On April 27, New York’s highest state court, the Court of Appeals, issued an opinion in Harkenrider v Hochul, the lawsuit over the state’s new U.S. House districts. By a vote of 4-3, the Court agreed with the lower courts, and said the new plan violates the state constitution because it is a partisan gerrymander. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.
The Court will appoint a special master to quickly draw new districts.
On April 26, the New York State Court of Appeals heard Harkenrider v Hochul, the case over New York’s U.S. House redistricting. Here is a New York Times article about the oral argument. It seems the outcome is difficult to predict. The lower state courts had ruled against the current maps.
Nancy Jacobson, founder of “No Labels”, here predicts in The Hill that there will be an independent centrist presidential candidate in 2024 who will have appeal to many voters.
On April 24, the Rhode Island Libertarian Party held its state convention and nominated Joel Hellmann for Governor. Although the Libertarian Party has been on the ballot in every state’s gubernatorial election at least once, the Rhode Island Libertarian Party had not run anyone for Governor since 1976.
The Libertarian Party has never been a qualified party in Rhode Island. It will need 1,000 signatures to place Hellman on the ballot. If he should receive 5%, the party would become qualified for the first time. Hellmann was the Moderate Party’s candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2018, and he polled 11,332 votes, 3.12%.
A Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll was released on April 25, showing that if the major party presidential nominees in 2024 are President Biden and former President Donald Trump, 58% of voters would be open to voting for a centrist independent. See this story at The Hill.
On April 24, Andrew Yang was interviewed by Sarah Longwell. Yang said there will definitely be a mainstream centrist independent running in 2024, and suggested that possibly Mark Cuban would be that candidate.
