Welcome to our weekly post, Independent Action, where we let you know the important moves independent candidates and organizations made over the past week.

Terry Hayes qualified for the ballot in Maine’s gubernatorial race by turning in signatures two months early — she’s the only Independent on the ticket. “I’m proud to give Maine voters the choice to vote for an experienced, independent, and courageous woman to lead as Maine’s next Governor. I am grateful to the thousands of Mainers who’ve circulated and signed petitions, and who’ve made $5 contributions to help us qualify for Clean Elections.”

ALSO READ: Independent Terry Hayes to Get Historic “Clean Elections” Funding

Neal Simon’s campaign continues to collect signatures to get him on the ballot, visiting a local high school, a chicken wing festival, and a Muslim community center all over the past week. To learn more about this candidate, check out our interview with him here.

Tim Canova made headlines last week by dropping the Democratic party in favor of the Independent tag as he takes on Debbie Wasserman-Schultz for a House seat in Florida’s 23rd congressional district. He’s quoted as saying, “I did not leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left us.”

Noah Dyer, an Independent gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, will be giving away $2018 to one lucky teacher in his state through his #RedForEd raffle. His education plan and information about entering the raffle can be found here.

Ones to Watch For:

Joe Zwier, an Independent candidate for Wisconsin State Senate (WI-05), was recently endorsed by Mike McCabe, a Democrat running for Wisconsin governor in 2018. This is a big party endorsement of a non-party candidate, clearly showing the Zwier campaign is picking up speed.

Lee McQueen, an Independent candidate for the House of Representatives in Arkansas (District 4), has reached 1,000 of the 2,000 signatures needed to be on the ballot. She has until May 1st to surpass the signature limit.

© 2018 Free Wheel Media. This article originally published on FreeWheelUs, and has been republished in its entirety with permission and by request of Free Wheel Media.