Krist said Tuesday that his standing in the federal lawsuit has changed, now that he’s set to appear on the Democratic primary ballot. But Krist says ballot access for independent candidates remains an important issue for him, and called on lawmakers to overturn such restrictions in next year’s session.

Krist, a state senator, had challenged restrictions that require independent candidates to get roughly 120,000 signatures to appear on the ballot. He later decided to run as a Democrat to challenge Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.