On October 13, the four candidates on the South Dakota ballot for U.S. Senate debated each other. See this story. The candidates are the Republican and Democratic nominees, and the two independent candidates, former U.S. Senator Larry Pressler and Gordon Howie.
Ohio is one of only three states this year with a gubernatorial election, and in which the Democratic and Republican nominees won’t be debating each other. The other such states are Nevada and Tennessee.
However, the Ohio Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Ed FitzGerald, will debate the only other gubernatorial nominee on the ballot, Anita Rios of the Green Party, on October 22. See this story.
The three candidates for U.S. House-at-large from Montana are debating on October 19 in Kalispell. They are the nominees of the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian Parties. See this story.
On October 17, Indiana appealed Common Cause Indiana v Indiana Secretary of State to the 7th Circuit. This is the case over whether Indiana can tell political parties that they can only nominate for half the seats up, in partisan judicial races in Indianapolis. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Young had invalidated the system on October 9.
Limited nominations laws were passed to keep the dominant political party from winning all the seats. In other jurisdictions with limited nominations laws, such as Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia, limited nomination laws make it possible for independent and minor party candidates to more easily win. But Indiana has very strict ballot access laws, so minor party and independent candidates almost never get on the ballot for judge in Indianapolis. As a consequences, voters inevitably face a general election ballot with only Democrats and Republicans. Since each of those parties can only run for half the seats, the voters have no real choice; all the candidates on the ballot automatically win. The last time anyone other than a Democrat or a Republican ran was in 2002, when a single Libertarian ran.
One of the oddest parts of the U.S. District Court decision is that Judge Young found that Common Cause has standing to challenge the system. Normally, a restriction on the ability of a political party to nominate as many candidates as it wishes would be challenged by a political party, but in this case, no political party complained.
This New York Post story, published October 18, says that Howie Hawkins has been endorsed by at least three Democratic Party clubs, and the Buffalo Teachers Union. Also see this story.
