On December 24, the Texas Secretary of State filed a brief in Hunt v State of Texas, n.d., 2:25cv-200. This is the lawsuit in which the Republican Party hopes to obtain a closed primary for itself. The Secretary of State is opposed to the lawsuit. Her latest brief says the lawsuit should be dismissed because it isn’t ripe. She says the Republican Party hasn’t even decided the details of how its closed primary would work, and the case therefore can’t continue.
Connecticut held a special election on January 13 to fill the vacancy in the State House, 139th district. The results: Democratic 61.91%; Republican 28.45%; Independent Party 7.06%; Working Families 2.58%.
In November 2024, the results had been: Democratic 50.74%; Republican 45.33%; Independent Party 1.34%; Working Families 2.59%.
In both elections, the Working Families Party nominated the Democratic nominee.
The January 2026 results for the Independent Party were very impressive, because its nominee, Mark Adams, was a write-in candidate. He had expected to be on the ballot because the Independent Party was ballot-qualified in that district, but the Secretary of State kept him off the ballot due to a paperwork error.
On January 14, a 3-judge U.S. District Court refused to enjoin the new California U.S. House district boundaries. Tangipa v Newsom, c.d., 2:25cv-10616.
The vote was 2-1. Judge Josephine Seaton, an Obama appointee, wrote the decision. The decision is also signed by Judge Wesley Hsu, a Biden appointee. Judge Kenneth K. Lee, a Trump appointee, dissented. Here is the decision. The majority wrote 70 pages, and the dissent occupies 47 pages.
Arkansas has always had open primaries. But in the summer of 2025,, the Arkansas Republican Party approved a rule change that does not allow registered members of other parties to vote in its primaries, although it does allow independents to vote in its primaries. Arkansas law allows parties to decide to exclude members of other parties.
Arkansas held a special primary on January 6 for the Republican Party, in connection with the special election to fill the vacancy in the State Senate, 26th district. This was the first semi-closed primary in Arkansas history. Five Republicans ran in the primary. No one got 50%, so there will be a run-off primary on February 3.
On January 2, Louisiana legislative leaders decided not to hold a special legislative session to redraw the U.S. House district boundaries. See this story. The U.S. Supreme Court still hasn’t issued its decision in Callais v Louisiana. The Republican majority in the legislature had been hoping that the Court would invalidate the old districts, and that might still happen, but there isn’t enough time to draw new districts if that happens. See this story.
