Editing Write-in candidate (section)

===U.S. House of Representatives===
*In 1918, [[Peter F. Tague]] was elected to the U.S. House as a write-in independent Democrat, defeating the Democratic nominee, [[John F. Fitzgerald]].
*In 1930 Republican [[Charles F. Curry Jr.]] was elected to the House as a write-in from Sacramento, California. His father, [[Congress of the United States|Congressman]] [[Charles F. Curry]] Sr., would have been listed on the ballot unopposed but, due to his untimely death, his name was removed and no candidate's name was listed on the ballot.
*In 1958, Democrat [[Dale Alford]] was elected as a write-in candidate to the [[United States House of Representatives]] in Arkansas. As member of the [[Little Rock School District|Little Rock school board]], Alford launched his write-in campaign a week before the election because the incumbent, [[Brooks Hays]], was involved in the incident in which [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|president Eisenhower]] sent federal troops to enforce [[racial integration]] at [[Central High School (Little Rock)|Little Rock Central High School]]. Racial integration was unpopular at the time, and Alford won by approximately 1,200 votes, a 2% margin.<ref name=Rudin>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5698889|title=What Happens If Lieberman Wins|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|author=Ken Rudin|newspaper=NPR|date=August 23, 2006|access-date=September 3, 2006}}</ref>
*In 1964 Democrat [[Gale Schisler]] was nominated for Congress in Illinois as a write-in candidate when no Democrat filed to run in the primary election. He defeated incumbent [[Robert McLoskey]] in the November General Election.
*In November 1980, Republican [[Joe Skeen]] was elected to Congress in New Mexico as a write-in candidate, because of a [[spoiler candidate]] who also happened to be a write-in. No Republican had filed to run against the incumbent Democrat, [[Harold L. Runnels]], before the close of filing. Runnels died on August 5, 1980, and the Democrats requested a special primary to pick a replacement candidate. The New Mexico Secretary of State allowed the Democrats to have a special primary, but did not allow the Republicans to have a special primary, because they had already gone with no candidate. So Skeen ran as a write-in candidate. After Runnels' widow lost the Democratic special primary, she launched her own write-in candidacy, which [[vote splitting|split the Democratic vote]], taking enough votes from the Democratic nominee to [[spoiler effect|give the election]] to the Republican, Skeen, who won with a 38% [[plurality (voting)|plurality]].<ref name=Rudin/>
*[[Ron Packard]] of California finished in second place in the 18-candidate Republican primary to replace the retiring [[Clair Burgener]]. Packard lost the primary by 92 votes in 1982, and then mounted a write-in campaign as an independent. He won the election with a 37% [[plurality (voting)|plurality]] against both a Republican and a Democratic candidate. Following the elections, he re-aligned himself as a Republican.<ref name=Rudin/>
*Democrat [[Charlie Wilson (Ohio politician)|Charlie Wilson]] was the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party for [[Ohio's 6th congressional district]] in Ohio to replace [[Ted Strickland]] in 2006. Strickland was running for Governor, and had to give up his congressional seat. Wilson, though, did not qualify for the ballot because only 46 of the 96 signatures on his candidacy petition were deemed valid, while 50 valid signatures were required for ballot placement. The Democratic Party continued to support Wilson, and an expensive primary campaign ensued – over $1 million was spent by both parties. Wilson overwhelmingly won the Democratic primary as a write-in candidate on May 2, 2006, against two Democratic candidates whose names were on the ballot, with Wilson collecting 44,367 votes, 67% of the Democratic votes cast.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=183395|title=Wilson wins primary as write-in candidate|publisher=The Columbus Dispatch|first=Alan|last=Johnson|date=May 3, 2006|access-date=June 30, 2006}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Wilson faced [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] Chuck Blasdel in the general election on November 7, 2006, and won, receiving 61% of the votes.
*Democrat [[Dave Loebsack]] entered the 2006 Democratic primary in Iowa's second congressional district as a write-in candidate after failing to get the required number of signatures. He won the primary and in the general election he defeated 15-term incumbent [[Jim Leach]] by a 51% to 49% margin.
*[[Jerry McNerney]] ran as a write-in candidate in the March 2004 Democratic Primary in [[California's 11th congressional district]]. He received 1,667 votes (3% of the votes cast), and, having no opposition (no candidates were listed on the Democratic primary ballot), won the primary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2004_primary/congress.pdf|title=Election Results for the March 2004 Primary|publisher=[[Secretary of State of California|California Secretary of State]]|access-date=June 29, 2008|archive-date=June 26, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626073421/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2004_primary/congress.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although he lost the November 2004 general election to Republican [[Richard Pombo]], McNerney ran again in 2006 (as a candidate listed on the ballot) and won the Democratic Primary in June, and then the rematch against Pombo in November.
*[[Shelley Sekula-Gibbs]] failed as a write-in candidate in the November 7, 2006, election to represent the 22nd Texas congressional district in the [[110th United States Congress|110th Congress]] (for the full term commencing January 3, 2007). The seat had been vacant since June 9, 2006, due to the resignation of the then representative [[Tom DeLay]]. Therefore, on the same ballot, there were two races: one for the 110th Congress, as well as a race for the unexpired portion of the term during the [[109th United States Congress|109th Congress]] (until January 3, 2007). Sekula-Gibbs won the race for the unexpired portion of the term during the 109th Congress as a candidate listed on the ballot. She could not be listed on the ballot for the full term because Texas law did not allow a replacement candidate to be listed on the ballot after the winner of the primary (Tom DeLay) has resigned.
*[[Peter Welch]], a Democrat representing [[Vermont]]'s sole congressional district, became both the Democratic and Republican nominee for the House when he ran for re-election in [[2008 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont|2008]] and [[2016 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont|2016]]. Because the Republicans did not field any candidate on the primary ballot in those elections, Welch won enough write-in votes to win the Republican nomination.<ref name="VT Times Agnus">{{cite news |title=Sanders-loving Vermont lawmaker snags GOP nomination|date=October 7, 2016|first=Heather|last=Caygle|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/peter-welch-vermont-democrat-republican-229251|publisher=[[Politico]]}}</ref>