On November 25, Florida Congressmember Michael Waltz said he will resign from the U.S. House next month. The Governor then called a special election for his seat, which will be on April 1, the same date as the special election for the First District. Waltz is a Republican and represents the Sixth District, which includes Daytona Beach.
On November 12, the Tennessee Libertarian Party filed this opening brief in the Sixth Circuit in Lewis v Hargett, 24-5856. This is the case that challenges the Tennessee petition requirement for groups to qualify as a party. The law is so severe, no one has complied with it since 1968. It requires 56,083 signatures.
Because the petition for a party is so difficult, minor parties always run their nominees using the independent candidate procedure. But then they don’t have their party name on the ballot next to their nominees. This causes voter confusion, because the label “independent” is incorrect, and doesn’t give the voter any guidance about the actual party name. The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized that voter confusion is an evil.
During 2023 and early 2024, No Labels was trying to get on the ballot in as many states as possible, so as to run a centrist (not yet chosen) presidential candidate. Although it abandoned that effort on April 4, 2024, it is now suing Third Way and Investing in U.S., two groups that tried to interfere with its efforts. See this ElectionLawBlog post, which quotes from a Washington Post article.
In response, No Labels spokeperson Dan Webb said, “The Post reporter pulled public documents from an ongoing court case, showing political operatives – who were doing the bidding of senior Democratic operatives and funders – plotting to “dstroy” No Labels and make us “devastatingly toxic” to citizens who might run on our ticket.”
UPDATE: here is a story in a British newspaper about the dirty tricks used against No Labels.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was on the ballot in 31 jurisdictions. In 27 of them he placed third. The only ones in which he did not place third were four states in which Jill Stein placed third: Connecticut, Louisiana, Michigan, and New Jersey.
Even though No Labels didn’t run any nominees for statewide office in November 2024, it appears to still be on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, and Mississippi. Also, it would be on in Louisiana if it paid a $1,000 fee (because it has more than 1,000 registered members).
