CALIFORNIA TOP-TWO SYSTEM MAY DISTORT 2026 GUBERNATORIAL RACE

Since 2011, California has had a top-two system in which all candidates for partisan state office and Congress run on a single primary ballot.  Then only the top two candidates run in November.  There is no write-in space on the ballot in November for top-two offices.

Eight Democrats with significant campaign resources have announced for the June 2026 primary for Governor, and only two Republicans with significant campaigns are running.  This opens the possibility that the two Republicans might place first and second in the primary, because the majority party, the Democratic Party, has so many candidates.

Four polls taken at the end of October have showed one or the other of the two Republicans in the lead.  The Republicans are Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and Fox News host Steve Hilton.

The eight Democrats, in the order in which they filed, are Tony Thurmond (Superintendent of Public Instruction), Betty Yee (former Controller), Antonio Villaraigosa (former Los Angeles Mayor), Stephen Cloobeck (billionaire businessman), Katie Porter (former U.S. House member), Xavier Becerra (former Attorney General), Tom Steyer (billionaire businessman), and Eric Swalwell (U.S. House member).

Here are the recent polls:

EMC Research shows Hilton leading with 20%, followed by Porter at 16% and Bianco at 16%.

Ben Tulchin Polls shows Bianco at 20% followed by Villaraigosa at 19% and Hilton at 18%.

Emerson College Polls shows Hilton at 16%, Porter at 15%, and Biancho at 11%.

UC IGS Polls shows Bianco at 13%, Porter at 11%, Hilton at 8%, and Becerra at 8%.

California has had four top-two races in the past in which the majority party was left with no one on the general election ballot.  However, none of them were statewide races.

In 2012, in the 31^st U.S. House district, a Democratic district, four Democrats and two Republicans ran.  The two Republicans came in first and second, leaving no Democrat on the November ballot.  At the general election, 25% of the voters who cast a ballot left U.S. House blank.

The last instance was in 2022 in the State Senate 4^th district race.  This was a strong Republican district, but six Republicans ran and only two Democrats, leaving no Republican on the November ballot.

Washington, the other top-two state, had an instance of the majority party being locked out of a statewide race.  That was in 2016, when three Democrats and two Republicans ran for Treasurer.  Even though the Democratic Party is the majority party in Washington, no Democrat was on the ballot for that office.

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WISCONSIN GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL IMPROVING BALLOT ACCESS

On October 31, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed AB 149, which helps ballot access by making it easier for a qualified party to choose presidential elector candidates.  Other states that have eased ballot access laws this year are Maine and Montana.  States that made them worse are Iowa, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Vermont.

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ARKANSAS INITIATIVE RULES ENJOINED

On November 19, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy L. Brooks, an Obama appointee, enjoined some Arkansas restrictions on initiative petitioning. League of Women Voters of Arkansas v Jester, w.d., 5:25cv-5087.

The enjoined laws: (1) require that the ballot title of an initiative must be understood by anyone with only an eighth grade education (this means that the title must contain no words with more than two syllables); (2) require that circulators must be domiciled in Arkansas; (3) require that the names and addresses of every paid circulator must be given to the state before the circulators can work (and then anyone can see that list); (4) require that the circulator ask every signer to show the signer’s photo ID ; (5) require that the circulator read the summary of the proposed initiative to anyone who is asked to sign; (6) require that the circulator tell everyone approached that “Petition fraud is a criminal offense”; (7) require that every paid circulator submit an affidavit after the work is done attesting that no laws were broken; (8) requiring that every paid circulator who turns in some petitions must take a 30-day hiatus from doing any more circulating.

The judge declined to enjoin several other provisions: (1) that the circulator be a resident of Arkansas (but a circulator is a “resident” if he or she simply has a hotel or motel address in the state while working); (2) the ban on paying per-signature; (3) that the petition contain a minimum number of signatures in each of 50 counties; (4) that the proponents pay the printing costs to run two notices of the initiative in twice in newspapers in every county; (5) that paid circulators must not ever have been convicted of trespass, shoplifting, or misdemeanor drug crimes.

The fact that certain laws were not enjoined does not mean that they won’t be held unconstitutional in this case in the future. Sometimes the plaintiffs lost on certain points because no plaintiff is in the case who is affected by the challenge regulation. For example, there were no plaintiffs who want to circulate in Arkansas but have no residence in Arkansas; and there were no plaintiffs who were ever convicted of the crimes mentioned above.

