Supreme Court Dismisses Candidate’s Appeal

The Supreme Court dismissed a self-identified “progressive” candidate’s attempt to run in Ohio’s Republican primary on Thursday. This upholds state election officials’ decision to disqualify him for misrepresenting his party affiliation.

Samuel Ronan, a former Democratic candidate, is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Carey in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District. In his declaration of candidacy, he pledged to represent the Republican Party, acknowledging potential penalties for any election fraud.

However, court documents reveal Ronan admitted that his run as a Republican was a strategic move aimed at infiltrating “deep red districts” to support Democratic candidates. Republican voter Mark Shea raised concerns with the Franklin County Board of Elections, citing social media posts and interviews as evidence of Ronan’s plan to mislead Republican voters.

Ronan argued in his filing that he hadn’t lied, pointing to instances where other politicians, including Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, made similar partisan switches. Following a split among election officials, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose intervened to remove Ronan from the ballot.

LaRose emphasized the importance of maintaining the integrity of the electoral process and criticized Ronan’s allegations of party infiltration.

In response to his removal, Ronan filed a federal lawsuit claiming that his First Amendment rights were violated. He argued that the state was using his political speech against him to exclude him from the ballot. However, Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison quickly dismissed his claims, stating that the First Amendment does not protect fraudulent candidacy filings.

Judge Morrison highlighted that states have a strong interest in preventing candidates from misrepresenting their political affiliations when they don’t belong to the party. She also ruled against Ronan’s accusations of unconstitutional bias from Republican election officials, asserting that mere political ties do not indicate bias.

Post-defeat, Ronan approached the Supreme Court for intervention before early voting began. His request was forwarded by Trump-appointed Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the en banc court, which ultimately denied it without elaboration.