On October 20, GBAO Strategies released a poll of the New Mexico U.S. Senate race. The results: Democratic 52%; Republican 41%; Libertarian 5%; undecided or no response 2%. See here. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.
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In March 2020, there were more registered independents in the nation than there were registered Republicans. However, since then, the Republican share of the registration (in the states that have partisan registration) has increased from 28.87% to 29.51%, whereas independent registration has declined from 29.09% to 28.38%.
The website The Green Papers has lots of data about U.S. elections, including a list of which presidential candidates have filed for write-in status in each state. This information is constantly changing, because in some states the deadline for filing for declared write-in status is still in the future.
To see the list of declared write-in candidates in any particular state, so far, go to thegreenpapers.com/G20/XX#P. In place of “XX”, put the two-letter abbreviation for that state.
On October 19, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates refused to order the Federal Election Commission to decide whether a presidential candidate who seeks the nomination of his or her party, but who doesn’t get that nomination, can then transfer unspent campaign funds to a political party in excess of the normal limits on contributions to political parties. Here is the 29-page opinion. McCutcheon v FEC, U.S. District Court, D.C., 1:20cv-2485.
The lawsuit had been filed by Shaun McCutcheon, who had briefly sought the Libertarian presidential nomination earlier this year. When he didn’t get the presidential nomination, he asked the FEC if he could transfer $50,000 to the Libertarian Party. The FEC did not issue an opinion, even though McCutcheon pointed out that Michael Bloomberg had given $18,000,000 to the Democratic Party after losing the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The FEC needs four votes (from the six members) to issue an opinion, but for most of this year, it hasn’t had a quorum.
Judge Bates said that the issue of whether such donations are legal is not settled. The opinion says, “it is far from clear where the FEC – or a court deciding the question on the merits – would come down.” He also wrote, “The Court’s preliminary injunction analysis need not and will not reach a dispositive conclusion on the ultimate legality of the proposed transfers.” Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for this news.
The Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Club is sponsoring a U.S. House debate, 12th district, on October 30, and has invited the nominees of all three parties who are on the ballot (Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian). This is a very unusual development for Ohio. Ohio is one of the few states in which debates between both major party nominees, and any other candidates, almost never take place. There hasn’t been an Ohio debate for Governor or U.S. Senator in this century in which both major party nominees debated any of their independent or minor party opponents. Thanks to Oliver Hall and Mark Brown for this news.