The New York Republican Party has decided that it won’t replace Congressman Chris Collins with some other nominee, and Collins has decided to run for re-election. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
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On September 14, an IHeartMedia-KFI-KNBC poll was released for the California Insurance Commissioner race. It shows independent Steve Poizner with 34%, Democrat Ricardo Lara at 27%, and undecided at 39%. If Poizner wins, he will be the first independent candidate in history to have won statewide office in California. Thanks to Politico for this news.
The September 15, 2018 registration tally for North Carolina is: Democratic 38.02%; Republican 29.85%; Libertarian .52%; Green .01%; Constitution .01%; independent and miscellaneous 31.59%. Here is a link to the State Board of Elections page that shows the numbers. Green and Constitution registration is quite low because until a few months ago, it was not possible for voters to register into those parties and have those registrations tallied.
In February 2018, the percentages were: Democratic 38.65%; Republican 30.17%; Libertarian .50%; independent and miscellaneous 30.68%.
The State Board of Elections has no registration data earlier than 1966. Republicans had always been more numerous than registered independents (in the years for which data exists), until September 2017, when independents started outnumbering Republicans. Back in 1972, North Carolina had 541,916 Republicans but only 79,129 independents.
On September 5, the National Popular Vote Plan bills were introduced in the Michigan legislature. They are SB 1117, which has 24 sponsors, and HB 6323, which has 16 sponsors. Unlike most states, the Michigan legislature meets all year around.
On September 14, four of the five Missouri U.S. Senate candidates who are on the ballot participated in a televised debate. See this story. The four candidates who participated were incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill, Republican Josh Hawley, Green Party nominee Jo Crain, and independent Craig O’Dear. It appears the Libertarian Party nominee, Japheth Campbell, was invited but chose not to attend. Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.