On September 22 a Pennsylvania State Senate Committee will hear testimony on SB 495, the ballot access bill. Pennsylvania legislators accept written testimony in advance of legislative hearings. Here is the written testimony of James Clymer, a Pennsylvanian and the former national chair of the Constitution Party.kk
On September 20 this poll for the upcoming Canadian election was released. The three major parties are still in a statistical 3-way tie, with the Green Party at 5%. The election will be October 19.
This Los Angeles Times story is about the California Republican Party’s state convention in Anaheim September 18-20, but much of the story centers on whether there will be any Republican on the November ballot for U.S. Senate in California next year.
Two strong Democrats are seeking the California U.S. Senate open seat in 2016. They are Attorney General Kamala Harris and U.S. House Member Lorettz Sanchez. According to this story, both of them have been endorsed by a substantial number of California Democratic U.S. House members. The story mentions a recent poll of the entire electorate that shows Harris at 26% and Sanchez at 17%. Three fairly prominent Republicans have also announced for the seat, but none of them has as much voter support as 10%.
If the current California system is not changed before the 2016 election, there is a fair possibility that the U.S. Senate ballot in November would include Harris and Sanchez and no one else, and there is no write-in space in November for Congressional races. This would be the first time any statewide race in either of the top-two states excluded one of the two major parties.
California has not had a U.S. Senator from outside the San Francisco Bay Area since before the 1992 election. Part of Sanchez’ appeal may be a regional appeal. Harris lives in San Francisco.
According to this story, Mark McKinnon, former chief media strategist to President George W. Bush, said on National Public Radio on September 17 that if Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, Republican leaders who oppose Trump should consider qualifying an independent ticket. McKinnon suggested Mitt Romney might be such a candidate.
