On November 6, some Oregon Republican legislators filed a federal lawsuit, in order to win their right to run for re-election. They are currently barred from running for re-election because they boycotted too many sessions of the legislature. Under a new Oregon law, legislators who have too many unexcused absences cannot run for re-election. Linthicum v Wagner, 6:23cv-1624. Here is the Complaint, which charges that the First Amendment protects them, and that they are being punished for expressive activity. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken, a Clinton appointee.

The legislators also have a pending case in the Oregon Supreme Court, which argues that the prohibition has been applied incorrectly to them, and that even if the prohibition is valid, it does not apply to them until the 2026 election.

Here is a story on Larry Hogan’s new online ad on US foreign policy.

In a way, a No Labels presidential ticket of Larry Hogan and Joe Manchin makes sense. Hogan is a Republican; Manchin is a Democrat.

As Janis Joplin sang, “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” Hogan is unlikely to be elected to public office again, and a politically astute friend in West Virginia asserted to me recently that it is a foregone conclusion that Jim Justice, current Republican Governor of West Virginia, will win the 2024 US Senate election from the Mountaineer State, replacing Joe Manchin.

A Hogan/Manchin (or vice versa) ticket for No Labels would make sense given these circumstances.

On November 7, Ohio voted on two high-profile initiatives. Measure One concerns abortion and Measure Two concerns marijuana. Both are passing with 56%.

But in August 2023, Ohio voters voted on an idea put on the ballot by the legislature, to require such initiatives to pass with 60%. That idea was defeated by the voters. But if it had passed, the two November initiatives would not have passed, which shows how important the vote threshold for initiatives is.

Here is a link to the Ohio Secretary of State’s website, showing the votes so far for the two November initiatives.