On January 18, the Minnesota Libertarian Party sent a letter to Governor Tim Walz, saying if he does not set a longer period for minor party petitioning in upcoming special legislative elections, the party will sue him. The last petitioning periods he has set have been only one day to collect 500 signatures.
On November 5, 2024, Idaho Libertarian nominee Todd Corsetti, running for U.S. House, 2nd district, polled 5.23%. This was the highest percentage that a minor party or independent candidate for U.S. House in Idaho had polled since 1926, when the Progressive Party polled 22.74% for one of the Idaho house seats.
Corsetti was in a four-person race, with Democratic, Republican, and Constitution Party opponents. His vote total was 21,310. The second district includes the eastern half of Idaho. The Republican incumbent, Mike Simpson, was easily re-elected.
Excluding races without one of the two major parties, Corsetti polled the highest percentage of the vote of any Libertarian running for U.S. House in 2024. Here is his website.
Only five parties in U.S. history have run a presidential nominee continuously for over 75 years: the Democratic, Republican, Prohibition, Socialist Labor, and now the Socialist Workers Party.
The SWP has run in all presidential elections 1948-2024. The SLP did no 1892-1976 (also it had unpledged presidential electors in 1888, in New York state only). The Prohibition Party has run a nominee 1872-2024.
The SWP in the last election set itself apart from other parties of the left, by taking a relatively pro-Israel position relating to war and conflict in Gaza.
The SWP runs for offices other than President. It is running Eric Simpson for Mayor of Oakland, California, and he has already qualified for the ballot. That election is April 15, 2025.
On Friday, January 17, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously cancelled a special legislative election set for January 28. The special election schedule had been set by Governor Tim Walz, and allowed only one day for any independent or minor party candidate to collect 500 signatures. Minnesota Voters Alliance and Republican Party of Minnesota v Walz, A25-0017.
The basis for the decision is the election law that says the schedule for the special election cannot be set until 22 days after the start of the legislative session. The special election is needed because one of the winning Democrats, the victor of the election in House district 40B, was successfully challenged after the election on the grounds that he did not live in his district. After a trial court removed him, he decided not to appeal. That case was called Wikstrom v Johnson. Once it became clear that the seat was vacant, the Governor called an immediate special election, but now the State Supreme Court has cancelled that election.
In August 2024, a U.S. District Court issued an injunction, requiring North Carolina to put Cornel West and his party on the ballot. Ortiz v North Carolina State Board of Elections, e.d., 5:24cv-420. The State Board had argued that the party should not be on, because some of its signatures had been collected by a group that was distinct from the party itself. Also the State Board had argued that it had surveyed some of the voters who had signed the petition and a few of them had said the petitioners did not explain what the petition was for. The U.S. District Court had rejected these concerns when it issued its injunction.
Now West wants to same court to issue declaratory relief on those points, but the State Board of Elections is arguing that the case is moot and should be dismissed. “Declaratory relief” means a court decision that declares what the law is, so that there is clarity in the future.
