U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-Montana) in this article responds to criticism that he didn’t tell anyone that he was retiring until minutes before the primary filing deadline closed. See this story.

Fortunately, in 2012, an independent candidate in Montana won a federal lawsuit against the old petition deadline for independent candidates. Kelly v McCulloch, cv-08-25, struck down the old independent candidate petition deadline, which had been the same day that primary candidates file. The legislature then changed the independent deadline to one week before the primary. That gives a chance for an independent candidate to enter this year’s Senate race.

On March 5, the Tennessee Republican Party notified the Secretary of State that it had removed 149 candidates from its May 2026 primary ballot. Many were removed because of a party rule that candidates must have voted in at least three of the last four statewide Republican primary ballots. Many others were removed because they didn’t pay filing fees to the party. These fees are not in state law, but the party promulgated them. The Democratic Party has no such fees. The Republican fees range as high as $5,000 for gubernatorial candidates. See this story.

Chris Getty will be an independent candidate for U.S. House in the 4th district of Illinois. He is Mayor of Lyons, a suburb of Chicago. See this story.

2026 is shaping up as a year with an unusual number of independent congressional candidates who are already prominent.