Here is the 2026 list of candidates for West Virginia federal and state offices. The only minor party nominees for Congress are both from the Constitution Party: S. Marshall Wilson for U.S. Senate, and Belinda Fox-Spencer for US House, First District. The Libertarian and Mountain Parties are also ballot-qualified, but they didn’t run anyone this year for congress.
There are no statewide state offices up this year in West Virginia.
David Hatley, an independent candidate for Tennessee Governor, has a campaign warchest of $5,700,000, according to this story.
There are two other independent candidates for Governor on the ballot as well. One of them, Lauren Pinkston, has been endorsed by the Forward Party.
Neither Hatley nor Pinkston appear to have campaign websites up yet.
On July 31, Illinois independent U.S. House candidate Byron Sigcho-Lopez filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois ballot access laws that pertain to minor party and independent candidates for U.S. House. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Franklin Valderrama, a Trump appointee.
Here is the Complaint.
According to this story, New Hampshire Representative Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) is drafting a bill that says if a qualified party doesn’t participate in the presidential primary, it must obtain 3,000 signatures to place its presidential nominee on the November ballot, as though it weren’t a qualified party. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for the link.
On July 30, Danny Lee Ford II filed a lawsuit in South Carolina state court to get back on the Republican primary ballot, in the special upcoming U.S. Senate primary. He was kept off because of a new rule that says candidates can’t get on the primary ballot unless they voted in at least two of the last three Republican primaries. See this story.
