Posted on 09/20/2023 3:46:30 AM PDT by cotton1706
John Rust, who announced a run for U.S. Senate against U.S. Rep. Jim Banks in the 2024 Republican primary, filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a judge to declare an Indiana law that would prevent him from getting on voting ballots unconstitutional.
Rust, who is the former board chair of Seymour-based egg producer Rose Acre Farms, filed the lawsuit against Secretary of State Diego Morales, the Indiana Election Commission and Jackson County Republican Party Chair Amanda Lowery.
Rust told IndyStar Tuesday he hopes the lawsuits allows Hoosiers that identify with their party to run for office without following requirements in Indiana statute on political party affiliation.
According to the statute, a candidate’s past two primary elections must be cast with the party the candidate is affiliated with or a county party chair must sign off on a candidate to run. In the lawsuit, Rust states that this statute “should be struck down as being unconstitutionally vague and overly broad.”
"The political establishment does not allow non political insiders to run using this obscure law because most people don't know about it at all, and it's just unfair," Rust said.
Rust voted as a Republican in the 2016 primary but as a Democrat in the 2012 primary. He did not vote in the 2020 Republican primary due to the coronavirus pandemic and unopposed Republican candidates in Jackson County, according to the lawsuit.
He said his Democratic votes were for people running for office who he knew personally or went to church with in Jackson County, where he lives. But he said he's always been a conservative Republican and voted for Republicans in the general elections.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The law in question was likely intended to weed out just his type. And he doesn't like it.
"The political establishment does not allow non political insiders to run using this obscure law because most people don't know about it at all, and it's just unfair," Rust said.It seems rather undemocratic to prohibit candidates from running for office. If Rust is indeed a "phony", the proper way to prevent him from winning is to defeat him at the ballot box. Banning rival political parties and candidates is the kind of thing advocated by authoritarian regimes such as the Soviet Union and the Democrat Party.
BS.
He’s free to run as an independent or get a sign off from the political party leadership to represent THE POLITICAL PARTY in the PRIMARY.
This isn’t the general election - this is the POLITICAL PRIMARY and he wants to party hop to spoil the ballot.
If he’s sincere than he should have no problem getting the sign off from political leadership - but he’s not. So he’s free to run as a Democrat or just as an independent.
Yeah, I disagree. I’ve been a registered Republican since I turned 18. I have NEVER voted in a Democrat primary, nor desired to.
Rust wants to be a Richard Lugar Republican, but his past tendencies to help out his Democrat buddies is getting in the way.
Although I see your point, couldn’t he run as a third-party candidate or as an independent?
Why does he have a right to tell the GOP, DNC, or even the CPUSA for that matter, that they MUST allow him to run in their party?
The right to pick and choose who you want to represent your association should be up to the association, not just whoever wants to walk in and maybe upset the apple cart.
Telling the party they MUST accept him as a party to their party seems pretty dang “authoritarian”; kind of like telling girls they MUST accept boys in their dressing rooms and showers.
POLITICAL PRIMARY
Rust is challenging a state law, not a party rule. That said, I do understand that a large segment of the American people want to limit candidate ballot access for political reasons.
I do think the primary votes in non-consecutive primaries seems “out there” to prohibit someone from running in a primary.
In this case, and knowing Rose Acre Farms’ products as I do, which have had a bible reference on them, I believe him. I can see voting for a friend in a primary, across your normal party line.
I would suggest he likely had decades of prior Republican party primaries he voted in.
The law seems excessive, but it may still stand, after judicial review.
Right - and it’s a proper state law because of the stupidity that has infected our elections ever since the political parties scammed the public into paying for the political parties election process.
All this guy is doing is trying to game the system.
Go back to caucusing.
No - the law is correct.
Political parties are private entities and have total control over whom they can support as a candidate (or not as the case maybe)
If what you say about it being private, there need never be a law.
A law makes it a public issue.
It needs the law because the political parties got the government (taxpayer) to run/pay for the voting for the private parties.
Why do you think the DNC just willy nilly changes the rules about whom can run for president on behalf of the DNC and pushed the GOP to do the same to prevent Trump getting the nomination.
“You can be a life long conservative Republican , move to Indiana and not voted in two previous Indiana primaries or even only one and you would be blocked from running.”
In all honesty, that’s appropriate. The purpose of having a representative is that you represent the local area. That is, since the people can’t all be present and vote collectively, they delegate their authority to a representative who votes in their stead.
That’s why carpetbagging was always frowned upon. I live in MA. I wouldn’t just move to Vermont and run for office. I don’t know the local people, issues, etc. Somebody would need to establish themselves within the community before they should represent it, vote in several elections, etc.
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