Long-time Opponent of Delaware Ballot Access for Minor Parties is Defeated in Primary

On September 15, Delaware held its primaries. Representative Stephanie Bolden was defeated for renomination in the Democratic primary, State House district 2, by sixty-six votes. She has been trying for the last four legislative sessions to change the date of the non-presidential primary from September to April. Unfortunately, her bills would have automatically moved the deadline to qualify a new party from August to March.

Several times, her bills passed the House, but not the Senate. She never responded to requests to modify her bills so that the impact on new parties would be ameliorated.

Tennessee Has a State Legislative Election with No Names on Ballot

This year, Tennessee is electing all members of its legislature. In the 93rd State House district, no one is on the general election ballot. No one had petitioned to run in either the Democratic nor Republican primary except the incumbent, G. A. Hardaway, a Democrat. He needed 25 valid signatures. He submitted 47, but only 24 were valid. This was discovered on March 17, and the deadline for anyone to run as an independent had already passed, on March 10.

Tennessee permits write-ins in primaries, but no one can be nominated unless his or her write-in total is 5% of the number of voters who cast a ballot. Probably Representative Hardaway could have surmounted that barrier, but on April 23 he died. No one filed as a declared write-in candidate in either major party primary, so by then it was impossible for anyone to be on the November ballot.

Fortunately, the deadline to be a declared write-in in the general election was not until September 14, and there is one Democrat who filed to be a write-in candidate, Kyler Gilkey. The 93rd district is in Memphis.

Yankee National Party Has One Nominee in Ballot in 2026

The Yankee National Party was founded in 2020 to work for independence for the New England states. In 2026 it has one nominee on the ballot with the party label. Deena Steinberg is running for Connecticut State House, 12th district.

The only other party in the U.S. still in existence that favors independence for any particular state is the California National Party. It ran its state chair, Sean Forbes, for Governor in the June 2026 primary. He was not on the primary ballot but he filed as a declared write-in, and received 22 votes.