On November 4, the New Jersey Elections office posted a list of general election candidates. Here is the U.S. Senate list. Neither the Libertarian Party candidate, nor the Green Party candidate, submitted a petition. The only minor party whch did submit a petition is the Socialist Workers Party. Also, two independent candidates submitted a petition. The requirement is 2,000.
Hector Mujica is the leading Democrat running for U.S. House in the 28th district. He has been head of Americas Phianthropy at Google. But his Democratic opponent has challenged his ballot position, because voter registration records show that Mujica was a registered independent between June 4, 2025, and July 26, 2025. Florida law says no one may run in a primary if the individual was not a registered member of the party for the 365 days preceding the opening of the candidate qualifying period, which was in April 2026. Section 99.021(1)(b)2.
Mujica denies that he was a registered independent at any time in the past. See this story. The Broward County Elections office asserts that there is no mistake, although so far no one has produced any actual voter registration form signed by Mujica showing himself registering as an independent.
The irony is that the U.S. Supreme Court said in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut in 1986 that the First Amendment, freedom of association clause, forbids a state from telling a party that it can’t nominate a non-member. If the Florida Democratic Party had its own bylaw contradicting the state law, the party could prevail in court. But the Florida Democratic Party has no such bylaw.
Another constitutional problem for the law is that it appears to require that a congressional candidate must have been a registered voter for the preceding 365 days before the opening of the qualifying period. Yet four U.S. Courts of Appeals have ruled that states cannot require congressional candidates to be registered voters. The circuits are the 9th, 10th, 2nd, and 5th. Also the law appears to require congressional candidates to have lived in Florida for the period, and that also violates the principle that states cannot add to the constitutional qualifications for congressional candidates.
This year the Working Class Party petitioned to place Jordan Villas on the Illinois general election ballot for State Senate, 12th district. The petition has been challenged. If Villas survives the challenge, he is certain to poll more than 5% of the vote, because he is one of only two candidates in the race. The other candidate is the Democratic nominee. If Villas polled more than 5% of the general election vote, that would make his party a ballot-qualified party in that State Senate district.
The Illinois Working Class Party is already a ballot-qualified party in the U.S. House 4th district. Therefore its nominee this year for that seat, Edward Hershey, is safely on the general election ballot.
Villas is the only minor party candidate who petitioned this year for a seat in the Illinois legislature.
The Secretary of State of Iowa has posted a candidate list for federal and state office, for the general election. See it here. The only minor party that filed any candidates is the Libertarian Party, which petitioned for Governor, U.S. Senator, and three of the four U.S. House races.
The Green, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom Parties will each have one member on the November 2026 ballot for state legislature.
Libertarian William Brown filed to have his name on the primary ballot for State Senate, 12th district, in the San Joaquin Valley. Two Republicans also filed. Brown placed second, with 23.9%. See the returns here.
Peace & Freedom Party member Kevin Akin filed as a write-in candidate in the 63rd Assembly district, in Riverside County. Only one person was on the ballot, and Akin was the only declared write-in candidate. He polled 113 write-in votes. Even one write-in would have been enough for him to place second.
Green Party member Victor Hernandez filed to be on the primary ballot in the 59th Assembly district in northern Orange County. No one else filed to be on the primary except the incumbent Republican. Hernandez polled 30.4%. See the returns here.
There are four Assembly districts in which only one person filed to be on the primary ballot, and no one filed as a declared write-in. So if minor party members had filed as a declared write-in in any of those districts, such candidates could have appeared on the November ballot.
