On March 4, Randy Flowers, an independent candidate for U.S. Houses from the 17th district of Illinois, filed a federal lawsuit against the petition requirements for independent candidates for U.S. House. Here is the Complaint in Flowers v Illinois State Board of Elections, c.d., 4:26cv-4062. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court judge Sara Darrow.
Kevin Kiley, who had been elected as a California Republican member of Congress in 2024, has switched his registration to independent. He will run for re-election in the Sixth U.S. House district this year. In California, independent candidates are forced to have the label “no party preference.”
When Kiley had been in the California legislature, he had introduced a bill to repeal the top-two system. While a member of Congress, he introduced a bill to ban mid-decade U.S. House redistricting.
Kiley is the first independent from California in Congress since William Kent, who was elected as an independent from Marin County in 1912 and 1914.
As already reported, the Oklahoma initiative for a top-two system did not get on the ballot. This article has more details. The supporters submitted 209,616 signatures, to meet a goal of 172,993 signatures. The Secretary of State found that 142,567 signatures were valid.
On March 5, an attorney for Tom Steyer, a California Democratic candidate for Governor, asked California Secretary of State to examine the residency of Eric Swalwell, another Democratic candidate for Governor. See the letter that sets forth the case that Swalwell does not meet the 5-year California residency requirement.
There virtually are no residence requirements for candidates for Congress, but the U.S. Constitution does permit states to have duration of residency requirements for state office. The California Constitution residency requirement dates from the 19th century. In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a lower court ruling that New Hampshire is permitted to have a seven-year duration of residency requirement for candidates for State Senate. Sununu v Stark.
A California voter, Joel Gilbert, has filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court against the Secretary of State, aimed at forcing the Secretary of State to make a decision about Swalwell’s residency. It has a hearing March 23 at 9 a.m. Gilbert v Weber, 26 WM 000011.
Meanwhile Swalwell has filed a federal lawsuit against the federal government for making his mortgage documents from Washington, D.C., public. The documents show that Swalwell claims his home in Washington, D.C., as his primary residence. Swalwell v Pulte, 1:25cv-4125.
On March 6, the San Jose Mercury-News carried this story, asking if California is likely to change its top-two system to something else.
The story erroneously says California had a closed primary before top-two started in 2011. This is not true. For 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008, California had a semi-closed primary for congress and partisan state office. In all those elections, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party let independent voters vote in its non-presidential primaries.
