NINTH CIRCUIT REINSTATES LAWSUIT ON PARTY LABELS FOR UNQUALIFIED POLITICAL PARTIES

FIRST LEGAL SETBACK FOR CALIFORNIA TOP-TWO SYSTEM

On December 3, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Soltysik v Padilla, 16-55758, a case filed in 2015 by a registered Socialist Party member. He was running for legislature in the California top-two primary, and he wanted a ballot label "Party preference: Socialist" because he is registered in the Socialist Party. But the state printed "Party preference: none" because the Socialist Party is not a qualified party.

The opinion says the lawsuit has merit and that the lower court should not have dismissed it. The Ninth Circuit told the lower Court to let the plaintiff submit evidence.

This is the first time California has ever had a legal setback in any lawsuit involving the top-two system. It is also the first time that a minor party has won any kind of ballot access ruling in the Ninth Circuit against a California ballot access law.

On remand, the ACLU, which filed this case, is expected to present evidence showing that a slight majority of states let candidates who are not members of qualified parties choose their own ballot label, as long as it is not too long, and does not mimic the name of a qualified party.

Every time anyone has filed a lawsuit against any aspect of the California top-two system, ever since 2011, the attorneys for "Californians to Defend the Open Primary" have always intervened in the case, as though they don’t think the state is capable of defending its own election laws. "Californians to Defend the Open Primary" consists of the California Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and Californians for an Open Primary. Multi-millionaire Charles T. Munger, Jr., pays the legal costs of the intervenors.

The decision is 2-1. Judge Johnny Rawlinson, a Clinton appointee from Nevada, dissented. Her dissent relies entirely on unfavorable precedents, and does not discuss the merits of the issue. She does not explain how California would be injured if Soltysik prevails.. Her dissent does not mention any of the cases that are favorable to Soltysik. She discusses a 1978 decision of the Ninth Circuit, Socialist Workers Party v Eu, and a 1980 decision of the California Supreme Court, Libertarian Party of California v Eu. Both of those cases say it is constitutional for California to deprive candidates who use the independent candidate procedure of a party label.

But, she does not mention that in 2013, the Ninth Circuit said in Chamness v Bowen that those precedents don’t control this issue any longer, because California has a top-two system and party labels no longer mean that the party nominated the candidate in a primary. It was especially odd for Judge Rawlinson not to mention this, because she does mention Chamness, just not that part.

Chamness was over whether independent candidates have a right to the label "independent" as opposed to the label "party preference: none." The Ninth Circuit in that case said that because Chamness did not submit any evidence that having "no party preference" instead of "independent" injures him, he was not entitled to relief. At that point it was too late for Chamness to submit any evidence.

Soltysik, on the other hand, wanted to present evidence that not having his label on the ballot injures him, but the U.S. District Court refused to allow such evidence. Now such evidence will be introduced.

On December 10, the state and the intervenors "Californians to Defend the Open Primary" told the Ninth Circuit that they want to file for a rehearing, but they said they are too busy to write the petition for rehearing by the deadline. Thereupon, the Ninth Circuit gave them another month to write it.

Independent Voting News (ivn.us), a blog that has several articles about elections every day, still has not mentioned the Soltysik news, even though the editor knows about it. IVN is co-published by the Independent Voter Project, which says it authored the California top-two law. IVN holds itself out as being pro-independent and minor party candidates, and IVN probably would have a difficult time explaining why its publisher’s attorneys are fighting to prevent equal treatment for all candidates, relative to using a party label on the ballot.

LIBERTARIAN AND GREEN PARTIES EACH ADDED TO MORE BALLOTS

Recently, the Libertarian and Green Parties each gained qualified status in another state, thanks to favorable rulings from election officials.

On November 20, South Dakota said the Libertarian Party is still on the ballot. It had not polled as much as 2.5% in 2018 for any statewide office, but it was noticed that it had done so in 2016, and the law gives parties two elections to meet the vote test. On December 2, the Utah Secretary of State said the Green Party is still on the ballot even though it didn’t poll 2%, because when a party submits a petition, it gets the next two elections, which are 2018 and 2020.

