August 12, 2011, saying, "The Constitution has been eviscerated while Democrats have stood by with nary a whimper. It is a gutless, unprincipled party, bought and paid for by the same interests that buy and pay for the Republican Party." He had been the Democratic nominee for U.S. House in 1996, polling 42.4%. He was elected Mayor of Salt Lake City in 1999, and re-elected in 2003. He worked closely with Mitt Romney when Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 winter Olympics.

On November 21, the Peace & Freedom and Libertarian Parties of California, and the Green Party of Alameda County, jointly filed a lawsuit against Proposition 14, the "top-two primary" measure passed by the voters in June 2010 with 53.7% of the vote. The case is Rubin v Bowen, RG 11-605301, in Alameda County Superior Court. There are individual voter co-plaintiffs as well, and also plaintiffs who intend to run for Congress and state office in 2012.

This is the first law
suit in California that alleges that the essence of Proposition 14 is unconstitutional. Last year, some voters and candidates had filed lawsuits in both federal and state court, alleging that two particular aspects of California’s law are unconstitutional. Those lawsuits are still pending, and are called Field v Bowen and Chamness v Bowen. Those lawsuits have no political party plaintiffs.

The new lawsuit argues that the law is unconstitutional on ballot access grounds, and also on freedom of association grounds.

On November 29, the Ninth Circuit held arguments in Washington Republican Party v State, 11-35125. This is the case filed in 2005 by the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties, against the top-two system that voters passed in 2004. In 2005, the U.S. District Court had found the system unconstitutional. In 2006, the 9^th circuit had agreed that it is unconstitutional. In March 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that top-two does not violate Freedom of Association on its face, but that it might as applied. The U.S. Supreme Court also didn’t decide the ballot access and trademark arguments against the system.

Because the U.S. Supreme Court left so much of the case undecided, the case went back to the lower courts. The Ninth Circuit permitted one hour for the argument, and focused entirely on the Freedom of Association issue (except for two minutes on the side issue of Attorneys’ fees).

The Washington ballot lists all candidates on a single primary ballot, and all voters use that ballot. For partisan office, the ballot says, after the name of each candidate, "Prefers (whichever) Party", such as "Prefers Democratic Party" or "Prefers GOP". Candidates can choose any "preference" they wish, as long as it is not obscene and fewer than 17 letters.

The Supreme Court wants the lower courts to determine if this system mistakenly causes voters to believe that the parties mentioned on the ballot have nominated that candidate, or approve of that candidate, or that the candidate is a member of that party. Washington does not have registration by party.

The top of the ballot says, "Each candidate for partisan office may state a political party that he or she prefers. A candidate’s preference does not imply that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party, or that the party approves of or associates with that candidate."

The state says that because it puts this statement on ballots, and in the general election Voters Pamphlet (there is no Pamphlet for the primary), and because it has advertised this statement, it has done everything it can to eliminate confusion.

The parties argue that the judges should use the social science evidence they presented in this case to determine that a large share of the voters do misunderstand the party name on the ballot, and therefore it is unconstitutional for the same reason that the blanket primary was held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in California Democratic Party v Jones in 2000. It is unconstitutional for a state government to tell parties that they must let outsiders help choose their nominees, but Washington state counters that by saying parties don’t have nominees. Two of the judges, Raymond Fisher and Milan Smith, seemed genuinely undecided. The third judge, Dorothy Nelson, seemed to agree with the state.

The three parties in the lawsuit decided to let the Democratic Party’s attorney, David McDonald, be the only attorney to speak. McDonald wanted to bring up the ballot access issue, but the judges dominated the agenda with aggressive questioning, and he had no opportunity to mention ballot access. The state’s case was argued by two attorneys, one representing the Grange.

Colorado: on October 11, the State Supreme Court returned the lawsuit Riddle v Ritter back to U.S. District Court. The issue is a law that lets someone contribute $400 to a candidate for the legislature who is nominated by primary, but only $200 if the candidate is nominated by convention or petition. The U.S. District Court had sent the case to the State Supreme Court to see if the law might violate the state Constitution, but the State Supreme Court declined to answer (after sitting on the case for a year), so now the U.S. District Court will decide the case.

District of Columbia: on February 10, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, will hear Libertarian Party v D.C. Board of Elections on February 10, 2012. This is the case over whether election officials must count write-ins for declared presidential write-in candidates.

