Rosenberg, Texas, held a non-partisan run-off for City Council, district 3, on June 13. Libertarian Party member Scott Robert Peterson won the run-off by three votes, 247-244.
Rosenberg has a population of 38,282 and is in Fort Bend County, in the part of Texas that once elected Ron Paul to Congress. See this story from Independent Political Report.
On June 17, U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Strickland enjoined the ballot-qualified Libertarian Party from calling itself the Libertarian Party. Libertarian National Committee v Libertarian Party of New Mexico, 1:26cv-1562. Here is the order. If the defendant wants to continue the case, it must post a bond of $20,000.
The order says, “This may require candidates running under the Libertarian Party of New Mexico name in this cycle to run as independents or seek the nomination of another party.” This seems stunningly naive. The Secretary of State was not a named defendant and was not otherwise brought into the lawsuit. If the Secretary of State continues to follow the election law and some members of the ballot-qualified party qualify for the general election ballot, this injunction cannot force the Secretary of State to block that candidate.
The ballot-qualified Libertarian Party has 14,399 registered members. The injunction makes no reference to their existence.
The Chicago Tribune here editorializes against Illinois’ strict ballot access laws for independent candidates for U.S. House.
The paper had a somewhat similar editorial on March 9, 2026. It has also carried op-eds on the subject. Illinois has the 2nd most severe petition requirement for independent and minor party candidates for U.S. House. Only Georgia is worse.
Ilion, a village in Herkimer County, New York, held a mayoral election on June 16. The incumbent Mayor, John Stephens, was the Republican nominee and the only name on the ballot. However, he lost to a write-in candidate. See this story.
The new Texas ballot access case Collier v Nelson, w.d., 1:26cv-1574, has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman, an Obama appointee. This is the lawsuit that challenges the independent petition collection period of only 30 days, in races in which there had been a primary run-0ff.
UPDATE: also see this Texas Tribune story about the lawsuit.