ILLINOIS LOSS

On December 18, U.S. District Court Judge Colin S. Bruce, an Obama appointee, upheld the Illinois petition requirement for U.S. House, for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties, 5% of the last vote cast, the 2^nd-most difficult petition requirement for U.S. House in the nation (only Georgia is harder). Gill v Scholz, c.d., 3:16cv-3221.

The decision was a surprise, because a trial had been set for 2019. But Judge Bruce said no trial is needed because the Seventh Circuit had already upheld a 5% petition. However, the 7^th circuit did not uphold the 5% petition for U.S. House. In 2017, it had upheld the 5% petition for legislature. But the two candidates in the legislative case, Tripp v Scholz, had needed 2,399 signatures and 2,407 signatures. The plaintiff in the U.S. House case needed 10,754 signatures. All general election candidate petitions in Illinois must be done in 90 days. It is obviously more difficult to collect 10,754 valid signatures in 90 days, than to collect 2,400 in the same period.

No petition for U.S. House in Illinois has succeeded since 1974 (excluding petitions that no one challenged; in Illinois a candidate can get on the ballot with a tiny number of signatures if no one challenges the petition). Judge Bruce made no mention of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions that say lower courts must decide these cases by seeing how many times such petitions have succeeded. If they rarely succeed, the law is probably too difficult and therefore unconstitutional.

The Gill case had originally been assigned to Judge Sue Myerscough, who was so sympathetic to the case, in 2016 she had issued an injunction putting David Gill on the ballot. The Seventh Circuit had then reversed that order, without explaining why. Judge Myerscough still had the case until August 2017, when the chief U.S. District Judge in the Central District transferred many pending civil cases away from other judges, and gave them to Judge Bruce.

This was done because the Chief Judge had removed all criminal cases involving prosecution by U.S. Attorneys away from Judge Bruce, because of an improper e-mail Judge Bruce had sent involving one of his criminal cases. Because he lost so many of his criminal cases, he was given extra civil cases to balance the workload.

David Gill still hasn’t decided whether to appeal.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY REVIVES FLORIDA LAWSUIT ON BALLOT ORDER OF CANDIDATES

The national Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in May 2018 against the Florida law that says the party that won the most recent gubernatorial election enjoys the top spot on the November ballot for all its nominees. Jacobson v Detzner, n.d., 4:18cv-262. But then the Democratic Party suspended the case, because it was hoping it would win the Governorship this year, so that it would have had the top spot for the next four years. However, the Republicans won this year’s gubernatorial election. Democrats haven’t elected the Governor of Florida since 1994.

So, on November 20, the Democratic Party restarted the lawsuit. It has asked for a trial in May 2019. Experts would be testifying on whether candidates gain an advantage if they are listed first on the ballot. The state wants the trial in June 2019. Judge Mark Walker, an Obama appointee, who has the case, will soon choose the trial date. These cases are very expensive, because it costs a great deal of money to hire expert witnesses in this field. Generally, if the plaintiffs in these cases show that the top spot does help candidates, then they win the lawsuit. These cases only lose when they can’t show that ballot position makes any difference.

If the case wins, the theory behind the win would apply equally to every candidate, not just major party candidates. Such cases have won in New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

JILL STEIN LAWSUIT RESULTS IN BETTER VOTING MACHINES IN PENNSYLVANIA

On November 29, 2018, Pennsylvania election officials settled the lawsuit Stein v Cortes, e.d., 2:16cv-6287. They promised to eliminate all vote-counting machines that do not leave an audit ("paper") trail by 2020.

Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential nominee in 2016, had filed this lawsuit not only against the law that made it almost impossible for a candidate to get a recount, but to attack the use of vote-counting machines that don’t have anything to recount, because the electronic record has no back-up.

Stein lost the part of the case involving how candidates seek a recount, but the part of her case on the audit problem was still alive. If Pennsylvania had not settled this case, its election officials would have been required to testify about the state interest in having machines that can’t be checked after the initial vote count has been announced.

