The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling to keep Andrew Tupone, a Green Party candidate, off the 7th Congressional District ballot.

Two weeks ago, the state’s Commonwealth Court sided with the Green Party of Pennsylvania, which stated that Tupone was not their chosen candidate for the ballot, challenging his nomination papers and accusing him of being a Republican plant.

“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,” Judge Stella Tsai wrote in her order.

Democrats contended from the outset that Tupone is a being propped up by dark money groups seeking an advantage in the highly-watched 7th District contest. Tupone ran as a Republican in a 2015 magisterial district judge race, finishing second behind Patricia Broscius.

Bob Brooks, the Democratic challenger to Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, as well as the Green Party noted that Tupone’s late switch to affiliate with the Greens brings into question his ability to gather more than 10,000 signatures, especially without a paid, professional staff.

The Pennsylvania Election Code states that, unlike major political parties (i.e., Republican, Democrat), minor political parties and political bodies such as the Green Party are not entitled to nominate candidates in primary elections. The Code also allows these political bodies to nominate “[m]ore than one candidate … by one nomination paper and candidates for more than one office may be nominated by one nomination paper.”

According to the lawsuit, “the GPPA’s determination as to whether to field a candidate for a given race is based on numerous considerations, including whether it is worthwhile to focus the GPPA’s name, brand, and resources on that race, and whether a candidate who authentically represents the GPPA’s values and platform is interested in competing in that race. In the case of the race for Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania’s Seventh Congressional District, after evaluating these considerations, the GPPA declined to field a candidate.”

It was notable that despite the Code allowing for any nomination paper to include the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Tupone’s papers did not.

The Green Party also said that Tupone is not a true member of the party but was co-opting the name to his benefit. He switched from Republican to Democrat on February 18 and made the change to the GPPA on April 20, disaffiliating “from a major political party on the very last day to remain eligible to run for office under a political body.”

“This court should reject candidate Tupone’s forced association with the Green Party and set aside his nomination papers or, in the alternative, enjoin him from using the name of the Green Party on the ballot,” the petition argues.” And Tsai and the Supreme Court agreed.

The 7th Congressional District is one of the true “battleground” districts in the country with the last two elections decided by less than 6,000 votes.

2024. Ryan Mackenzie (R) d. Susan Wild (D), 50.5-49.5% (4,062 votes)

2022. Susan Wild (D) d. Lisa Scheller (R), 51.0-49.0% (5,877 votes)

2020. Susan Wild (D) d. Lisa Scheller (R), 51.9-48.1%

A “Green Party” candidate offering “an independent progressive voice” would most certainly take votes away from Brooks and possibly making the difference in an election that could be decided by a small margin.

Benny Stanislawski, a campaign spokesperson for the Brooks campaign, celebrated the decision.

“Republicans spent $1.7 million trying to beat Bob in the primary because they knew he was the strongest candidate to face Ryan Mackenzie,” he said. “When that failed, they recruited a lifelong Republican, represented by a lawyer who helped Trump try to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results and literally donated to Ryan Mackenzie, to run as a fake ‘Green Party’ candidate and siphon votes from Bob. Rightfully, two courts saw right through them. Ryan Mackenzie knows he loses a fair fight, and today the courts made sure he’s going to get one. Game on, lapdog.”

This is a breaking story and will be updated.