Assuming Kyrsten Sinema is the winner of the U.S. Senate race in Arizona, the Republican Party will have won only two U.S. Senate elections in 2018 in the western states. “Western states” means these thirteen states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

At the beginning of the United States Constitution, the Senate seats were divided into three classes. The seats to be elected in 1790 were called the Class One seats. Class One seats were the seats up in 2018. There are nine western seats in Class One.

The two seats that went Republican in the west this year are Utah and Wyoming. There are four western states that don’t have a Class One seat: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon.

Here is the number of seats in the west that the Republicans won in past Class One election years, since the beginning of popular election of Senators: 1916 two; 1922 one; 1928 two; 1934 two; 1940 one; 1946 five; 1952 five; 1958 one; 1964 three; 1970 two; 1976 four; 1982 four; 1988 five; 1994 five; 2000 five; 2006 four; 2012 four.

In the United States as a whole, assuming Republicans won the Florida seat and Democrats won the Arizona seat, in 2018 Republicans elected ten Senators out of the 33 regular elections. Republicans won four seats in the midwest and four in the south. Class One seats are notable for having fewer southern seats than the other two classes.

The turnout in Alabama this week was so much higher than it was in 2014, that the new statewide petition for new parties and non-presidential independent candidates is now at least 51,416 valid signatures. When the official returns are known, that number will probably be even higher.

By contrast, in 2016 and 2018, the statewide petition was 35,413. That number has increased by 45%.

The same will probably be true in other states in which the 2020 statewide petition is based on the number of votes cast in 2018, whereas the 2018 petition was based on the 2014 turnout: Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas.

The Conservative Party appeared on the Illinois ballot this week, for the jointly elected offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Preliminary election returns show it received 4.28% of the vote.

According to this story, the Illinois State Board of Elections agrees that in the 80 counties (out of 102) in which the party exceeded 5% for Governor, the Conservative Party is now ballot-qualified in those 80 counties, but only for partisan county office.

This conclusion by the Illinois Board of Elections is startling. In 2014, the Libertarian Party nominee for Governor polled over 5% of the vote in Alexander, Bond, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gallatin, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Lee, Livingston, Logan, McDonough, Macoupin, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Menard, Mercer, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Richland, Saline, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Union, Vermilion, Washington, and Williamson Counties. But, as far as is known, no one thought the Libertarian Party was then ballot-qualified for partisan county offices in those 69 counties.