U.S. DISTRICT COURT IN MAINE UPHOLDS RCV

On December 13, U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker, a Trump appointee, issued a 30-page opinion upholding ranked choice voting. The case, Baber v Dunlap, 1:18cv-465, had been filed after the election by supporters of Congressman Bruce Poliquin, a Republican who was defeated in November 2016. He polled more first-place votes than any other candidate, but no one had a majority of first-place votes. When the second-place votes for the two independent candidates were then counted, Poliquin lost to the Democratic nominee, because most of the voters who had given their first-place votes to the independent candidates preferred the Democrat to the Republican.

On December 17, Polinquin filed a notice of appeal to the First Circuit, case number 18-2250.

2018 VOTE FOR U.S. SENATE

~	Dem	Rep.	Lib’t.	Green	Constit.	Wk.Fm	other pty	indep.
Az.	1,191,100	1,135,200	0	57,442	0	0	0	0
Cal	11,113,364	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ct.	787,685	545,717	8,838	6,618	0	37,894	70	0
Del.	217,385	137,127	3,910	4,170	0	0	0	0
Fla	4,089,472	4,099,505	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hi.	276,316	112,035	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ind.	1,023,553	1,158,000	100,942	0	0	0	0	0
Me.	66,268	223,502	0	0	0	0	0	344,575
Md.	1,491,614	697,017	22,943	0	0	0	0	85,964
Mass	1,633,371	979,210	0	0	0	0	0	91,710
Mich.	2,214,478	1,938,818	0	40,204	27,251	0	16,502	0
Minn.	1,566,174	940,437	0	23,101	0	0	66,236	0
Miss.	369,567	547,619	12,981	0	0	0	6,048	0
Mo.	1,112,935	1,254,927	27,316	12,706	0	0	0	34,398
Mt.	253,963	235,963	14,545	0	0	0	0	0
Neb.	269,917	403,151	25,349	0	0	0	0	0
Nev.	490,071	441,202	9,196	0	7,091	0	0	9,269
N.J.	1,711,654	1,357,355	21,212	25,150	0	0	0	53,939
N.M.	376,998	212,813	107,201	0	0	0	0	0
N.Y.	3,755,489	1,730,439	0	0	0	160,128	409,095	0
No.D.	144,376	179,720	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ohio	2,355,923	2,053,963	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pa.	2,792,437	2,134,848	50,907	31,208	0	0	0	0
R.I.	231,477	144,421	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tenn.	985,450	1,227,483	0	0	0	0	0	30,807
Tex.	4,045,632	4,260,553	65,470	0	0	0	0	0
Utah	328,541	665,215	27,607	0	28,774	0	12,708	0
Vt.	0	74,663	0	0	0	0	1,171	196,496
Va.	1,910,370	1,374,313	61,565	0	0	0	0	0
Wash	1,803,364	1,282,804	0	0	0	0	0	0
W.V.	290,510	271,113	24,411	0	0	0	0	0
Wis.	1,472,914	1,184,885	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wy.	61,227	136,210	5,658	0	0	0	0	0
TOT.	50,433,595	33,140,228	590,051	200,599	63,116	198,022	511,830	847,158

Parties in the "Other" column are: Connecticut: Socialist Action; Michigan, Natural Law; Minnesota, Legal Marijuana Now; Mississippi, Reform; New York, 246,171 Conservative, 99,325 Independence, 41,989 Women’s Equality, 21,610 Reform; Utah, Independent American; Vermont, Liberty Union.

U.S. Senate totals in 2012, when these same seats were up, were: Democratic 50,000,805; Republican 39,131,232; Libertarian 983,413; Working Families 287,070; Conservative 235,747; Green 214,866; Independence 212,052; Constitution 140,706; Independent Party 61,820; Grassroots 30,531; Independent American 28,199; Reform 13,194; Natural Law 11,229; Liberty Union 8,435; Justice 8,342; Socialist 2,249; independents 1,602,260.

