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Dictionary: third party
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n.
  1. A political party organized as opposition to the existing parties in a two-party system.
  2. One other than the principals involved in a transaction: I pay rent to a third party, not directly to the landlord.

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Insurance Dictionary: Third Party
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Individual other than the insured or insurer who has incurred a loss or is entitled to receive a benefit payment as the result of the acts or omissions of the insured.

Real Estate Dictionary: Third Party
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One who is not directly involved in a transaction or Contract but may be involved or affected by it.
Example: An apartment owner sells the property to a Condominium converter. The Tenants as third parties, may be forced to move or buy their units at the expiration of their Lease.
Example: A trusted third party was designated as Escrow agent by the Principals.

Dental Dictionary: third party
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n

The party to a dental benefits contract that may collect premiums, assume financial risk, pay claims, and provide other administrative services. Also called administrative agent carriers, insurers, or underwriters.

US Government Guide: third parties
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Early in the history of the United States, two dominant parties emerged and became entrenched as the Democrats and the Republicans. Third parties have frequently risen to challenge their dominance, focusing on issues that the two major parties either ignored or suppressed. Sometimes a third party can supplant one of the major parties, as the Republican party did in the 1850s when it replaced the Whigs by opposing the spread of slavery into the western territories. More often, the major parties absorb the new ideas put forward by the third parties, which eventually disband.

The Tertium Quids, the nation's first third party, was formed in 1801 after John Randolph, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, broke with President Thomas Jefferson on the issue of states' rights. This political group dissolved once Jefferson maneuvered Randolph out of office, but it did set an example for the possibilities of organized dissent through multiparty politics.

Third parties have traditionally formed to strengthen certain groups' support for or opposition to the general direction of American politics. The American Party (or Know-Nothings as they were commonly called) enjoyed a short-lived success in the 1850s by opposing immigration. The Know-Nothings won offices nationwide in the 1854 elections, due in large part to a growing xenophobia, but they were soon absorbed into the broader-based Republican party.

Third-party candidates have often run in Presidential elections. The Populist party, formed to aid beleaguered farmers, ran a strong third in the 1892 Presidential election. As the Socialist party candidate, Eugene v. Debs made four unsuccessful bids for president from 1900 to 1912. Despite their losses, the Populists and Socialists inspired the Democrats and Republicans to adopt many of the reforms they advocated, including a progressive income tax and federal banking and business regulation.

In 1912 former President Theodore Roosevelt broke from the Republican party and ran for president as the Progressive (or Bull Moose) party candidate. Running on a strong reform platform that included woman suffrage, an end to child labor, and greater federal regulation of the economy, Roosevelt ran second in the race, beating Republican President William Howard Taft but losing to the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson.

Third-party candidates seek to affect the outcome of elections by disrupting voter loyalties to the major parties. In 1948 Southern Democrats walked out of the Democratic convention after it adopted a civil rights plank. The States Rights (or Dixiecrat) party ran South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond for president. Meanwhile, former Vice President Henry Wallace also broke with the Democratic party and ran for president as the Progressive party candidate. Despite these defections, President Harry S. Truman held the core of the Democratic party together and scored an upset victory for reelection. Similarly, in 1968 and 1972, Alabama governor George Wallace campaigned as the American party candidate for president in order to oppose the Democratic party's support for civil rights legislation. Wallace captured a large portion of the southern vote with his anti-Washington platform.

Believing that the two-party system had become less flexible due to the growing importance of outside interest groups and multimillion-dollar campaigns, third-party candidates ran increasingly strong challenges in several elections toward the end of the twentieth century. In 1980 Illinois representative John Anderson left the Republicans and ran as an Independent for president, hoping to carve a constituency out of the disenchanted. Attempting to bring people on the outside of the two-party system together by representing a variety of interests, Anderson won 7 percent of the national vote. His effort was a precursor of the Reform party, founded by wealthy businessman H. Ross Perot.

Perot ran for president on the Reform ticket in both 1992 and 1996. In 1992 he received 13 percent of the vote, making the difference that enabled Democrat Bill Clinton to unseat the Republican President George Bush. Despite winning more than 19 million votes–a record for any third party–Perot received no votes in the Electoral College. This constitutional system, by which voters choose electors equal to the number of senators and representatives in their state and which requires a candidate to win a majority of electors to win the Presidency, has continued to force parties to remain national coalitions rather than splintered regional or issue groups. Third parties serve as a testing ground for new issues, and as banner under which disaffected voters can rally, but their failure to gain ground in the Electoral College usually sends their issues and their voters back into the two major parties.

