On May 13, the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee passed HB 280. It says that independents can vote in partisan primaries. The vote was 14-12, with all Democratic members of the Committee voting “yes” and all Republican members voting “No.”
In 2023, No Labels sued the founders of a parody website “NoLabels.com” for trademark infringement. On May 16, 2025, the parody site defendants filed briefs in U.S. District Court, asking that the lawsuit be dismissed. The brief raises legal technical issues with the lawsuit. Their major point is that the lawsuit doesn’t belong in U.S. District Court in Delaware, even though the website was formed in Delaware.
The case is No Labels v Delco 0222024, Inc, 1:23cv-1384.
John Morgan, a wealthy and well-known Florida attorney, is thinking about creating a new party in Florida and being its gubernatorial nominee. See this Politico story. At the bottom the story quotes him as saying he would not run as an independent. Thanks to Gene Berkman for the link.
On May 14, the Delaware Senate Elections & Government Affairs Committee passed HB 65. It moves the non-presidential primary from September to April. If the bill becomes law, the deadline for a new party to qualify for the November ballot would be automatically moved from August to March.
An earlier version of this blog post said that if the bill passes, already-existing minor parties would need to choose their nominees by February of the election year. That was a mistake; the bill would not affect the deadline for existing convention parties to choose their nominees. Thanks to David McCorquodale for the correction.
On May 13, the Texas House defeated HB 4309 by 60-78. It would have restored equal treatment for all parties in matters involving candidate filing fees. Current law requires all candidates for partisan office to pay filing fees. But the fees paid by parties that nominate by primary go to the parties. The fees paid by parties that nominate by convention go to the government.
The Libertarian Party is currently suing over this unequal treatment, and now that lawsuit will proceed in U.S. District Court.
