The California Secretary of State’s web page for election returns from June 2016 now shows that Preston Picus placed second for U.S. House, 12th district, behind Democrat Nancy Pelosi and ahead of Republican candidate Bob Miller. The June 21 results are: Picus 16,581; Miller 16,546. This will be the first time in history that no Republican has been on the ballot for U.S. House in the San Francisco-based district.

There will be eight U.S. House races in November in California with no Republican on the ballot. This is somewhat similar to 2014, when there were 9 such districts.

Jonathan Rauch, a scholar and author who writes frequently for The Atlantic, has this article that says the U.S. might be better off if it had not instituted government-administered primaries. His article covers other topics also, including internal congressional procedures, and campaign finance.

No other country has government-administered primaries and laws that force parties to use primaries. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the link.

The Federal Election Commission has released data for May 2016, for presidential candidates whose campaigns are active enough to file monthly reports. The only two non-major party presidential candidates listed are Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.

Click here to see the Johnson report and here to see the Stein report. During May, Johnson raised $350,561.42 and has cash on hand of $175,574.31. Stein raised $166,992.77 and has cash on hand of $195,762.64.