California Governor Gavin Newsom said on March 3 that he has “some concern” that there might be no Democrat on the November 2026 ballot for Governor. See this story. But he did not suggest that the legislature amend the law quickly to allow write-ins in the general election for top-two offices, nor did he suggest that the top-two system should be altered in any other way.

On February 23, he San Francisco Chronicle carried this op-ed by Steven Maviglio, calling for an end to the top-two system. The Chronicle had endorsed Prop. 14, the top-two ballot measure, when it had been on the ballot in June 2010.

The website that calculates the odds of two Republicans being the only names on the November ballot, twins-production-9381.up.railway.app, on March 4 says the probability of two Republicans being the only names on the November ballot are 27.5%.

On February 27, the Conservative Party of Delaware, which is ballot-qualified, voted to become the Delaware affiliate of the American Solidarity Party.

The American Solidarity Party is also ballot-qualified in Florida.

On March 4, Seth Bodnar declared as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate from Montana. See this story.

The highest percentage ever received by a U.S. Senate candidate in Montana who was not a Republican or Democratic nominee was in 1912, when the Progressive Party’s candidate, Joseph M. Dixon, polled 32.1%, ahead of the Republican nominee. The 1912 U.S. Senate election was technically an advisory vote, because at the time the U.S. Constitution still required legislators to choose Senators. Montana and a few other western states held advisory U.S. Senate votes to influence whom the legislature should choose.