Current:Home > reviewsDemocrats get a third-party hopeful knocked off Pennsylvania ballot, as Cornel West tries to get on -Capitatum
Democrats get a third-party hopeful knocked off Pennsylvania ballot, as Cornel West tries to get on
View
Date:2025-04-12 11:39:24
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Democrats have won legal challenges keeping the left-wing Party for Socialism and Liberation off the battleground state’s presidential ballot, at least for now, while a lawyer with deep Republican Party ties is working to help independent candidate Cornel West get on it.
The court cases are among a raft of partisan legal maneuvering around third-party candidates seeking to get on Pennsylvania’s ballot, including a pending challenge by Democrats to the filing in Pennsylvania by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
A Commonwealth Court judge agreed with two Democratic Party-aligned challenges on Tuesday, ruling that the paperwork filed by the Party for Socialism and Liberation was fatally flawed and ordering the party’s presidential candidate, Claudia De la Cruz, off Pennsylvania’s Nov. 5 ballot.
Seven of the party’s 19 presidential electors named in the paperwork were registered as Democrats and thus violated a political disaffiliation provision in the law, Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter wrote. Six voted in the Democratic Party’s primary on April 23.
“They literally voted in the Democratic primary and then turned around to try to be electors for a third-party candidate,” said Adam Bonin, a Democratic Party-aligned lawyer who filed one of the challenges. “You can’t do that.”
The Party for Socialism and Liberation didn’t immediately say whether it planned to appeal.
Meanwhile, a lawyer with longstanding ties to Republican candidates and causes went to court to argue that the Secretary of State’s office under Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro was wrong to reject West’s paperwork.
The Secretary of State’s office is contesting the legal challenge, saying the paperwork lacked the required affidavits for 14 of the 19 presidential electors before the Aug. 1 filing deadline. A broader effort by conservative activists and Republican-aligned operatives is underway across the country to push the candidacy of the left-wing academic.
The Nov. 5 election featuring Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is expected to be close in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes are tied with Illinois for fifth-most, and arguably are the most awarded by any battleground state.
Republicans and Democrats view third-party candidates as a threat to siphon critical support from their nominees, especially considering that Pennsylvania was decided by margins of tens of thousands of votes both in 2020 for Democrat Joe Biden and in 2016 for Trump.
The Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party’s Chase Oliver submitted petitions to get on Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot without being challenged.
The Democrats’ challenge of Kennedy is pending, as is the Republicans’ challenge of the Constitution Party. Republicans already won a challenge to the American Solidarity Party candidate.
In the challenge to De la Cruz, the judge cited a provision in state law under which minor-party candidates can’t be registered with a major political party within 30 days of that year’s primary election.
Leadbetter, elected as a Republican, said it is clear that seven of the party’s 19 named presidential electors were registered as Democrats both before and after Pennsylvania’s April 23 primary.
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Today’s news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP.
- Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
De la Cruz’s lawyers argued that the party should be able to substitute new electors or simply accept just 12 of Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes instead.
But Leadbetter wrote that Pennsylvania law doesn’t allow a post-deadline substitution in this kind of situation, and the U.S. Constitution provides for specific proportional representation among the states in the Electoral College, so awarding fewer electoral votes even in just one state would subvert that proportionality.
___
Follow Marc Levy at https://x.com/timelywriter.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- 'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
- Bar struck by Maine mass shooting mourns victims: In a split second your world gets turn upside down
- Inflation is driving up gift prices. Here's how to avoid overspending this holiday.
- Jonathan Majors' ex-girlfriend arrested amid domestic violence case against the actor
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. If that happens, who will lead the Palestinians in Gaza?
- In With The New: Shop Lululemon's Latest Styles & We Made Too Much Drops
- Key North Carolina GOP lawmakers back rules Chair Destin Hall to become next House speaker
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Britney Spears Reveals What Exes Justin Timberlake and Kevin Federline Ruined for Her
Ranking
- $73.5M beach replenishment project starts in January at Jersey Shore
- National Air Races get bids for new home in California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming
- This diet says it is good for Earth and your health. Here's what experts want you to eat.
- Man who allegedly killed Maryland judge found dead
- Juan Soto praise of Mets' future a tough sight for Yankees, but World Series goal remains
- AP Week in Pictures: North America
- Indian company that makes EV battery materials to build its first US plant in North Carolina
- Africa’s fashion industry is booming, UNESCO says in new report but funding remains a key challenge
Recommendation
Jamie Foxx reps say actor was hit in face by a glass at birthday dinner, needed stitches
María Corina Machado is winner of Venezuela opposition primary that the government has denounced
Volunteer youth bowling coach and ‘hero’ bar manager among Maine shooting victims
Maine passed a law to try to prevent mass shootings. Some say more is needed after Lewiston killings
Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
Maine shooting survivor says he ran down bowling alley and hid behind pins to escape gunman: I just booked it
Jay-Z Reveals Why Blue Ivy Now Asks Him for Fashion Advice
Former Ohio State OL Dawand Jones suspected Michigan had Buckeyes' signs during 2022 game