Pennsylvania Democrats push Greens off ballot, including 1 challenged by Green Party

Also: Independent candidate survives Democratic challenge; former presidential candidate Cornel West fights signature requirement

Pennsylvania Democrats won three out of four challenges to grassroots candidates, with those running under the Green Party falling short. A Forward Party candidate survived and will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The Greens also moved to remove a U.S. House candidate running under their party, who’s been a Republican. Also, Cornel West challenges different filing rules for presidential electors, depending upon the party.

7th congressional district 

A political party can choose who runs under its name, even if the candidate met statutory requirements such as signatures, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge ruled.

Judge Stella Tsai ruled Sept. 4 that even though Andrew Tupone gathered enough signatures to get onto the ballot as the Green Party candidate for Pennsylvania’s highly competitive 7th Congressional District, the party can remove him.

“The Election Code vests with political parties and political bodies the right to ‘nominate’ – i.e., ‘select’ – the candidates they wish to place on the ballot in the General Election,” she wrote in the ruling. Tupone said he’d appeal; if that fails, he will launch a write-in campaign.

The Green Party challenged his candidacy under its party affiliation, citing that he was still a Republican in February 2026 and he’d run as a Republican in 2021. He also had cross-filed to run in Democratic primaries - Tupone said that he advocates for fusion voting. Greens do not participate in primaries, but must gather signatures to get onto the ballot.

Democrat voters filed a separate objection, saying that Tupone paid out-of-state petitioners who gathered many of the 9,460 signatures, and they also challenged the candidacy. 

Cook Political Report lists Pennsylvania’s 7th district House seat as one of 21 toss-up races on its list as of Sept. 7.

Governor 

Green Party governor candidate Tony Dastra fell short of required signatures to get onto the ballot, while a judge ruled that his lieutenant governor candidate may not move up to run for governor.

The Green Party said that its nominee for governor fell about 300 signatures short of the 5,000 signature requirement, and he failed to qualify for the ballot. Democrats had originally challenged 1,400 of the 5,500 signatures he had turned in. It was the first time since 2006 that a Green candidate fell short of the signature requirement for a statewide office.

His running mate Craig Bolton had cleared the required 2,500 signatures, but he could not run as lieutenant governor if the governor candidate had been disqualified, Commonwealth Judge Matthew Wolf ruled after a Democrat-supported challenge. 

Dastra said he will continue to run as a write-in candidate: “I’m not going to leave the conversation.”

The Cook Political Report rates the governor’s race as solid Democrat for incumbent Josh Shapiro.

Attorney Adam Bovino led this candidate challenge and another against Chris Gambino, a Green candidate running for Pennsylvania House District 143.

Pennsylvania House District 143

Commonwealth Court Judge Lori Dumas ruled on Aug. 25 that independent Chris Gambino can stay on the ballot as candidate for Pennsylvania House District 143.

This seat, currently held by a Republican, is considered a target race by Democrats. Gambino needed 488 valid signatures; he turned in 667 and 269 were challenged. Another complaint was that he ran under Forward Independent Party, which the challengers called too close to the Independent Party claimed by another candidate.

Gambino said that he ran as an independent, with support from the Forward Party, and Forward itself described the candidates as Forward Independents.

Ahead of the decision, Gambino asked if the Democrats are protecting themselves against perceived spoiler candidates.

“We hit the pavement. We were knocking on doors. We were talking to people and got people excited,” he said. “They were willing to step out on a limb and sign this [petition], and now their voices are being thrown out.” 

The objectors to Gamino’s race are represented by Adam Bovino, an attorney who has worked with Democrats and who successfully challenged signatures for Tony Dastra, Green candidate for governor.

Presidential electors

Cornel West, who ran for president in 2024, is challenging the added paperwork that presidential electors for grassroots presidential candidates must file in Pennsylvania, while electors for Republican and Democrat candidates have no such filing requirement.

The challenge argues that the added requirements violate the First and Fourteenth amendments.

West filed a civil action Aug. 21 in the U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania. Others joining in the challenge include West’s running mate Melina Abdullah; and Pennsylvania registered voters Geraldine Tunstalle, Katherine Hopkins-Bot, and Charles Hier.

West initially sought the presidential nomination for the Green Party in 2023, but dropped out 4 months later to run as an independent under the Justice For All Party, which he created.

These cases may involve different candidates, parties and requirements, but they raise the same question: how difficult should it be to get and stay on the ballot? Ballots Without Barriers examines the laws and legal challenges that shape candidate access and works to identify and address unnecessary barriers to ballot access across the country.