On August 5, the New Jersey gubernatorial nominee, Stephen Zielinski, withdrew from the race for health reasons. The party then substituted Lily Benavides as its new nominee.

Under a unique New Jersey law, an unqualified party can substitute, but it must do an entirely new ballot access petition. So the party is now re-petitioning. The replacement petition is due August 21. See this story. No other state has such a law. In every other state, either an unqualified party can replace the candidate listed on the petition, or it can’t, but there is no provision in any other state for a new petition.

New Jersey qualified parties can replace withdrawn nominees without any burdensome procedure.

On August 13, a status conference was held in Brunner v LaRose, n.d., 4:23cv-2180. This is the lawsuit filed by State Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner, which argues that the Ohio law requiring party labels for candidates for Supreme Court violate the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct. The law has only existed since 2021. Brunner is a Democrat but she doesn’t want her party label on the ballot when her seat is up in 2026.

This case was filed in 2023 and has moved very slowly. There will be a trial in 2026. All discovery will be completed by March 31, 2026.

On August 11, the Republican National Committee filed this brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Watson v Republican National Committee, 24-1260. The issue is the 1872 federal law that tells states to hold congressional elections in all districts in November of even-numbered years. The Fifth Circuit had ruled that, therefore, states must require all absentee ballots to be received by the end of election day. It had struck down a Mississippi law allowing ballots to arrive three days after the election.

The Libertarian Party of Mississippi is also in the case, on the side of the Republican National Committee. The Libertarian Party filed its own brief.