Bob Gray, the President of the Springfield, Illinois Citizens Club, will seek to run for State Senate as an independent candidate. He needs 3,000 valid signatures, due in June. He is well-known in Springfield, and in 2009 was the recipient of the State Journal-Register’s “First Citizen” award. The Citizens Club is well-known for holding regular public forums and candidate debates.

So far, the only other person running for State Senate in that district is the Republican nominee. No Democrat ran in the Democratic primary, but the Democratic Party could still field a candidate if it wishes.

On April 25, the Tennessee legislature passed SB 3700, which moves the deadline for a newly-qualifying party to submit a petition from April to August. Parties that qualify by the August deadline nominate by convention. The bill has an urgency clause, so it goes into effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 22-9 on August 16, and passed the House 98-1. The bill does not reduce the number of signatures, which continues to be 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote. In 2012 that is 40,039 valid signatures.

The New Orleans Times-Picayue has this story about Buddy Roemer. He says he is mulling over a list of 23 possible vice-presidential running mates. He mentions the Americans Elect rule that requires his choice to be someone who is not a Republican.