US History Encyclopedia: Third Parties
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The American political system has rarely been kind to third parties. No third party has won a presidential election in over a century. From the point of view of the two major parties, minor parties have functioned more as irritants or sideshows than as serious rivals. Parties such as the Libertarian Party, the American Vegetarian Party, the nativist Know-Nothing Party, and the agrarian Populist parties have been most valuable as safety valves for alienated voters, and as sources of new ideas, which, if they become popular, the major parties appropriate. In the historian Richard Hofstadter's classic formulation: "Third parties are like bees: once they have stung, they die."

Hofstadter explains this phenomenon by claiming that the major parties champion patronage not principle. A better explanation is more structural, and more benign. The "first to the post" nature of most American elections selects the candidate with the most number of votes even without a majority. Marginal parties that woo a consistent minority languish. On the presidential level, the "winner take all" rules for most states in the electoral college further penalize third parties by diffusing their impact. In 1992, Ross Perot received over 19 million votes, 18.8 percent of the popular vote, but no electoral votes, and, thus, no power. As a result, although there is nothing mandating it in the Constitution—and the Framers abhorred parties—since the 1830s a two-party system has been the norm in American politics.

The classic American third party is identified with an issue, or a cluster of issues. The searing antebellum slavery debate spawned various third parties. James G. Birney ran with the antislavery Liberty Party in 1840 and 1844; former president Martin Van Buren won over 10 percent of the popular vote—but no electoral votes—with the Free Soil Party in 1848. By 1860, the antislavery Republican Party had captured the presidency, although with less than 40 percent of the popular vote in a rare four-way race. Some historians consider the Republican Party America's only successful third party. Others argue that the party debuted as a new major party assembled from old ones, not as a minor party that succeeded.

Third Parties After the Civil War

The century and a half following the Civil War witnessed an extraordinarily stable rivalry between the Republicans and the Democrats. Throughout, third parties erupted sporadically, commanded attention, made their mark politically, rarely gained much actual power, and then disappeared. In the late nineteenth century, the agrarian Populist protest movement produced a Greenback Party and the People's Party. The 1892 platform of the People's Party heralded the reorientation in government power that shaped the twentieth century. "We believe that the power of the government—in other words of the people—should be expanded," the platform thundered. Some of the more radical Populist schemes proposing public ownership of the railroads, the telegraph, and the telephone failed. But many other proposals eventually became integrated into American political life, such as a national currency, a graduated income tax, the (secret) Australian ballot, and the direct election of United States senators. In 1892, James B. Weaver of the People's Party won more than a million popular votes and 22 electoral votes. That year Populists sent a dozen congressmen to Washington, while securing governor's chairs in Kansas, North Dakota, and Colorado.

In the early twentieth century, the Socialist, Socialist Workers, and Socialist Laborites helped radical Americans, particularly many immigrants, express frustration while staying within America's political boundaries. Typically, the perennial Socialist Party candidate, Eugene V. Debs, won hundreds of thousands of votes in 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920, but not even one electoral vote. The only formidable third-party challenge from that era was a fluke. In 1912, the popular former president Theodore Roosevelt fought his handpicked protégé President William Howard Taft for the Republican nomination. When Taft won, Roosevelt ran as a Progressive. Thanks to Roosevelt, the Progressive Party won 88 electoral votes, and became the only modern third party to come in second for the presidency. Twelve years later, "Fighting Bob" Robert M. La Follette's Progressive campaign only won the electoral votes of his home state, Wisconsin. Still, as with the Populists, many Progressive ideas became law, such as woman's suffrage, prohibition of child labor, and a minimum wage for working women.

Third Parties in the Modern Era

In the latter half of the twentieth century, third parties were even more transitory and often had even fewer infrastructures. In 1948, Southerners rejecting the Democratic turn toward civil rights bolted the party to form the Dixiecrats or States' Rights Democratic Party. Their candidate Strom Thurmond won 1,169,063 popular votes and 39 electoral votes from various Southern states. That same year former Vice President Henry Wallace's breakaway party from the left side of the Democratic coalition, the Progressive Party, won 1,157,172 votes scattered in the North and Midwest, but no electoral votes. Twenty years later, civil rights issues again propelled a Southern breakaway party with George Wallace's American Independent Party winning almost 10 million votes and 46 electoral votes.

In the modern era, the most attention-getting third party revolts cast a heroic independent voice against mealy-mouthed and hypercautious major party nominees. In 1980, veteran Congressman John Anderson broke away from the Republican Party, after distinguishing himself in the Republican primaries as a straight shooter. In 1992 and 1996 billionaire businessman Ross Perot bankrolled his own campaign and party, targeting the deficit. And in 2000, the long-time reformer Ralph Nader mounted a third-party effort that did not even win five percent of the popular vote, but whose more than 90,000 votes in Florida may have thrown the election to George W. Bush.

