On December 20, Richard “Oz” Griebel announced that he will be an independent candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2018. See this story. It is conceivable he could become the nominee of the ballot-qualified Independent Party, but the story does not mention that possibility.
Here is the wikipedia page for him.
On December 20, the U.S. District Court that is handling the South Dakota ballot access case suggested that a trial could be held January 16-18, 2018. The issue is the March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. The court also suggested an alternate date in early February, but the judge prefers the January dates.
On December 19, Florida held a special election to fill the vacant State House seat, 58th district. According to this story, the Republican nominee, Lawrence McClure, was elected with 55%. Democrat Jose Vazquez received 34%. Ahmad Hussam Saadaldin, an independent candidate endorsed by the Green Party, polled 9% and carried one precinct. Libertarian Bryan Zemina polled 3%.
Virginia elected a new House of Delegates on November 7, 2017. The initial results in the 94th district were: Republican David Yancey 11,601; Democrat Shelly A. Simonds 11,591; Libertarian Michael D. Bartley 675.
The recount was completed on November 19. The new results reverse the identity of the winner. News reports say that both major party nominees gained votes, and the new results are: Democratic 11,608; Republican 11,607. The news stories do not say if the Libertarian vote total changed. For example, see this story.
As a result of the recount, the lineup in the 2018-2019 session of the House will be 50 Republicans, 50 Democrats. The two parties will probably agree to share leadership of the House. Thanks to several people for the link.
On December 19, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1, the tax bill. There are eighteen Republicans in the U.S. House from the two states that use the top-two system. Of those eighteen Republicans from California and Washington, all but two voted “Yes” on the bill. Here is the roll call. The two Republicans who voted against it are Dana Rohrabacher and Darrell Issa, both from southern California.
The vote must be re-done, due to a problem with the bill. The re-vote will be December 20. All Democrats voted against the bill.
Supporters of top-two system argue that in a top-two system, elected politicians vote without regard to the will of “party bosses” and instead vote in accordance with popular opinion. However, generally, that did not happen on December 19. All of the Republicans in open primary states voted for the bill. In New York, which has closed primaries, five Republicans voted against the bill; in New Jersey, which has closed primaries (except independents can join a party on primary day if they wish to vote in a primary), four of the five Republicans voted against the bill; in North Carolina, which has semi-closed primaries, one Republican voted against the bill.
This outcome confirms what political science research has shown: type of primary system does not change how elected politicians behave.
