SJC keeps Rayla off ballot
The state’s highest court has rejected GOP congressional hopeful Rayla Campbell’s petition to appear on the November ballot opposite U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley — but the Randolph Republican isn’t throwing in the towel on her electoral aspirations.
“I’m continuing to fight and we’re just going to be a big thorn in the side” of the Democrats, Campbell said, pledging to run her “little campaign” through November and to support other Republican congressional candidates.
Campbell took the state to court last week after being told by the secretary of the commonwealth’s office that she had failed to collected enough write-in signatures to earn a spot as the Republican nominee for the 7th Congressional District seat currently held by Pressley.
In her petition, Campbell argued the state Supreme Judicial Court’s spring ruling that slashed by half the number of signatures candidates needed to make the Sept. 1 primary ballot should apply to her as well, meaning she would only need 1,000 signatures to make the ballot as a candidate for House of Representatives as opposed to the typical 2,000. Campbell earned 1,216 write-in votes in the primary.
The SJC denied Campbell’s petition on Monday, with Associate Justice Kimberly Budd writing that the court’s April ruling was specifically tailored to apply only to this year’s primary.
Budd also rejected Campbell’s argument that the “extraordinary restrictions on in-person contact” that existed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in April continued with “equal force” through the summer, hampering the Republican’s campaign efforts.
“Handing out write-in stickers is not comparable to attempting to obtain signatures on nomination papers from registered voters during the pandemic,” Budd wrote, adding that “despite the pandemic many individuals across Commonwealth managed to successfully to campaign for the various seats up for election in the September 1 primary.”