Grist is an on-line magazine that has news about environmental issues and activism. It has existed since 1999 and is centered in Seattle. Grist has this article about Jessica Spear, the only Socialist Alternative Party candidate for any federal or state office this year. Spear is running in the same legislative district which the Socialist Alternative Party contested in 2012. In the 2012 election, the Socialist Alternative Party nominee, Kshama Sawant, polled 29.37% of the vote against her only opponent, Democratic Speaker Frank Chopp.

As was the case in 2012, this year the speaker has no other opponents except the Socialist Alternative Party candidate. Washington state doesn’t permit party labels longer than 15 characters, so both Sawant and Spear are on the ballot as “Socialist Altern”.

This year, Washington state has only one minor party candidate for U.S. House, Green Party candidate Douglas Milholland. Washington state has no statewide offices up this year. There are no minor party candidates for State Senate. For State House, there are twelve Libertarians, and one Green. Seven of the Libertarians are in races in which only two candidates filed for the August 5 primary, so they will automatically be on the November ballot as well, barring an extremely unlikely write-in candidacy in the primary. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.

On June 2, filing closed in Maine for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Here is a link to the list of those candidates, and a link to the list of primary candidates as well. Maine has three ballot-qualified parties, Democratic, Republican, and Green. All three nominate by primary; the primary was on June 10.

The Green Party has 15 candidates for the legislature, the second-highest number in its history; in 2004 it had had 20 candidates and had elected one of them.

There are no minor party candidates for Governor, U.S. Senator, or U.S. House. There are two independent candidates for Governor, none for U.S. Senate, and one in each of the two U.S. House races. Maine has the nation’s most restrictive law for candidates of a small qualified party to get on their own party’s primary ballot. If the law weren’t so restrictive, it is likely that the Green Party would have candidates for some of these offices as well.

Maine will probably be the only state this year with no Libertarian Party candidates for any federal or state office.

The Montana Newspaper Association and Montana Public Broadcasting System will jointly sponsor general election debates for U.S. Senate and U.S. House on June 14, Saturday. All three candidates in each race (the Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian) will be included. The debates will be in the Library Auditorium at Montana Tech in Butte, and will be broadcast on Public TV. See this story.