Illinois: on November 23, a state Circuit Court in Chicago ruled that the Green Party is not a qualified party in any U.S. House or legislative district, even though the party polled over 5% of the vote in 2010 in four U.S. House districts, and 4 state legislative districts. State law says a party is qualified in a district if it polled at least 5% in the last election, but the state, and the judges, believe that such status is terminated if redistricting alters the boundaries of the district. Schmidt v State Board of Elections. The party is appealing.

Kansas: on January 18, 2012, the Tenth Circuit will hear Constitution Party of Kansas v Biggs, 11-3152, over whether voters must be allowed to register into parties that are not qualified but which participate in Kansas elections anyway.

Maryland: on October 24, the highest state court (the State Court of Appeals) said it will hear the state’s appeal in State Board of Elections v Libertarian Party. The issue is whether signatures are valid when the voter who signed a petition can be identified as a registered, but there is a slight difference between the name and address as shown on the petition, versus how it appears on the voter registration form. The Libertarian and Green Parties had won this case in the court below.

Massachusetts: all the briefs are now filed with the State Supreme Court in Libertarian Political Association v Galvin, sj2011-0348. The issue is whether state law permits unqualified parties to use presidential stand-ins on their petition, so as to be able to be circulating the petition before the party has chosen its national ticket.

Montana: on November 22, new briefs were filed in Kelly v Johnson, the case in U.S. District Court over the March petition deadline for non-presidential independents. The case had been filed in 2008 but has never had a substantive ruling because the lower court judge had earlier ruled the plaintiffs lack standing. The 9^{th circuit had reversed that, and sent it back for a decision on the merits. A decision could come at any time.}

New York: on September 30, the 2^nd circuit upheld a state law that says no one may circulate a petition to put a candidate on a primary ballot unless the circulator is a registered member of that same party. Maslow v Board of Elections, 08-3075. The restriction is a serious impediment, because New York does not permit voters to switch party membership without a waiting period that can be as long as six months. Plaintiffs, who are Democratic and Republican voters, will ask for U.S. Supreme Court review.

North Carolina: on October 13, the 4^th circuit the state’s law on how independent candidates get on the ballot to run for U.S. House. Greene v Board of Elections. A petition of 4% of the number of registered voters is required, in addition to a large filing fee. No independent candidate for U.S. House has ever appeared on a government-printed ballot in North Carolina, and North Carolina has been using government-printed ballots since 1901. The decision says the ballot might be too crowded if the requirement is eased. Plaintiffs will ask for U.S. Supreme Court review. The decision acknowledges that no independent has ever qualified for U.S. House, but says a fair number have qualified for state legislature and local office. Of course, the number of signatures is much less for those offices.

South Carolina: on November 22, the State Supreme Court ruled that the Republican Party need not pay all the expenses of holding its presidential primary. The vote was 3-2. Beaufort County v South Carolina Election Commission, 27069.

North Dakota: on November 23, the 8^th circuit refused to rehear Libertarian Party of North Dakota v Jaeger, a case against the law that requires minor parties to attract up to 15% of all primary voters to choose that party’s primary ballot, if that party wants to nominate candidates for the legislature. The case may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tennessee: on January 17, the 6^th circuit will hear Kurita v Tennessee Democratic Party, over whether it was lawful for the Democratic Party in 2008 to have refused to certify the winner of the party’s primary for State Senate on political grounds.

Tennessee (2): on January 9, a U.S. District Court will hear Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, 3:11-cv-692, over the ballot access law for new and minor parties. It requires 40,042 signatures by April 5. The old law, which was held unconstitutional in 2010, required the same number of signatures, but the petition was due in March.

Virginia: on January 17, a U.S. District Court will hear Lux v Judd, 3:10-cv-482, over the state law that makes it illegal for anyone to circulate a petition for a candidate for U.S. House if that individual doesn’t live in the district.

Federal law: on November 9, the D.C. Circuit heard initiative & Referendum Institute to U.S. Postal Service, 10-5337, over the validity of a postal regulation that outlaws petitioning on post office sidewalks that run between a street and a parking lot, or between a street and the post office itself. It is difficult to predict what the judges will decide.

Federal law (2): on November 9, a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., upheld the action of the Federal Election Commission when it refused to investigate whether the Democratic Party, and its allied corporate law firms, spent several million dollars in 2004 trying to keep Ralph Nader off various state ballots, and then didn’t report the expenses as campaign expenditures. Nader v FEC, cv-10-989.

On November 8, the voters of Maine overwhelmingly voted in favor of keeping election-day voter registration. The 2011 session of the legislature had repealed provisions for voters registering to vote on election day, but supporters of same-day registration then gathered enough signatures to force a referendum, and they won 237,024 to 155,156.