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WYOMING  SECRETARY OF STATE WILL AGAIN TRY TO MAKE BALLOT ACCESS HARDER

Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray, a Republican, tried last year to persuade the legislature to make ballot access tougher for independent candidates, but he failed.  However, he is trying again.  He has persuaded the House Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee to reintroduce his 2025 bill in the 2026 session.  It increases the petition requirement from 2% of the last U.S. House vote to 3% (for statewide offices) and 5% (for legislative candidates).  There is no bill number yet.

Already Wyoming requires a higher percentage of the vote for a presidential candidate running outside the two major parties (using the easier method in each state) than any other state.

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ALASKA INITIATIVE TO REPEAL TOP-FOUR

On November 6, opponents of the Alaska top-four system submitted an initiative petition to repeal the top-four system.  It has 48,000 signatures and needs 34,098.

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LOUISIANA CHANGES BALLOT ACCESS FOR CONGRESS FOR 2026

On October 30, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed SB 1.  It changes the 2026 congressional primary from April 18 to May 16.  It also changes the rules for petitions for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties.  U.S. House candidates can collect 750 signatures from anywhere in the state.  This is because Louisiana doesn’t know what the boundaries of its U.S. House candidates will be in 2026.  It all depends on what the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Louisiana v Callais.

Also, the bill says that, for 2026 only, there is no distribution requirement for U.S. Senate independent candidate petitions.  The old law said the petition needs 250 signatures from each U.S. House district.

The petition deadline will be January 14, which is four months before the primary.  That deadline is almost certainly unconstitutional.  Courts are almost unanimous that independent candidate petitions (for offices other than president) can’t be earlier than the primary date.  Such decisions have come down from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

The Louisiana Libertarian Party is planning a lawsuit over the deadline.

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HAWAII GREEN PARTY IS BACK ON BALLOT

The Hawaii Department of Elections recently determined that the Green Party petition is valid, so the party is back on the ballot.   It is now on the ballot in 19 states and, in addition, is on the ballot in Louisiana for president and state offices, but not for Congress.  The requirement is 861 signatures.

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WYOMING LAWSUIT LOSS

On November 7, a Wyoming state trial court upheld the state’s “sore loser” law and also upheld the law that says voters can’t vote in a primary if they hadn’t been members of that party for several months before the primary.  Malcom v Gray, Laramie Co. District Court, 2024-cv-202658.

Similar laws had been upheld in other states in federal court, but the plaintiffs argued that the Wyoming Constitution gives more protection for voting and candidacy than the U.S. Constitution does.  The case will be appealed to the State Supreme Court.

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GEORGIA STATE COURT SAYS PARTIES CAN’T BLOCK CANDIDATES ON POLITICAL GROUNDS

On November 7, a Georgia state trial court enjoined the Catoosa County Republican Party from blocking candidates from its primary ballot based on the views of the candidates.  Henry v Catoosa County Republican Party, Superior Court, Catoosa County, sucv2024211.  The decision did not even mention that the party also has a federal lawsuit underway on the same issue.  The state court acknowledged that the Eleventh Circuit had given the Republican Party the authority to ban David Duke (a KKK leader) from its primary ballot in 2012.  But the state court said presidential primaries are different than primaries for other offices.

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BOOK REVIEW: LIFE, LAW AND LIBERTY

Life, Law and Liberty, by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, 2025, 336 pages.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was on the Supreme Court between 1988 and 2018.  He has just published this autobiography.  The book also includes a defense of some of his most controversial decisions, including two election law decisions, Citizens United and Bush v Gore.

Besides the two election law cases, Kennedy discusses his decisions on these topics:  abortion, gay rights, the death penalty for juveniles, juvenile life sentences, freedom of speech, and religion.  He does not mention any of the cases dealing with minor parties or independent candidates.  He had a mixed record on those.  On the supportive side, he wrote in defense of write-in voting in Burdick v Takushi.  He was one of only three justices who would have struck down Hawaii’s ban on write-in space.  Also, he was one of only two justices who wrote that Washington’s top-two system is unconstitutional; the other justices couldn’t decide whether it was unconstitutional and remanded back to a lower court.

