New York city elected a mayor on November 2, 2021. This news story has the percentage (but not the vote total) for each candidate. It shows that the Party for Socialism and Liberation nominee, Catherine Rojas, placed third, with 2.48%. Although the results aren’t final, if that holds up, her percentage is the highest share of the vote for New York city Mayor, for a party with “Socialist” or “Socialism” in its name, since 1933.
The SAM Party nominee for First Selectman of Newtown, Connecticut, was elected on November 2. “First selectman” is somewhat analogous to Mayor. The party’s nominee, Dan Rosenthal, was the incumbent. He had been previously elected as a Democrat, but he won this year as the SAM nominee. He was unopposed. Newtown has a population of 28,000 and is in Fairfield County.
The SAM Party is a centrist party that first ran candidates in 2018.
Virginia is the only state in which either major party ever chooses gubernatorial or U.S. Senate nominees by convention, and in recent decades only the Republican Party has chosen to use conventions. In this Vox article, senior politics correspondent Andrew Prokop suggests that the Virginia Republican Party was wise to have used a convention in 2021 for its gubernatorial nominee selection process. He says someone chosen in a Virginia Republican primary (which would have been an open primary) probably would have been a less effective nominee. Thanks to FairVote for the link. The Republican convention used ranked choice voting.
Here is the Sussex County, New Jersey, sample ballot for November 2, 2021, for Governor. It clearly shows the “Green”, “Libertarian” and “Socialist Workers” labels. The word “independent” does not appear on the ballot in connection with anyone running for Governor.
The New York Times has this link to the New Jersey gubernatorial race, although the party labels are incorrect. The New Jersey ballots correctly label Hoffman as the Green Party nominee, Mele as the Libertarian nominee, and Kuniansky as the Socialist Workers Party nominee. But the New York Times has them all labelled “independent.” UPDATE: the newspaper has corrected its website and now shows the party labels.