On November 1, the Ohio Secretary of State issued a directive putting the Americans Elect, Constitution, Green, Libertarian, and Socialist Parties on the ballot, without any petition. The basis for the directive is that the existing law is unconstitutional, according to the September 7, 2011 order of the U.S. District Court in the Libertarian Party lawsuit.

The last B.A.N. carried a chart showing the dates of presidential primaries, 1988-2012. That chart showed that the 2012 presidental primary season is the longest in U.S. history, and also that the 2012 presidential primaries are substantially later than they had been in any year since 1988.

Below is a chart showing the dates of primaries for U.S. House, 1988-2012. Ironically, this chart shows that the congressional primary season is shorter than it has been in many decades. This is because the states that previously had the earliest congressional primaries have made them later, and the states that previously had the latest congressional primaries have made them earlier. For most of the last 100 years, September was the most common month for congressional primaries, but now June and August are the most common months.

State	2012	2008	2004	2000	1996	1992	1988
Alabama	March 13	June 3	June 1	June 6	June 4	June 2	June 7
Alaska	August 28	August 26	August 24	August 22	August 27	Sept. 8	August 23
Arizona	August 28	Sept. 2	Sept. 7	Sept. 12	Sept. 10	Sept. 8	Sept. 13
Arkansas	May 22	May 20	May 18	May 23	May 21	May 26	March 8
California	June 5	June 3	.March 2	March 7	March 26	June 2	June 7
Colorado	June 26	August 12	August 10	August 8	August 13	August 11	August 9
Connecticut	August 14	August 12	August 10	Sept. 12	Sept. 10	Sept. 15	no primary
Delaware	Sept. 11	Sept. 9	Sept. 11	Sept. 9	Sept. 7	Sept. 12	Sept. 10
Florida	August 14	August 26	August 31	Sept. 5	Sept. 3	Sept. 1	Sept. 6
Georgia	July 31	July 15	July 20	July 18	July 9	July 21	August 9
Hawaii	August 11	Sept. 20	Sept. 18	Sept. 23	Sept. 21	Sept. 19	Sept. 17
Idaho	May 15	May 27	May 25	May 23	May 28	May 26	May 24
Illinois	March 20	February 5	March 16	March 21	March 19	March 17	March 15
Indiana	May 8	May 6	May 4	May 2	May 7	May 5	May 3
Iowa	June 5	June 3	June 8	June 6	June 4	June 2	June 7
Kansas	August 7	August 5	August 3	August 1	August 6	August 4	August 2
Kentucky	May 22	May 20	May 18	May 23	May 28	May 26	May 24
Louisiana	no primary	Oct. 4	no primary	no primary	Sept. 21	Oct. 3	Oct. 1
Maine	June 12	June 10	June 8	June 13	June 11	June 9	June 14
Maryland	April 3	February 12	March 2	March 7	March 5	March 3	March 8
Mass.	Sept. 6	Sept. 16	Sept. 14	Sept. 19	Sept. 17	Sept. 15	Sept. 15
Michigan	August 7	August 5	August 3	August 8	August 6	August 4	August 2
Minnesota	August 14	Sept. 9	Sept. 14	Sept. 12	Sept. 10	Sept. 15	Sept. 13
Mississippi	March 13	March 11	March 9	March 14	March 12	March 10	March 8
Missouri	August 7	August 5	August 3	August 8	August 6	August 4	August 2
Montana	June 5	June 3	June 8	June 6	June 4	June 2	June 7
Nebraska	May 15	May 13	May 11	May 9	May 14	May 12	May 10
Nevada	June 12	August 12	Sept. 7	Sept. 5	Sept. 3	Sept. 1	Sept. 6
New Hamp.	Sept. 11	Sept. 9	Sept. 14	Sept. 12	Sept. 10	Sept. 8	Sept. 13
New Jersey	June 5	June 3	June 8	June 6	June 4	June 2	June 7
New Mex.	June 5	June 3	June 1	June 6	June 4	June 2	June 7
New York	August 14	Sept. 9	Sept. 14	Sept. 12	Sept. 10	Sept. 15	Sept. 15
No. Car.	May 8	May 6	July 20	May 2	May 7	May 5	May 3
No. Dakota	June 12	June 10	June 8	June 13	June 11	June 9	June 14
Ohio	June 12	March 4	March 2	March 7	March 19	June 2	May 3
Oklahoma	June 26	July 29	July 27	August 22	August 27	August 25	August 23
Oregon	May 15	May 20	May 18	May 16	May 21	May 19	May 17
Pennsyl.	April 24	April 22	April 27	April 4	April 23	April 28	April 26
Rhode Is.	Sept. 11	Sept. 9	Sept. 14	Sept. 12	Sept. 10	Sept. 15	Sept. 14
So. Caro.	June 12	June 10	June 8	June 13	June 11	August 25	June 14
So. Dakota	June 5	June 3	June 1	June 6	June 4	June 2	June 7
Tennessee	August 2	August 7	August 5	August 3	August 1	August 6	August 4
Texas	March 6	March 4	March 9	March 14	March 12	March 10	March 8
Utah	June 26	June 24	June 22	June 27	June 25	Sept. 8	Sept. 13
Vermont	August 28	Sept. 9	Sept. 14	Sept. 12	Sept. 10	Sept. 8	Sept. 13
Virginia	June 12	June 10	June 8	June 13	June 11	June 9	June 14
Washington	August 7	August 19	Sept. 14	Sept. 19	Sept. 17	Sept. 15	Sept. 20
West Va.	May 8	May 13	May 11	May 9	May 14	May 12	May 10
Wisconsin	August 14	Sept. 9	Sept. 14	Sept. 12	Sept. 10	Sept. 8	Sept. 13
Wyoming	August 21	August 19	August 17	August 22	August 20	August 18	August 16
MEDIAN	June 12	June 17	June 22	June 13	June 18	July 28	June 14
RANGE	189 days	242 days	200 days	200 days	200 days	214 days	207 days

