On March 2, a settlement was reached in the 2024 lawsuit Clarke v Newburgh. This has been a lawsuit to overturn Newburgh’s method of electing its five Town Board members. The old method elected all five at-large. Under the settlement, Newburgh will elect them using the type of proportional representation that is called “single transferable vote.” See this explanation of that term.

The lawsuit had been filed in state court, and depended on New York state law that protects representation for racial and ethnic minorities. Newburgh had tried to defend itself by arguing that the state law violated the U.S. Constitution, but that attempt failed in November 2025.

On February 27, Rev. Adam Hamilton said that he is considering becoming an independent candidate for U.S. Senate from Kansas this year. See this story. Hamilton’s church, a United Methodist Church, has 22,000 members. Hamilton is the author of over 50 books.

For the first time, the Party for Socialism and Liberation is attempting to get on a statewide ballot in a midterm year. It has candidates for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts and Ohio. The Massachusetts candidate, Joe Tache, needs 10,000 signatures and will probably be the only choice on the ballot other than the two major parties, assuming he gets on the ballot.

The Ohio candidate, Greg Levy, needs 5,000 signatures. There will be no party label on the ballot next to his name, assuming he gets on the ballot. Ohio law lets independent candidates choose “no party” or “other party”, but won’t allow an actual party label. An independent candidate is also free to have no label whatsoever, and most petitioning candidates in Ohio choose the option of no label.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation in the past has not tried to get on ballots in midterm years.