On the other hand, he wrote the decision in Arkansas Educational TV v Forbes, which said that it is constitutional for public television to sponsor candidate debates and only invite the Democratic and Republican nominees.  And he voted in Twin Cities Area New Party v McKenna that it is constitutional for states to tell two parties that they cannot jointly nominate the same candidate.

The book is most disappointing for not mentioning Kennedy’s role in the gerrymandering cases.  Twice, while Kennedy was on the court, the issue of partisan gerrymandering was at issue.  Each time, there were four justices who felt partisan gerrymandering violates the Constitution; and four that did not.  Kennedy was in neither camp.

Each time, he expressed the viewpoint that extreme partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional but both times he felt the particular plan in front of the Court wasn’t bad enough to be struck down.

As soon as he left the Court, a new gerrymandering case arose, Rucho v Common Cause.  The majority said that partisan gerrymandering can never be unconstitutional no matter how extreme it is.  If only Kennedy had voted to strike down just one of the maps while he was on the court, the nation would not be stuck with the Rucho precedent.

Kennedy’s book is also disappointing because he doesn’t discuss the tension between his legacy of expanding human rights and his decision to resign from the court in 2018, when he was 82 years old.  Donald Trump was thus given a chance to appoint a second justice (Brett Kavanaugh).  Kennedy had to know that a Trump appointee would be very likely to vote to undo some of Kennedy’s most cherished decisions.  He could have remained on the Court until someone else was president, but he didn’t.  Although his book discusses his decision to retire, it avoids any meaningful mention of Trump.

Kennedy is the only Supreme Court Justice who resigned while Trump was president.

Kennedy had to know that there was much speculation about the connection between Kennedy’s son Justin, who worked for Deutsche Bank and had a close business relationship with Trump.  Deutsche Bank loaned Trump over $1 billion for his real estate projects, and Justin Kennedy was head of the real estate capital markets division of Deutsche, which loaned to Trump when other banks wouldn’t.

Life, Law and Liberty would have been a more useful book if Kennedy had written about whether his decision to resign in the middle of Trump’s first term was influenced by his son’s relationship to Trump.

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GEORGIA LIBERTARIAN BALLOT ACCESS CASE

On November, the Eleventh Circuit said the Libertarian Party cannot amend its Complaint, and it must file a new case to challenge the U.S. House petition requirement.  Cowen v Raffensperger.

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VOTER REGISTRATION TOTALS

State	Dem.	Rep.	Indp Misc	Liber’t	Green	Consti.	WkFam	Forward	other
Alaska	72,637	146,454	358,774	6,328	1,505	767	?	?	20,955
Arizona	1,269,886	1,603,141	1,546,453	32,026	5,212	?	?	?	42,277
Arkansas	86,683	145,703	1,556,243	736	122	?	?	?	– –
Calif.	10,376,887	5,824,749	5,439,915	232,855	113,209	216	?	1,126	1,104,317
Colorado	1,032,299	935,956	2,064,598	37,018	8,658	11,836	?	414	42,084
Conn.	795,237	490,949	938,876	2,765	1,308	?	318	?	29,539
Delaware	334,324	202,007	244,527	1,863	783	221	312	2	16,808
Dt. Col.	355,972	24,193	84,866	1,734	4,385	?	?	?	– –
Florida	4,104,990	5,509,102	3,374,490	35,052	9,413	19,210	?	1,043	365,716
Idaho	120,009	627,548	255,739	10,281	?	4,121	?	?	– –
Iowa	502,946	699,279	574,354	12,096	2,580	?	?	?	– –
Kansas	495,691	897,243	575,983	23,772	0	0	0	0	6,901
Kentucky	1,381,872	1,592,996	350,025	15,737	2,557	1,525	?	?	902
Louis’na	1,083,415	1,050,919	815,267	14,955	2,795	137	0	34	3,415
Maine	356,999	311,166	312,444	6,106	37,700	?	?	?	17,215
Md.	2,222,693	1,027,692	1,035,913	18,943	5,823	?	?	?	3,751
Mass.	1,298,603	423,387	3,288,129	15,672	3,545	289	753	35	15,672
Missouri	113,560	122,233	3,332,827	4,743	?	?	?	?	– –
Nebraska	328,004	622,765	279,043	17,701	?	?	?	?	9,967
Nevada	598,393	601,572	820,775	15,336	2,213	91,343	?	?	– –
N. Hamp.	268,067	317,702	374,993	?	?	?	?	?	– –
N. Jersey	2,526,861	1,673,397	2,358,288	24,040	11,551	11,217	?	?	26,906
N. M.	571,366	439,459	345,751	15,040	4,285	?	?	?	– –
N. York	6,043,040	2,859,197	3,189,347	14,684	16,184	?	58,144	?	436,036
No. Car.	2,309,777	2,306,019	2,949,379	46,392	4,253	?	?	?	– –
Okla.	608,204	1,277,514	485,090	23,266	?	?	?	?	– –
Oregon	986,903	729,105	1,150,058	19,403	8,035	3,815	8,362	?	166,426
Penn.	3,813,066	3,642,385	1,389,667	46,161	13,826	?	?	?	– –
Rhode Is.	266,265	109,042	373,106	?	?	?	?	?	– –
So. Dak.	141,898	320,025	160,737	2,928	?	189	?	?	– –
Utah	238,936	916,179	475,509	18,317	793	6,495	?	2,154	89,703
W. Va.	332,877	506,736	342,083	10,769	2,635	117	?	?	– –
Wyo.	31,590	210,819	28,305	1,795	?	545	?	?	– –
TOTAL	45,069,950	38,166,633	40,871,554	728,514	263,370	152,043	67,889	4,808	2,398,590
Percent	35.29%	29.88%	32.00%	.57%	.21%	.12%	.05%	.00+%	1.88%