STATE	REQUIREMENTS		SIGNATURES COLLECTED				DEADLINES
	FULL PARTY	CAND	LIB’T	GREEN	CONSTI	AM. ELE	Party	Indp.
Ala.	44,829	5,000	0	0	0	*62,200	Mar. 13	Sep. 6
Alaska	(reg) 7,406	#3,271	already on	*2,141	*24	already on	June 1	Aug. 8
Ariz.	23,041	(est) #27,000	already on	already on	0	already on	Mar. 1	Sep. 7
Ark.	10,000	#1,000	already on	*5,500	0	*already on	*April 7	Aug. 1
Calif.	1,030,040	172,859	already on	already on	negotiation	finished	Jan. 2	Aug. 10
Colo.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	already on	*already on	Jan. 8	June 4
Conn.	no procedure	#7,500	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 8
Del.	(est.) (reg) 650	(est.) 6,500	already on	*528	finished	0	Aug. 21	July 15
D.C.	no procedure	(est.) #3,900	can’t start	already on	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 21
Florida	0	112,174	already on	already on	already on	already on	*Sep. 1	July 15
Georgia	*50,334	#*51,845	already on	0	0	*51,300	Aug. 6	Aug. 6
Hawaii	691	#4,536	already on	500	0	*already on	Feb. 22	Sep. 7
Idaho	13,102	1,000	already on	0	already on	0	Aug. 30	Aug. 24
Illinois	no procedure	#25,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	June 25
Indiana	no procedure	#34,195	already on	0	0	0	– – –	June 30
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	0	0	0	0	– – –	Aug. 17
Kansas	16,776	5,000	already on	0	0	already on	June 1	Aug. 6
Ky.	no procedure	#5,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Sep. 7
La.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	0	0	May 17	Sep. 4
Maine	28,639	#4,000	0	already on	0	*finished	Dec 8, 11	Aug. 8
Md.	10,000	(est.) 35,000	already on	already on	*350	*1,150	Aug. 6	Aug. 6
Mass.	(est) (reg) 40,000	#10,000	15,857	already on	0	0	Nov. 1, 11	July 31
Mich.	32,261	30,000	already on	already on	already on	already on	July 19	July 19
Minn.	105,352	#2,000	0	0	0	0	May 1	Aug. 21
Miss.	be organized	1,000	already on	already on	already on	0	Jan. 6	Sep. 7
Mo.	10,000	10,000	already on	0	already on	finished	July 30	July 30
Mont.	5,000	#5,000	already on	0	200	*4,000	Mar. 15	Aug. 15
Nebr.	4,880	2,500	already on	0	0	*3,100	Aug. 1	Sep. 1
Nev.	7,013	7,013	already on	0	already on	already on	April 13	July 6
N. Hamp.	13,698	#3,000	*13,500	0	0	0	Aug. 8	Aug. 8
N.J.	no procedure	#800	0	0	0	0	– – –	July 30
N. M.	3,009	18,053	already on	700	0	0	Apr. 2	June 27
N.Y.	no procedure	#15,000	can’t start	already on	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 21
No. Car.	85,379	85,379	already on	500	3,000	*30,800	May 16	June 14
No. Dak.	7,000	#4,000	*200	0	0	0	Apr. 13	Sep. 7
Ohio	*show support	5,000	already on	already on	already on	already on	unsettled	Aug. 8
Okla.	51,739	43,890	*32,000	0	0	*15,200	March 1	July 15
Oregon	21,804	18,279	already on	*9,000	already on	*25,500	Aug. 28	Aug. 28
Penn.	no procedure	(es) #22,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 1
R.I.	17,115	#1,000	0	0	0	*finished	June 1	Sep. 7
So. Car.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	already on	*12,500	May 6	July 15
So. Dak.	7,928	3,171	*finished	0	0	0	Mar. 27	Aug. 7
Tenn.	40,042	275	0	*in court	*in court	*28,200	April 5	Aug. 16
Texas	49,729	80,778	already on	already on	can’t start	can’t start	May 20	May 14
Utah	2,000	#1,000	already on	0	already on	*already on	Feb. 15	Aug. 15
Vermont	be organized	#1,000	already on	organizing	0	organizing	Jan. 1	Jun 14
Virginia	no procedure	#10,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 24
Wash.	no procedure	#1,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 28
West Va.	no procedure	#7,135	0	already on	0	0	– – –	Aug. 1
Wisc.	10,000	#2,000	can’t start	can’t start	already on	can’t start	*May 1	*Aug. 7
Wyo.	3,740	3,740	already on	0	*4,400	*5,050	June 1	Aug. 28
TOTAL STATES ON			29	16	12	11*	“	`

