TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Jun 16, 2020

Rep. John DeBerry announced yesterday that after 26 years of serving as a Democrat, he will file to run as an independent in the next election, the Commercial Appeal reports. Earlier this year, the state’s Democratic Party Executive Committee voted to remove DeBerry from its ballot for the Aug. 6 primary after taking issue with his voting record and his history of accepting donations from GOP-aligned political action committees. The party removed him from the ballot after the filing deadline had passed, preventing DeBerry from filing again under another party. DeBerry’s announcement comes after legislation (HB1278/SB1009) passed through the General Assembly amending state election law to allow an incumbent to file on the opposing party’s ballot at least 90 days before the primary election or 90 days before the general election if running as an independent.