The parties in the “other” column are: Alaska, Alaskan Independence 19,168; Veterans 1,530; Clowns 257. California, American Independent 939,695; Peace & Freedom 148,494; American Solidarity 692; Common Sense 15,010; Neutral 426.  Colorado:  No Labels 29,809; Approval Voting 5,173; Center 3,921; Unity 3,181.  Connecticut:  Independent Party.  Delaware:  Independent Party 12,343; Nonpartisan party 1,212; Conservative 880; Liberal 788; American 677; American Delta 352; We the People 200; Socialist Workers 135; Mandalorian 125; Natural Law 74; Blue Enigma 74; Reform 48.  Florida:  Independent Party 292,607; Conservative 41,375; Boricua 12,881; American Solidarity 6,543; Coalition with a Purpose 5,128; Ecology 3,564; Socialism & Liberation 2,170; America First 1,150; Reform 224; Jeffersonian 45; Men Going Their Own Way 29.  Kansas:  No Labels 5,955; United Kansas 946.  Kentucky:  Socialist Workers 660; Reform 242.  Louisiana:  No Labels 1,721; Conservative 745; Reform 723; Socialist 99; American Solidarity 94; Communist 22; Socialism & Liberation 11.  Maryland:  Working Class.  Massachusetts:  United Independent 12,788; Socialist 1,770; Pirate 721; Workers 219; Reform 100; Natural Law 52; Prohibition 22.  Nebraska:  Legal Marijuana Now.  New Jersey:  Conservative 13,254; Socialist 7,148; Natural Law 5,145; Reform 1,359.  New York:  Independence 274,532; Conservative 161,187; SAM 317.  Oregon:  Independent Party 154,743; No Labels 7,241; Progressive 4,063; We the People 379.  Utah:  Independent American 79,391; No Labels 10,312

Totals Oct. 2024:  Dem. 45,512,696 (37.07%), Rep. 37,314,494 (30.40%), indp. & misc. 36,245,381 (29.52%), Libertarian 737,972 (.60%), Green 248,516 (.20%), Constitution 150,949 (.12%), Working Families 59,109 (.05%), No Labels 150,104 (.12%), other 2,344,364 (1.91%).

Totals Oct. 2020:  Dem. 47,106,084 (39.67%), Rep. 35,041,482 (29.51%), indp. & misc. 33,696,700 (28.38%), Libertarian 652,261 (.55%), Green 240,222 (.20%), Constitution 129,556 (.11%), Working Families 49,758 (.04%), Reform 9,004 (.01%), other 1,814,973 (1.53%).

