Kenneth Mejia is a Green Party candidate for U.S. House in California’s 34th District. During 2017 he raised $58,544 for his 2018 run, and he has probably raised more in the last few months. The 34th district is in downtown Los Angeles. The incumbent Democrat, Jimmy Gomez, is running for re-election. It is possible that when filing closes on March 9, the only two candidates who will have filed are Mejia and Gomez.

Congressman Gomez was elected in a special election in 2017. The seat needed a special election because the incumbent who was elected in 2016, Xavier Becerra, resigned shortly after the 2016 election to become the appointed Attorney General of California. Mejia ran in the special election in 2017 as well, and placed 4th out of 24 candidates. He polled 4.2%.

Here is Mejia’s campaign web page. His surname is of Filipino origin. The district is fairly evenly divided between Hispanics and Asians, especially Korean-Americans.

On March 7 the South Dakota legislature decided to send HB 1286 to a conference committee, which will probably meet on March 8. This is the bill that makes some ballot access improvements but also increases some ballot access barriers. The legislature goes home on March 9.

On March 7, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez pocket-vetoed SB 178. It would have ended primaries for Lieutenant Governor. Instead, party nominees for Governor would have chosen their own Lieutenant Governor running mate after the primaries were over.

Because of the veto, the current system will remain in force, in which candidates for Lieutenant Governor file to run in party primaries, but in November Governor and Lieutenant Governor run as a team. This can result in a Governor and a Lieutenant Governor who are not politically compatible.