On February 2, the Federal Election Commission announced that for the next two years, individuals can give $3,300 to a candidate for federal office. The limit rises with inflation. The new limit on how much an individual may donate to a national committee of a political party rises to $41,300. See the announcement here.
On January 30, Congressmember Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced HB 622, to increase the size of the U.S. House from 435 to 585 members, effective in 2031.
Mississippi elects all its state officers in November of the odd years just prior to presidential election years. The Secretary of State had posted a list of candidates. See it here. The filing deadline is very peculiar; it isn’t really rational to close filing on February 1 when the primary isn’t until August 8, 2023.
The Libertarian Party has seventeen legislative candidates, four for State Senate and thirteen for State House. That is the largest number of legislative candidates any party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has run since 1923, when the Socialist Party was active in the state.
The Green Party has one legislative candidate this year. No other minor party has any candidates, and there are no minor party candidates for statewide office, although there is an independent running for Governor.
Delaware is the only state in which the only path for a group to become a qualified party is by gaining enough registered voters. The requirement is registration membership of one-tenth of 1% of the state total. The Elections Commission website keeps a monthly tally of how many registered voters there are, not only in the qualified parties, but in unqualified parties that have shown they have some members and are worth keeping track of. However, Delaware Elections Commission still doesn’t list any figures for either No Labels, nor Forward.
See the February 2023 tally here. The Green Party is making slow progress toward regaining its qualified status. In December 2022 it had 734 members; now it has 741. It probably needs at least 770, although the requirement is a moving target and can’t be known until January 1, 2024. The law the percentage base is the number of registered voters as of December 31, 2023.
On January 31, the Michigan House passed SB 13, the bill to move the presidential primary from March to February. The bill now goes to the Governor, who is expected to sign it. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.
