New Mexico elects its State House this year, for all 70 districts. The State Senate seats are not up; they are only up in presidential years. Among the 70 State House races, only one candidate is on the ballot in 34 districts.
The Democratic Party has nominees in 57 districts; the Republican Party has nominees in 45 districts; the Libertarian Party has nominees in two districts; and two independents are on the ballot.
On September 10, the Libertarian National Committee filed this brief in Libertarian National Committee v Federal Election Commission, 18-5227. This is the case over whether it is constitutional to forbid political parties from receiving large bequests as soon as the deceased person’s estate is settled.
Also on September 10, the FEC asked the D.C. Circuit to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiffs do not have standing. And, also on the same day, the Institute for Free Speech received permission to file an amicus curiae on the side of the Libertarian Party. The hearing is set for November 30.
Georgia held primaries on May 22, but the state still doesn’t know the identity of the Republican nominee for State House, 28th district. The results were certified shortly after the primary, and they showed that incumbent Republican Dan Gasaway was defeated by 67 votes by Chris Erwin. But then Gasaway learned that some Republican voters in his district had received a ballot that did not include the candidates running in his district. Instead their ballots listed candidates running in the 10th district.
He sued in June, but only on September 12 is a state court hearing the case. See this story. There is no Democratic nominee in this district. The primary may need to be re-done.
In November 2018, 61% of Georgia’s legislative races have only one candidate on the ballot. There are 56 State Senate seats and 180 State House seats. From those 236 races, Democrats aren’t running anyone in 77 races, and Republicans aren’t running anyone in 67 races, for a total of 144 seats without a Democratic-Republican contest.
One independent candidate is on the ballot for State House, in a race that otherwise would have only one candidate on the ballot, so there are 143 races with only one candidate. That one independent is Nancy Stead in the 29th district.
No minor party candidates are on the ballot. The Libertarian Party nominated three state legislative candidates but none of them were able to get the required 5% petitions (approximately 1,200 signatures).
Fortunately, there is a lawsuit pending against the 5% petition requirement for U.S. House candidates, and if it wins, any improvement for U.S. House will probably also have a ripple effect for legislative races. The case, Cowen v Kemp, is pending in U.S. District Court. Discovery is underway. The decision will probably come in 2019.
Three candidates are on the November ballot for Oregon State House seat 54, centered on Bend: Republican Cheri Helt, who is also nominated by the Independent Party; Democrat Nathan Boddie; and Amanda La Bell, who is the nominee of the Working Families and Progressive Parties.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, and U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, also a Democrat, have endorsed La Bell, because the Democratic nominee has been accused of improper behavior. The seat is currently held by a Republican who is not running for re-election. See this story.
