March 21 was the deadline for candidates to file to run in partisan primaries in Washington, D.C. According to the Board of Elections web page, no Republican is running for Delegate to the U.S. House, Mayor, nor Chair of the City Council. However, there is one Republican running for at-large member of the City Council. All parties need 7,500 votes every two years for one of the citywide offices, to remain on the ballot.

The lack of Republican candidates makes it overwhelmingly likely that the Green and Libertarian Parties will poll enough votes in November 2018 to remain on the ballot. The Green Party always polls enough votes in the District of Columbia to stay on, but the only two years the Libertarian Party polled enough votes was 2012 and 2016. The vote test is tougher in midterm years because there are far fewer votes; therefore getting 7,500 votes is more difficult in midterm years.

On March 21, South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed HB 1012. It change the test for a party to remain on the ballot. The old law said a party had to poll 2.5% for any statewide office, in every election (in other words, every two years). The new law says the vote test only must be met every four years.

According to this New York Times story, the Illinois Republican Party will attempt to recruit someone to run as an independent candidate this year in the U.S. House, 3rd district, race. The reason is that Neo-Nazi Arthur Jones on March 20 won the Republican primary for that seat. No one ran against him in that primary.