U.S. Senate totals in 2006 for these same seats were: Democratic 33,623,073; Republican 26,498,032; Libertarian 624,258; Green 394,653; Independence 231,899; Conservative 179,287; Working Families 148,792; Constitution 133,065; Peace & Freedom 117,764; Socialist Workers 10,468; Personal Choice 9,089; Socialist 2,490; Liberty Union 801; Socialist Action 108; independents 939,928

The chart above only lists the 33 regularly-scheduled elections. There were also special U.S. Senate elections in Minnesota and Mississippi. In the special Minnesota election, the vote was: Democratic 1,370,540; Republican 1,095,777; Legal Marijuana Now 95,614; independent 24,324. The special election in Mississippi was non-partisan, with no party labels on the ballot. The two Republicans received 514,549 and the two Democrats received 372,819. Because no one received a majority, a run-off was held on November 27, with the Republican receiving 486,762 and the Democrat receiving 420,816.

2018 VOTE FOR U.S. HOUSE

~	Dem.	Rep.	Lib’t.	Green.	Wk Fam	Constit	oth(1)	oth(2)	indp.
Alab.	678,687	975,737	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alas.	131,199	149,779	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ariz.	1,179,193	1,139,552	0	22,378	0	0	0	0	0
Ark.	312,978	556,339	19,625	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cal.	8,010,445	3,973,396	0	103,479	0	0	0	0	97,202
Colo.	1,343,211	1,079,772	58,769	0	0	0	0	0	31,794
Conn.	808,652	512,495	3,305	6,624	40,689	0	8,026	0	0
Del	227,353	125,384	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fla.	3,307,228	3,675,417	0	0	0	0	0	0	38,550
Ga.	1,814,469	1,987,191	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hi.	287,921	87,348	3,498	2,214	0	0	0	0	1,351
Ida.	207,303	367,993	5,435	0	0	3,181	0	0	11,721
Ill.	2,757,540	1,754,449	0	7,935	0	0	0	0	17,365
Ind.	1,000,104	1,247,978	8,030	0	0	0	0	0	0
Iowa	664,676	612,338	29,894	1,888	0	0	2,015	0	3,138
Kan.	464,380	563,190	22,752	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ky.	612,977	935,304	5,938	0	0	0	0	0	15,533
La.	553,184	835,715	8,784	0	0	0	29,758	0	33,152
Me.	333,208	245,372	0	0	0	0	0	0	53,097
Md.	1,493,047	737,906	43,005	10,261	0	0	0	0	0
Mass.	1,943,595	497,953	0	0	0	0	0	0	23,881
Mich.	2,175,003	1,853,459	12,101	14,740	0	27,233	53,102	2,213	16,071
Minn.	1,420,769	1,125,533	0	0	0	0	13,776	12,741	0
Miss.	398,770	471,162	0	0	0	0	20,867	0	48,104
Mo.	1,027,969	1,330,975	54,746	3,831	0	876	0	0	0
Mont.	233,284	256,661	14,476	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nebr.	264,493	432,077	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nev.	491,272	439,727	8,830	0	0	9,115	0	0	11,830
N.H	311,242	248,986	10,254	0	0	0	0	0	0
N.J.	1,856,819	1,198,664	12,963	2,676	0	3,902	0	0	22,504
N.M.	404,026	264,701	24,584	0	0	0	0	0	0
N.Y.	3,760,566	1,639,593	0	23,461	176,483	0	251,816	87,029	2,835
No.C.	1,771,061	1,846,041	38,728	2,831	0	4,665	0	0	0
No.D.	114,377	193,568	0	0	0	0	0	0	13,066
Ohio	2,082,684	2,291,333	23,857	8,324	0	0	0	0	0
Okla.	428,452	730,531	4,140	0	0	0	0	0	15,713
Ore.	1,061,412	702,531	32,312	10,758	0	1,487	36,888	10,758	0
Pa.	2,712,665	2,206,360	10,950	0	0	0	0	0	0
R.I.	242,575	129,838	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
So.C.	758,340	927,494	0	3,214	0	3,443	15,011	0	0
So.D.	121,033	202,695	4,914	0	0	0	0	0	7,323
Tenn.	846,450	1,279,655	4,393	0	0	0	0	0	29,312
Tex.	3,852,752	4,135,359	182,669	0	0	0	0	0	31,499
Utah	374,009	617,307	13,504	4,786	0	0	36,177	6,686	0
Vt.	188,547	70,705	0	0	0	0	3,924	0	9,110
Va.	1,867,061	1,408,701	13,995	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wa.	1,888,593	1,048,712	84,646	0	0	0	0	0	0
W.V.	234,568	337,146	0	6,277	0	0	0	0	0
Wis.	1,367,492	1,172,964	0	0	0	0	0	0	21,592
Wyo.	59,903	127,963	6,918	0	0	6,070	0	0	0
TOT.	60,447,537	50,751,049	768,015	235,677	217.172	59,972	471,360	119,427	555,743