Totals Oct. 2016:  Dem. 45,690,825 (40.60%), Rep. 33,052,332 (29.37%), indp. & misc. 31,200,104 (27.72%), Libertarian 497,535 (.44%), Green 256,560 (.23%), Constitution 92,483 (.08%), Reform 5,294 (.00+%), Working Families 61,517 (.05%), other 1,662,329 (1.50%).

Totals Oct. 2012:  Dem. 43,512,746 (41.85%), Rep. 31,298,863 (30.10%), indp. & misc. 26,808,810 (25.79%), Libertarian  330,811 (.32%), Green 250,682 (.24%), Constitution 77,918 (.07%), Reform 22,880 (.02%), other 1,665,945 (1.61%).

Totals Oct. 2008:  Dem. 43,933,901 (43.62%), Rep. 30,944,590 (30.72%), indp. & misc. 24,157,259 (23.98%), AIP/Const. 438,222 (.44%), Green 255,019 (.25%), Libertarian 240,328 (.24%), other 708,941 (.70%).

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LAST TIME A MINOR PARTY NOMINEE, WHO WAS NOT ALSO A MAJOR PARTY NOMINEE, WON A PARTISAN ELECTION

State	Office	Year	Name	Partisan Ballot Label
Alabama	Dallas Co. Constable	2000	Jack K. Andrews	Libertarian
Alaska	State Senate	2002	Tom Wagoner	Republican Moderate Party
Arizona	– –	– –	– –	– –
Arkansas	Big Rock Twp. Constable	2024	Frank Gilbert	Libertarian
California	Assembly	1999	Audie Bock	Green
Colorado	San Miguel Co. Commissioner	2012	Art Goodtimes	Green
Connecticut	Hartford Board of Education	2025	Shonta Browdy	Working Families
Delaware	– –	– –	– –	– –
Florida	Governor	1916	Sidney J. Catts	Prohibition
Georgia	Dade Co. Commissioner	2004	Ben Brandon	Libertarian
Hawaii	Hawaii Co. Council	2000	Julie Jacobson	Green
Idaho	Gem Co. Prosecuting Atty.	2000	Richard K. Linville	Libertarian
Illinois	State Senate	2002	James T. Meeks	Honesty & Integrity
Indiana	Ossian Town Council	2022	Stephanie Tucker	Libertarian
Iowa	Greene Co. Attorney	1922	Thomas Laehn	Libertarian
Kansas	Jewell Co. Treasurer	1956	W. L. (Bill) Zade	Prohibition
Kentucky	Boone Co. Justice of the Peace	2022	Lex Hannan	Libertarian
Louisiana	State House	2019	Roy Daryl Adams	Independent Party
Maine	State House	2004	John Eder	Green
Maryland	State House	1934	Joseph A. Cantrel	Fusion
Mass.	State House	1920	Charles Morrill	Socialist
Michigan	Fenton Twp. Trustee	2020	Kade Katrak	Green
Minnesota	State Senate	2002	Sheila Kiscaden	Independence
Mississippi	McLain Mayor	2025	Steve McClusky	Libertarian
Missouri	Lakeshire Alderman	1981	Marshall Cobb	Libertarian
Montana	State House	2006	Rick Jore	Constitution
Nebraska	State House	1926	Trenmor Cone	Progressive
Nevada	Eureka Co. Clerk-Treasurer	2010	Jackie Berg	Independent American
N.H.	State House	2000	Steve Vaillancourt	Libertarian
N.J.	Kingswood Twp. Committee	1981	Richard Siano	Libertarian
N.M.	State House	1914	W. C. Tharp	Socialist
N.Y.	Newburgh City Council	2025	Tamika Stewart	Working Families
No. Carolina	Greene Co. Commissioner	2018	Jerry Jones	Constitution
No. Dakota	Williams Co. Sheriff	1916	W. C. Tharp	Socialist
Ohio	State House	1914	Pat O. Shank	Progressive
Oklahoma	State Senate	1914	George E. Wilson	Socialist
Oregon	Medford City Council	1909	George H. Millar	Socialist
Pennsy.	Renovo Borough Mayor	2025	Justin Lynn	Libertarian
R.I.	Providence City Council	2002	David Segal	Green
So. Carolina	Georgetown Mayor	2025	Jay Doyle	Forward
So. Dakota	State Senate	1924	Stephen Henderson	Farmer-Labor
Tennessee	Montgomery Co. Commissioner	2018	Joshua Beale	(Libt.) independent
Texas	Lubbock Co. Public Weigher	2000	Noah Davis	Libertarian
Utah	Big Water Mayor	2002	Willy Marshall	Libertarian
Vermont	State Senate	2024	Tanya Vyhovsky	Progressive
Virginia	Brookneal Mayor	1916	B. F Ginther	Socialist
Washington	State Senate	1922	J. R. “Bob” Oman	Farmer-Labor
West Va.	Jefferson Co. Surveyor	2000	William Clem	Libertarian
Wisconsin	Iowa Co. Coroner	1982	Timothy Correll	Libertarian
Wyoming	State House	2020	Marshall Burt	Libertarian

