On Thursday, March 17, anti-Trump Republican conservatives met in Washington, D.C. Although earlier publicity about this group had said that it might work for an independent presidential candidate, this story about the meeting suggests that most participants still believe Donald Trump might be defeated for the Republican nomination. The group pins its hopes on Ted Cruz.
On Monday, April 4, the Utah Supreme Court will hear Utah Republican Party v Herbert, 2016-0077. The court will decide whether a qualified political party has the right to provide that no candidate may qualify for its primary ballot unless that candidate shows significant support at a party caucus. The state law says candidates can also get on a primary ballot by petition, but the Utah Republican Party argues that a party has the right to set that provision aside.
The case is in the Utah Supreme Court because a U.S. District Court had decided only the Utah Supreme Court can properly interpret Utah law on this point.
The hearing is set for 10:15 a.m. in the morning.
On March 16, the very last day for candidates to file for Congress in California’s June primary, Ron Unz filed for U.S. Senate. See this story. There are now three well-known California Republicans running for U.S. Senate: Unz, past state Republican Party chair Duf Sundheim, and past state Republican Party chair Tom Del Beccaro.
Because there are only two well-known Democrats running in the same top-two primary, the entry of Unz makes it even more likely that the only two candidates on the November ballot will be those two Democrats, Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez.
Unz received 34% of the vote when he ran for Governor in the Republican primary of 1994, against the incumbent, Governor Pete Wilson. Unz is best known for sponsoring a winning initiative that limited bilingual education in California public schools. Here is the wikipedia article about Unz.
Both the Independent Voters Project, and Fairvote, have recently received permission to file amicus curiae briefs in Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission. The case challenges the FEC for refusing to rule that the Commission on Presidential Debates is breaking federal campaign finance laws when it excludes everyone but the Democratic and Republican nominees from the general election debates.
On March 16, the Minnesota House Government Operations & Elections Policy Committee heard HB 2735, which would set up a presidential primary in Minnesota. The bill provides that it would be the first Tuesday of March. The bill would not change the existing August primary for other office. Currently Minnesota and Washington are the most populous states that use caucuses instead of presidential primaries. See this story.
