On February 11, the Oklahoma Senate Rules Committee passed SB 233. It moves the presidential primary from the first Tuesday in March to the fourth Tuesday of March. The Oklahoma presidential primary is separate from the primary for other office, and the date of the presidential primary does not affect any deadlines for newly-qualifying parties. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.
On February 12, the Michigan Senate unanimously passed SB 44, which moves the presidential primary from February to the third Tuesday in March, which would be March 15 in 2016.
According to this story, U.S. Senator Rand Paul has asked the Kentucky Republican State Committee to authorize a March 2016 caucus to choose delegates to the Republican national convention. If the party accepts this idea, then Paul won’t need to worry that his name can’t be on the May 2016 presidential primary, because that primary will become simply a “beauty contest” without power over the selection of delegates.
The party will decide on March 7. Paul can’t have his name on the May 2016 Kentucky presidential primary because he will also be running for re-election to the U.S. Senate.
In at least ten U.S. House races in November 2014, the losing major party nominee spent at least $1,000,000 more than the other major party nominee. Some of the incumbents who lost are on this list. See the list here. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the link.
Chicago alderman JoAnn Thompson died on February 9. She had been running for re-election in the February 24 non-partisan city election, so naturally her name was already on the ballot. The Board of Elections is removing her name from the electronic ballots, but some votes will have already been cast for her by early voters. Those votes will be tallied, but voters on election day will not find her name on the ballot. See this story. Thanks to Electionline for the link.
