On October 12, the West Virginia Secretary of State filed a brief in Castro v Warner, s.d., 2:23cv-598. This is one of the lawsuits around the country filed by John Anthony Castro to keep former President Donald Trump off Republican presidential primary ballots.

Among other arguments, the Secretary of State argues that the Fourteenth Amendment, section 3, does not apply to presidential candidates.

The Secretary of State also accuses Castro of dismissing his cases that ended up in front of U.S. District Court Judges appointed by Republican presidents, while pursing his cases that are in front of judges appointed by Democratic presidents. Also the state says Castro does not have standing because even if he is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, he hasn’t showed that keeping Trump on the ballot helps the Castro campaign. Castro argues that if Trump weren’t allowed to run, that would boost the Castro campaign, but the state says he has no evidence for that.

New Zealand held a parliamentary election on October 14. Six parties won seats. New Zealand uses proportional representation. See this article from wikipedia on the election.

Cenk Uygar, founder of The Young Turks media channel, has announced that he will challenge Joe Biden for the Democratic Party nomination for Presisdent.

Here is the story written by David Weigel on semafor.com.

Thanks for Political Wire for the heads up!