Mississippi HB 760 failed to advance, and it is now dead. It would have said that an elected official who changes parties is deemed to have resigned.
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On March 4, Randy Flowers, an independent candidate for U.S. Houses from the 17th district of Illinois, filed a federal lawsuit against the petition requirements for independent candidates for U.S. House. Here is the Complaint in Flowers v Illinois State Board of Elections, c.d., 4:26cv-4062. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court judge Sara Darrow.
Kevin Kiley, who had been elected as a California Republican member of Congress in 2024, has switched his registration to independent. He will run for re-election in the Sixth U.S. House district this year. In California, independent candidates are forced to have the label “no party preference.”
When Kiley had been in the California legislature, he had introduced a bill to repeal the top-two system. While a member of Congress, he introduced a bill to ban mid-decade U.S. House redistricting.
Kiley is the first independent from California in Congress since William Kent, who was elected as an independent from Marin County in 1912 and 1914.
As already reported, the Oklahoma initiative for a top-two system did not get on the ballot. This article has more details. The supporters submitted 209,616 signatures, to meet a goal of 172,993 signatures. The Secretary of State found that 142,567 signatures were valid.