On January 16, New York State Senator James Skoufis gave up on trying to be elected Chair of the Democratic National Committee. See this story. He had said on December 27, 2024, that he wanted to dismantle the Green Party.
Steven Hill here sums up the deficiencies of the U.S. election system for national office, and makes the case for proportional representation for the U.S. House, which could be accomplished by congressional action.
The Republican Connecticut legislators have introduced SB 333, which would abolish fusion. The sponsors are Senator Rob Sampson, and Representatives Gale Mastrofrancesco and Anne Dauphinais.
On January 3, the city of Oxnard, California, asked the Ninth Circuit to rehear Moving Oxnard Forward v Ascension, 21-56295. The original panel had struck down the city’c limits on how much an individual may give to a candidate for City Council. Here is the brief.
The president of Moving Oxnard Forward is Aaron Starr. The city’s brief points out that Starr was elected to the City Council recently even though the campaign limits were in force at the time. Starr is a California Libertarian actvist.
There is a lawsuit pending in federal court against the New York election law which appears to bar anyone from using the ballot label “Independence”. The lawsuit was brought by a candidate for Mayor of New York city who wants to use that label on the ballot. Recently the case was re-assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Lashann Dearcy Hall, an Obama appointee. The lawsuit should move fairly quickly, because the plaintiff is requesting injunctive relief. The case is Walden v Kosinski, e.d., 1:25cv-72.
