On June 22, Curtis Sliwa won the Republican primary for Mayor of New York city. See this story. Sliwa was state chair of the Reform Party starting in September 2016. The Reform Party lost its qualified status in New York state in November 2018. In the November 2020 election, Sliwa endorsed Brock Pierce for president. Pierce was an independent presidential candidate who was also the nominee of the Independence Party of New York state.

Sliwa defeated his only opponent in the 2021 primary, Fernando Mateo, even though Mateo received approximately $2,000,000 in public funding, and Sliwa did not receive any public funding. The Republican Parties of Manhattan, Queens, and Bronx endorsed Mateo, but the Republican Parties of Brooklyn and Staten Island endorsed Sliwa. Thanks to Frank Morano for this news.

On June 23, John McAfee died in Spain. See this story. In 2016 he had sought the Libertarian presidential nomination and had placed third at the national convention, with 131 votes. Thanks to Gene Berkman for this news.

The First Circuit will hear We the People v Bellows, 21-1149, on Tuesday, July 27. This is the lawsuit against Maine’s ban on out-of-state circulators for initiative petitions. The ban also says circulators must be registered voters. The U.S. District Court had struck down the law.