Pennsylvania high court rules against two third-party candidates trying for presidential ballot

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Friday sided with lower court decisions to block two third-party presidential candidates from the battleground state’s ballot in November’s election.

The decisions hand a win apiece to each major party, as Democratic and Republican party loyalists work to fend off third-party candidates for fear of siphoning votes away from their parties’ presidential nominees in a state critical to winning the White House.

Pennsylvania is of such importance that Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris have heavily traveled the state, where a margin of just tens of thousands of votes delivered victory to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2016.

Rejected from appearing on the Nov. 5 ballot were Constitution Party presidential candidate James Clymer — a placeholder for the conservative party’s presidential nominee — and Claudia De la Cruz of the left-wing Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Judges on the state’s lower Commonwealth Court had agreed with Democratic Party-aligned challengers to De la Cruz and with Republican Party-aligned challengers to Clymer.

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