parties in the "Other(1)" column are: Ct., Independent Party; Iowa, Legal Marijuana Now; La., Independent Party; Mi., Working Class; Mn., Legal Marijuana Now; Ms., Reform; N.Y., Conservative 207,094 and Independence 44,722; Or., Independent Party; S.C., American; Ut., United Utah; Vt., Liberty Union. In the "Other(2)" column: Mi., Socialist Equality; Mn., Independence; N.Y., Reform 45,712 and Women’s Equality 41,317; Or., Progressive; Ut., Independent American.

2018 VOTE FOR GOVERNOR

~	Democratic	Republican	Lib’t.	Green	Wk Fam	Constit	oth(1)	oth(2)	indp.
Alab.	694,495	1,022,457	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alas.	125,739	145,631	5,402	0	0	0	0	0	5,757
Ariz.	994,341	1,330,863	0	50,962	0	0	0	0	0
Ark.	283,218	582,406	25,885	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cal.	7,721,410	4,742,825	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Colo.	1,348,888	1,080,801	69,519	0	0	0	25,854	0	0
Conn.	676,649	624,750	6,086	0	17,861	0	25,388	1,254	54,741
Fla.	4,043,723	4,076,186	0	0	0	0	47,140	0	53,445
Ga.	1,923,685	1,978,408	37,235	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hi.	244,934	131,719	0	10,123	0	0	0	0	4,067
Ida.	231,081	361,661	6,551	0	0	5,787	0	0	0
Ill.	2,479,748	1,765,751	109,518	0	0	0	192,527	0	0
Iowa	630,986	667,275	21,426	0	0	0	7,463	0	0
Kan.	506,727	453,645	20,020	0	0	0	0	0	75,174
Me.	320,962	272,311	0	0	0	0	0	0	37,268
Md.	1,002,639	1,275,644	13,241	11,175	0	0	0	0	0
Mass.	885,770	1,781,341	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mich.	2,266,193	1,859,534	56,606	28,799	0	29,219	10,202	0	0
Minn.	1,393,096	1,097,705	26,735	0	0	0	68,667	0	0
Nebr.	286,169	411,812	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nev.	480,007	440,320	8,640	0	0	10,076	0	0	13,891
N.H	262,359	302,764	8,197	0	0	0	0	0	0
N.M.	398,368	298,091	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
N.Y.	3,424,416	1,926,485	95,033	103,946	114,478	0	322,337	110,667	0
Ohio	2,067,847	2,231,917	79,985	49,475	0	0	0	0	0
Okla.	500,973	644,579	40,833	0	0	0	0	0	17,169
Ore.	934,498	814,988	28,927	0	0	21,145	53,392	11,013	0
Pa.	2,895,662	2,039,899	49,229	27,792	0	0	0	0	0
R.I.	198,122	139,932	0	0	0	0	10,155	4,191	22,755
So.C.	784,182	921,342	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
So.D.	161,454	172,912	4,848	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tenn.	864,863	1,336,106	20,382	3,070	0	0	0	0	18,862
Tex.	3,546,615	4,656,196	140,632	0	0	0	0	0	0
Vt.	110,335	151,261	0	0	0	0	1,839	0	9,537
Wis.	1,324,307	1,295,080	20,225	0	0	0	0	0	32,716
Wyo.	55,965	136,412	3,010	0	0	6,751	0	0	0
TOT.	46,070,426	43,171,009	898,165	285,342	132,389	72,978	764,964	127,125	345,382

Parties in the "Other(1)" column are: Colorado, Unity; Connecticut, Independent Party; Florida, Reform; Illinois, Conservative; Iowa, Clean Water; Michigan, Natural Law; Minnesota: Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis; New York, 253,624 Conservative and 68,713 Independence; Oregon, Independent Party; Rhode Island, Moderate; Vermont, Liberty Union.

