Seven Republicans are on the August 28 Florida primary ballot. One of them, Bruce Nathan, is being excluded from an upcoming televised debate on the FOX network. On June 28 he sued to be admitted into that debate. Nathan v Republican National Committee, m.d., 6:18cv-1025. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Roy B. Dalton. Here is the complaint.
It is somewhat unusual for major party members to file such lawsuits over primary season debates.
On June 27, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that Don Shooter should be on the August 28 Republican primary ballot for State Senate, and seemed to rule that there is no requirement that candidates for the state legislature must have lived in the district for a full year before filing. See this story. The case is Backus v Shooter, cv-18-152. The opinion isn’t up on the court’s web page yet.
On June 27, the Democratic National Committee’s Rules Committee voted to change the rules for presidential conventions. Superdelegates would no longer vote for president on the first ballot, if it appeared that there would be a second ballot. See this story. Superdelegates are delegates who were not chosen through the normal primary/caucus process, but who hold the position by virtue of who they are (generally public officials).
Enough write-in returns from the June 5 California primary have now been tallied to reveal that Laura Wells, a Green Party activist, came in second in the U.S. House race, 13th district, in Alameda County. See this story. The only name on the June 5 ballot in this district was Democratic incumbent Barbara Lee, so it was inevitable that whoever got the most write-in votes in the race would place second and appear on the November ballot.
In 2014 and 2016, a Republican filed against Congresswoman Lee, so it wasn’t possible for a minor party member to come in second.
There will be three Greens on the November ballot for U.S. House in California this year. All placed second because, in each case, only one Democrat, and no Republican, filed to be on the ballot. This will be the first time any Greens have been on the November ballot for a California U.S. House race since the top-two system started. There were no minor party candidates in November 2016 or November 2012 for U.S. House in California. In 2014 there was one Peace & Freedom Party member.
Paul Mitchell has this detailed analysis of how the California top-two system has taught major party candidates to run phony ads, with the motive of tricking the other major party’s voters into choosing the weaker opponent.