#partisan label permitted (other than "independent").
"AMER ELE" = Americans Elect Party.
*change since Nov. 1 issue.

During late October, or November, independent candidates were elected to the State House in three states.

Louisiana held its first round of state legislative elections on October 22, with run-offs on November 19 in districts in which no one had received 50% in October. Two independents were elected: (1) Jerome "Dee" Richard was re-elected in the 55^th district on October 22, defeating his only opponent, a Republican; (2) Terry Brown was elected in the November 19 run-off, defeating an incumbent Republican in the 22^nd district.

Missouri held a special election for State House, 83^rd district, on November 8. Tracy McCreery, the independent candidate, won the election, defeating a Republican and a Democrat. He is the first non-major party nominee elected to state office in Missouri since 1998, when another independent was elected to the legislature. McCreery has joined the Democratic caucus.

Virginia held legislative elections on November 8. Long-time independent Delegate Lacey Putney was re-elected, defeating both his major party opponents. He has been elected and re-elected as an independent every two years starting in 1971. He is age 83.

Below are the vote totals for the only minor parties that ran any nominees in the regularly-scheduled legislative elections of November 8:

2011 STATE SENATE ELECTIONS

PARTY	Mississippi	New Jersey	Virginia
Constitution	660	554	~
Indp. Green	~	~	591
Reform	2,616	~	~

2011 STATE HOUSE ELECTIONS

PARTY	Mississippi	New Jersey	Virginia
Constitution	~	3,983	~
Green	~	2,224	~
Indp. Green	~	~	3,555
Libertarian	3,606	3,525	11,497
Reform	896	~	~

In addition to the regularly-scheduled elections included above, Massachusetts held a special election for State House, 3^rd Berkshire district, on October 18. The Green, Mark Miller, almost won. The vote: Democratic 1,940; Green 1,748; independent 1,325; Republican 899.

On November 8, these parties won partisan elections:

Conservative Party: in New York, elected Paul Shepherd to the Shelter Island Town Council. Two were to be elected, and he placed second, ahead of one of the Republicans and both Democrats.

Green Party: elected Leif Smith Constable of Redding, Connecticut. Six were to be elected and he placed sixth. Also, Howie Hawkins was almost elected to the Syracuse, N.Y. city council, polling 48.2% against a Democrat.

Libertarian Party: won three partisan elections in Indiana and one in Pennsylvania. The Indiana winners are Dennis Denney for Henry Town Council (he won by one vote); Miccah Shepherd for Clerk-Treasurer of Claypool; and Susan Bell for Town Judge of Hagerstown. The Pennsylvania winner is Erik Viker, Selinsgrove Borough Council.

Working Families Party: elected three nominees to the Hartford, Connecticut city council. They are Luis Cotto, Larry Deutsch, and Cynthia Jennings.

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