In an era of cynicism and political disengagement, public opinion polls show that Americans claim they would like to see a third party as an alternative. At the state and local level, some third parties have lasted, most notably New York City's Liberal and Conservative Parties and Minnesota's Farmer-Labor Party. In the 1980s, the Libertarian Party advanced in Alaska, and in the 1990s, Connecticut and Maine, among others, had independent governors, while Vermont had an independent-socialist congressman. Still, these are mere shooting stars in the American political universe. As their predecessors did, modern, consumer-oriented Americans approve of third parties in principle, but rarely in practice.

Bibliography

Hofstadter, Richard. The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F. D. R. New York: Random House, 1955.

Polakoff, Keith I. Political Parties in American History. New York: Wiley, 1981.

Reichley, James. The Life of the Parties: A History of American Political Parties. New York: Free Press, 1992.

Rosenstone, Steven J. Third Parties in America: Citizen Response to Major Party Failure. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984.

Law Encyclopedia: Third Party
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A generic legal term for any individual who does not have a direct connection with a legal transaction but who might be affected by it.

A third-party beneficiary is an individual for whose benefit a contract is created even though that person is a stranger to both the agreement and the consideration. Such an individual can usually bring suit to enforce the contract or promise made for his or her benefit.

A third-party action is another name for the procedural device of impleader, which is used in a civil action by a defendant who wants to bring a third party into a lawsuit because that party will ultimately be liable for all, or part of, the damages that may be awarded to the plaintiff.

Wikipedia: Third party (United States)
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The term third party is used in the United States for a political party other than one of the two major parties, at present, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. It is used as shorthand for all such parties (also called "minor parties"), or sometimes only the largest of them. The term is often used dismissively.

Historically, in the U.S. since the formation of organized political parties in the 1830s, the country has had a two-party system. Following Duverger's law, the Electoral College with its "winner take all" award of electors in presidential elections plus, for Congress, single-seat plurality voting, have, over time, created the two-party system. Another contributing factor is the division of the government into three separate branches, which differs from the parliamentary system.

Although third parties rarely win national elections, they can have an effect on them. Third parties can draw attention to issues that may be ignored by the majority parties. If the issue finds resonance with the voters, one or more of the major parties may adopt the issue into its own party platform. Also, a third party may be used by the voter to cast a protest vote as a form of referendum on an important issue. Third parties may also help voter turnout bringing more people to the polls. Third party candidates at the top of the ticket can help to draw attention to other party candidates down the ballot, helping them to win local or state office. In 2004 the U.S. electorate consisted of an estimated 43% registered Democrats and 33% registered Republicans, with independents and those belonging to other parties constituting 25%.[1]

Contents

Current U.S. third parties

Main article: List of political parties in the United States

Largest (voter registration over 100,000)

Smaller parties by ideology

Right-wing

State-only parties

Centrist

This section includes any party that is independent, libertarian, populist, or any other that either rejects right-left politics or doesn't have a party platform.

State-only parties

Left-wing

This section includes any party that supports liberal, socialist, marxist, or communist party platforms.

State-only parties

Barriers to third party success

Winner-take-all vs. proportional representation

In winner-take-all (or plurality-take-all), the candidate with the largest number of votes wins, even if the margin of victory is extremely narrow or the proportion of votes received is not a majority. Unlike in proportional representation, runners-up do not gain representation in a first-past-the-post system. In the United States, systems of proportional representation are uncommon, especially above the local level, and are entirely absent at the national level. In Presidential elections, the majority requirement of the Electoral College, and the Constitutional provision for the House of Representatives to decide the election if no candidate receives a majority, serves as a further disincentive to third party candidacies.

In the United States, if an interest group is at odds with its traditional party, it has the option of running sympathetic candidates in primaries. If the candidate fails in the primary and believes he has a chance to win in the general election he may form or join a third party. Because of the difficulties third parties face in gaining any representation, third parties tend to exist to promote a specific issue or personality. Often, the intent is to force national public attention on a such an issue. Then one or both of the major parties may rise to commit for or against the matter at hand, or at least weigh in. H. Ross Perot eventually founded a third party, the Reform Party, to support his 1996 campaign. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt made a spirited run for the presidency on the Progressive Party ticket, but he never made any efforts to help Progressive congressional candidates in 1914, and in the 1916 election, he supported the Republicans.

