Rick Hasen's web log
March 13, 2006
Options for GOP with Gallegly Withdrawal
On the last day to file to run in the primary, Congressman Elton Gallegly (Rep. CA-24) stunned many people, including his staff, by announcing that he will not run for reelection for health reasons. Gallegly claimed he misunderstood California election law. From the LA Times: "Gallegly's attorney, Michael Bradbury, said the congressman thought the filing period would be extended five days if he pulled out of the race." And The Hill reports that Gallegly "is pushing for a five-day filing extension." Others have speculated that "Gallegly chose to announce his retirement at the last minute to block Republican rival Tony Strickland, a former assemblyman who is running for state comptroller, from switching to the House race."
Here is what California law provides about candidate withdrawals after the filing deadline: Elections Code 8800 bars candidates (such as Gallegly) who filed for a primary to withdraw the name prior to the election. So Gallegly's name will appear on the ballot. (See also section 8809: "Whenever a candidate has declared a candidacy for a primary election, the candidate's name shall be printed upon the ballot for the primary election, unless the candidate has died, and that fact has been ascertained by the officer charged with the duty of printing the ballots, at least 68 days before the day of the election.") Section 8805 allows the party to fill a vacancy on a primary ballot that occurs because of the death of a candidate on or before the date of the election. There are no other reasons given to allow a withdrawal, so a court would have to craft some kind of addutional exemption, which seems dubious to me given how the rules clearly contemplate that there will be withdrawals besides for reasons of death, but there are no other exemptions granted by the code.
The main alternative for the GOP, if it does not want the only remaining GOP candidate to win the GOP nomination is for someone (perhaps Tony Strickland) to run a write-in campaign. But section 8800 appears to bar Strickland's withdrawal from his nomination for state comptroller, and section 8003 provides that a candidate cannot run for two offices simultaneously. Perhaps Strickland can make an argument that the federal and state elections are two separate elections, but I haven't found any authority for that position. Of course, if Strickland withdraws from the state comptroller's race, the same dynamic will occur there with any potential replacement candidates.