The Libertarian Party nominates by primary in New Mexico this year, for the first time ever. The only Libertarian seeking the nomination for U.S. Senate is Aubrey Dunn, the incumbent State Lands Commissioner. According to this story, a voter has filed a challenge to Dunn’s primary petition, claiming that it doesn’t have enough valid signatures. However, according to the story, the challenge was filed too late. Scroll down to the bottom of the story.
The Centrist Project is getting closer to becoming a political party, although the officers of the group would not characterize it that way. Here is a platform, of sorts, that all Unite America candidates (who run as independent candidates) adhere to. Although it is thin on policy, there is some substance, notable in the sentence calling for both fiscal responsibility and environmental responsibility.
Independent candidates endorsed by Unite America, so far, include three gubernatorial candidates and two U.S. Senate candidates. The gubernatorial candidates are Greg Orman in Kansas, incumbent Bill Walker in Alaska, and Terry Hayes in Maine. The Senate candidates are Craig O’Dear in Missouri and Neal Simon in Maryland. The two U.S. Senate candidates each need 10,000 signatures, due in late July or early August.
On February 23, the Tennessee Republican Party removed Tom Atema from the primary ballot on the grounds that he is not a “true Republican”. He had filed to run for County Commissioner in Williamson County. See this story.
Tennessee holds partisan elections for county office in August. UPDATE: also see this story.
On February 26, South Dakota HB 1012 passed the Senate State Affairs Committee unanimously. It says that a party only needs to pass the vote test every four years, instead of every two years. The bill had already passed the House.
On February 26, a Democratic Party group sued Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker over his refusal to call special elections to fill two empty legislative seats. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link. The case is in state court.
