Christopher Thrasher, a former leader of the national Libertarian Party, is the Republican nominee for Massachusetts State House in the Eighth Bristol District, centered on Westport. Here is his LPedia page.
When filing closed for the September 3 primary, no Republican had filed to be on the primary ballot. Thrasher made a last-minute decision to seek the Republican nomination by write-in votes. He needed 150, and received 171. See this story.
Oregon mails a Voters Pamphlet to every registered voter. It includes statements from candidates, if the candidate chose to purchase space in the Pamphlet. The fee for presidential candidates is $3,500.
Seven presidential candidates are on the Oregon ballot and could have purchased space, but three candidates chose not to do so: Donald Trump, Cornel West, and Randall Terry.
The four candidates who did purchase space are Kamala Harris, Oliver Chase, Jill Stein, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He is a link to the pamphlet.
Vice-presidential candidates can also buy space. The only vice-presidential candidate who did so is Tim Walz.
Trump’s omission from the pamphlet was erroneously blamed on the Secretary of State, whose office received so many hostile telephone calls from all over the nation, the office had to shut down the phone system for a few days. Thanks to Michael Drucker for this news.
As is always the case, in Georgia most legislative elections have only one candidate on the ballot. Here is the list from the Secretary of State. The list has an error for the 148th district state house race. Noel W. Williams, the only candidate, is a Republican nominee but the list failed to print his party affiliation. The “i” next to his name merely means he is an incumbent.
This year there are no independent or minor party candidates on the ballot in any legislative race, due to the extremely difficult 5% petition requirement combined with a high filing fee.
Florida has 17 qualified parties, more than any other state.
This year, as usual, Florida has 20 State Senate races and 120 State House races. Out of all those 140 legislative races, only four parties have any legislative candidates. The Democratic Party has a nominee in all 140 races. The Republican Party has nominees in 119 races. There are five Libertarians running, and one Independent Party nominee.
Also there are five independent candidates.
Florida keeps the number of candidates to a relatively low level because it has such high filing fees.
Two cases involving minor parties are likely to be filed soon in the U.S. Supreme Court. Both cases are very strong.
Upstate Jobs Party v Kosinski challenges New York campaign finance laws that make it possible for individuals to give more money to a major party nominee than a minor party nominee for the same office. The cert petition is due October 31. The lower courts had upheld the law, despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down unequal contribution limits in Davis v Federal Election Commission in 2008.
Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections challenges the May petition deadline in New York for independent candidates. The cert petition is due December 6. he lower court had said the case is moot. This flatly contradicts the U.S. Supreme Court decision Moore v Ogilvie, decided in 1969.
A third case, from Georgia over unequal campaign contribution limits, Graham v Georgia Attorney General, is not yet ready for U.S. Supreme Court action. The Eleventh Circuit had said the case is moot, and the plaintiff is now back in U.S. District Court, asking to amend the Complaint to solve the mootness problem. This is a Libertarian Party lawsuit.