Parties in the "Other(2)" column are: Connecticut, Amigo Constitution Liberty; New York, SAM 55,441; Women’s Equality 27,733; Reform 27,493; Oregon, Progressive; Rhode Island, Moderate.

Gub. totals in 2014 were: Republican 32,027, 999; Democratic 29,438,775; Libertarian 883,728; Green 405,484; Conservative 250,634; Working Families 151,006; Independence 134,662; Constitution 88,619; United Independent 71,814; Moderate 69,278; Independent Parties 65,231; Women’s Equality 53,802; Stop Common Core 51,294; Grassroots 31,259; Americans Elect 15,432; Progressive 13,898; New Independent Party 10,582; Iowa 10,239; United Citizens 5,622; Sapient 4,963; Liberty Union 1.673.

Gub. totals in 2010 were: Republican 33,588,679; Democratic 30,173,343; Constitution 872,494; Libertarian 731,134; Independence 521,964; Green 488,919; Conservative 232,264; Working Families 181,155; Peace & Freedom 92,856; Rent is 2 Damn High 41,131; Moderate 22,146; Liberty Union 429; other parties 163,784.

MAINE REGISTRATION DRIVES

During December, both the Libertarian Party and the Socialist Party filed a notice with the Maine Secretary of State, telling him that they intend to conduct registration drives so as to become qualified parties for 2020. Each party needs 5,000 registered members by January 2020.

The Libertarian Party already had over 5,500 registered voters in Maine until December 14, when the Maine Secretary of State converted all of them to registered independents. Maine is one of the few states that eliminates a party’s members when the party goes off the ballot. The Libertarians went off the ballot because the law says a party that had been on the ballot loses its qualified status if it has fewer than 10,000 registered members who actually went to the polls and voted.

The only other state that is eliminating all the registered Libertarians is New Hampshire, where the party also went off the ballot. It is likely that the Maine Libertarian Party will soon file a lawsuit, arguing that it is unconstitutional for a state to erase all a party’s members just because it goes off the ballot. Courts in Colorado, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma have ruled that voters have a right to be registered into unqualified parties that are active in elections. The party told the Secretary of State of its intent to file such a lawsuit, but the Secretary of State paid no heed. If the party had its registrations back, it would of course then have enough to re-qualify as a "new" party.

The Socialist Party has not been on the Maine ballot for any statewide race since 1952.

BRITISH COLUMBIA VOTERS DEFEAT PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

On December 20, the British Columbia election results for a referendum on proportional representation were announced. Proportional representation was defeated by a margin of 38.7%-61.3%. This is the third time the voters of British Columbia have defeated the idea. The other times were in 2005 and 2009.

LIBERTARIAN WINS CALIFORNIA NON-PARTISAN IMPORTANT POSITION

On November 6, Riverside County (California) voters elected Jeff Hewitt to be County Supervisor, 5^th district. Although the election is non-partisan, it was well-known that Hewitt is a member of the Libertarian Party. Riverside County, like almost all California counties, only has five county supervisors, and is the eleventh most populous county in the nation. .

COFOE HELPS PAY EXPENSES FOR BALLOT ACCESS LOBBYING IN ALABAMA AND GEORGIA

The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) recently sent $1,000 to each of two volunteer lobbyists, to help pay their expenses when they lobby the legislatures of Alabama and Georgia for better ballot access laws. Paul Frankel in Alabama, and Hugh Esco in Georgia, are the volunteer lobbyists. COFOE gets all its revenue from the subscribers to this newsletter. Thanks to all who have contributed to COFOE over the years.

REPUBLICAN PARTY LOSES OFFICE-HOLDERS POST-ELECTION

During December 2018, the Republican Party lost some of its office-holders. Three Kansas Republican legislators said they are switching to the Democratic Party, and also the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court said she had changed her registration from Republican to independent.

JOHN KASICH RULES OUT RUNNING IN REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES, KEEPS INDEPENDENT OPTION OPEN

On December 19, outgoing Ohio Governor John Kasich said he will not run in 2020 Republican presidential primaries, but he kept open the option of running as an independent presidential candidate.