Last year, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville announced he is running for Governor of Alabama in 2026. President Trump endorsed him for that position on January 22. However, the Alabama Constitution rquires Governors to have lived in the state for seven years, and many believe that he does not meet that qualification. See this story.
On January 26, South Dakota filed this reply brief in the Eighth Circuit in Dakotans for Health v Johnson, 25-2940. The issue is the February deadline for initiative petitions. The U.S. District Court had invalidated it. The state’s brief says that the state needs the early deadline because sometimes individuals challenge a decision that the initiative has enough signatures, and if there is such a challenge, every signature must be checked (the initial determination of whether an initiative has enough valid signatures uses a random sampling, which doesn’t take nearly as long as checking every signatures does).
On January 27, a Virginia state trial court issued a ruling in McDougle v Nardo, Tazewell Circuit Court, CL25-1582. The ruling says that when the Virginia legislature passed a bill to redistrict the U.S. House district boundaries, it didn’t follow its own procedures, and therefore the law is not in effect.
There will be an appeal.
On January 27, a nonprofit group called “Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender” filed a lawsuit to overturn an Illinois law that won’t let a group use the word “Democrat” or “Democratic” unless it gets permission from the party’s state central committee. DIAG vGiannoulias, n.d., 1:26cv-894. So far the group has registered in 40 other states and has had no problem with its name.
Here is the Complaint. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Steven C. Seeger, a Trump appointee.
Gloria Romero, former California Senate Majority Leader, says she supports changes to the top-two system. See this story. Scroll down to the heading, “Do you support changes to California’s top two primary systems?”
She is in the news because she is running as a Republican for Lieutenant Governor, even though her career in elected partisan office in the past was as a Democrat.
