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 7, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory B. Williams ruled against No Labels in the trademark lawsuit No Labels had filed against a parody site that made it seem No Labels supported President Trump.  No Labels v Delco0222024, Inc., US District Court, Delaware, 1:23cv-1384.

The decision is based on procedure.  The judge found that almost all of the defendants did not have enough connection to the state of Delaware.  Therefore, No Labels should have sued each of them in the in the states in which each of them resided.

The judge also found that No Labels did not have standing to sue the one defendant who did have connection to Delaware.

This is an anticlimatic end of an interesting lawsuit that was filed three years ago.

On January 3, the West Virginia Republican Party state executive committee voted to exclude independent voters from its 2026 primary.  The party did let independents vote in its 2024 primary.  See this story.