This chart shows the last time a minor party won a partisan race in each state.  Arizona and Delaware are the only states that have never elected a minor party nominee (who was not also a major party nominee) ever since the Civil War.  Thanks to Darcy Richardson for help with this.  Any errors are the responsibility of Richard Winger.

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FIVE MINOR PARTIES WON PARTISAN ELECTIONS IN NOVEMBER 2025

Constitution Party:  elected two nominees to the School Board in the Clarion-Limestone School District in Pennsylvania.  Both Robert E. Smith and Thomas A. Walter, the Constitution nominees, had major party opponents.

Forward Party:  elected Jay Doyle to be Mayor of Georgetown, South Carolina.  Doyle defeated his only opponent, the Republican incumbent.  This was the first time a minor party nominee (who was not also a major party nominee) had been elected in South Carolina since 1894.

Green Party:  won seven elections in Connecticut and five in Pennsylvania.  The Connecticut instances were:  Leif Smith, who won two offices, Redding Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate and Redding Constable; Michael Westerfield, Windham Tax District Board; Mia Mitoma, Windham Board of Education; Sarah Winter, Windham Board of Assessment Appeals; Jessica Watson, Windham Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate; and Anna Parker, Windham Board of Assessment Alternate.

The Pennsylvania instances were:  Michael Bagdes-Canning, Mayor of Cherry Valley Borough; Alexander Casper, elected to two offices:  Bradford Judge of Elections and Inspector of Elections; Abigail Hunter and Stacy Flinn, each elected Judge of Elections in Pittsburgh.

Libertarian Party:  won two elections in Pennsylvania:  Justin Lynn, Mayor of Renovo Borough, defeated his Democratic opponent.  Also, Reece Smith won for Carlynton School Board.  He was the nominee of the Libertarian, Republican, and Democratic Parties, but he is a registered Libertarian.

Working Families Party:  won five elections in which the WFP nominee was not the nominee of any other party.  Three were in Connecticut and two were in New York.  The Connecticut instances:  Joseph Sokolovic and Rob Trader to the Bridgeport Board of Education; and Shonta Browdy to the Hartford Board of Education.

The New York instances were:  Tamika Stewart, Newburgh City Council; and Nicole Watts, Onondaga County Legislature, district nine.

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TEXAS DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN 2022 WILL TRY AGAIN AS AN INDEPENDENT

Mike Collier, the Texas Democratic Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 2022, will run for the same office again in 2026, but as an independent.  He will need 81,030 signatures, and no one who voted in the 2026 primary wil be able to sign.  No independent has qualified in Texas for a statewide state office since 2006.

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INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE WITH “LABOR” AS PARTISAN LABEL ELECTED TO ALLEGHENY COUNCIL

On November 4, Alex Rose was elected to the Allegheny County Council.  He received 178,857 votes; his only opponent, a Republican, received 138,937.  Allegheny County is the second most populous county in Pennsylvania, and includes Pittsburgh.  The ballot label for Rose was “Labor.”  There is no actual Labor Party in Pennsylvania, but Rose chose that word as his ballot label.  Allegheny County used Limited Voting for this office, which meant that the Democratic Party could not run for this seat, since it already held the other seat.

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COMMUNIST ELECTED IN ITHACA, BUT HER BALLOT LABEL WAS “DEMOCRATIC”

On November 4, Hannah Shvets was elected to the Ithaca, New York city council.  She was on the ballot as the nominee of the Democratic and the Working Families Parties, but she was open that she is a member of the Communist Party.  She defeated her only opponent, an independent whose ballot label was “Affordable Ithaca” and whom she had defeated in the Democratic primary.  He was the incumbent.