Ballot access laws

Nationally, ballot access laws are the major challenge to third party candidacies. While the Democratic and Republican parties usually easily obtain ballot access in all fifty states in every election, third parties often fail to meet criteria for ballot access, such as registration fees or, in many states, petition requirements in which a certain number of voters must sign a petition for a third party or independent candidate to gain ballot access.[2] In recent presidential elections, Ross Perot appeared on all 50 state ballots as an independent in 1992 and the candidate of the Reform Party in 1996. (Perot, a multimillionaire, was able to provide significant funds for his campaigns.) Patrick Buchanan appeared on all 50 state ballots in the 2000 election,[3] largely on the basis of Perot's performance as the Reform Party's candidate four years prior. The Libertarian Party has appeared on the ballot in at least 46 states in every election since 1980, except for 1984 when David Bergland gained access in only 36 states. In 1980, 1992, 1996 the party made the ballot in all 50 states and D.C. The Green Party gained access to 44 state ballots in 2000 but only 27 in 2004. The Constitution Party appeared on 42 state ballots in 2004.[4] Ralph Nader, running as an independent in 2004, appeared on 34 state ballots. In 2008, Nader appeared on 45 ballots and D.C. For more information see ballot access laws.

Debate rules

Presidential debates between the nominees of the two major parties first occurred in 1960, then after three cycles without debates, took place again in 1976 and have happened in every election since. Third party or independent candidates have been included in these debates in only two cycles. Ronald Reagan and John Anderson debated in 1980, but incumbent President Carter refused to appear with Anderson, and Anderson was excluded from the subsequent debate between Reagan and Carter.

Debates in other state and federal elections often exclude Independent and third party candidates, and the Supreme Court has upheld such tactics in several cases. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a private company. [5] Independent Ross Perot was included in all three of the debates with Republican George H. W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992, largely at the behest of the Bush campaign.[citation needed] His participation helped Perot climb from 7% before the debates to 19% on Election Day.[6]

Perot was excluded from the 1996 debates despite his strong showing four years prior.[7] In 2000 revised debate access rules made it even harder for third party candidates to gain access by stipulating that, besides being on enough state ballots to win an Electoral College majority, debate participants must clear 15% in pre-debate opinion polls. This rule remained in place for 2004[8][9], when as many as 62 million people watched the debates,[10] and is still in effect for 2008.[11][12] The 15% criterion, had it been in place, would have prevented Anderson and Perot from participating in the debates they appeared in.

Major Party Marginalization

Sometimes, a third party candidate will strike a chord with a section of voters in a particular election. They can bring an issue to national prominence and amount a significant proportion of the popular vote. Major parties often respond to this by adopting this issue in a subsequent election. After 1968, under President Nixon the Republican Party adopted a “Southern Strategy” to win the support of conservative Democrats opposed to the Civil Rights Movement and resulting legislation and to combat third parties with southern agendas. This can be seen as a response to the popularity of segregationist candidate George Wallace who gained 13.5% of the popular vote in the 1968 election for the American Independent Party.

In 1996, both the Democrats and the Republicans agreed to deficit reduction on the back of Ross Perots popularity in the 1992 election. This severely undermined Perot’s campaign in the 1996 election.

Third party officeholders

These galleries include any officeholder who at one time, while in office, was an independent or affiliated with a third party, since 1856. They are listed in descending order from the first year they were in office as something other than a Republican or Democrat (excluding Unionists and Whigs).

U.S. senators

U.S. Senator (1989-Present) Joe Liberman - Switched from Democrat to Independent in 2006

U.S. Senator (2007-Present) Bernie Sanders - Elected as Independent

U.S. Senator (2002) Dean Barkley - Appointed by Jesse Ventura as part of the Independence Party of Minnesota

U.S. Senator (1989-2007) Jim Jeffords - Switched from Republican to Independent in 2001

U.S. Senator (1990-2003) Robert C. Smith - Switched from Republican to Independent in 1999

U.S. Senator (1971-1977) James L. Buckley - Elected as a Conservative

U.S. Senator (1965-1983) Harry F. Byrd Jr. - Switched from Democrat to Independent in 1970

U.S. Senator (1956-2003) Strom Thurmond - In 1954, he became the only person to win a U.S. Senate election as a Write In candidate

U.S. Senator (1945-1959) Wayne Morse - Switched from Republican to Independent in 1953

U.S. Senator (1937-1940) Ernest Lundeen - Elected on the Farmer–Labor Party ticket

U.S. Senator (1913-1943) George W. Norris - Switched from Republican to Independent in 1936

U.S. Senator (1935-1936) Elmer Austin Benson - Elected on the Farmer–Labor Party ticket

U.S. Senator (1925-1947) Robert M. La Follette, Jr. - Switched from Republican to Progressive in 1934

U.S. Senator (1923-1926) Magnus Johnson - Elected on the Farmer–Labor Party ticket

U.S. Senator (1923-1947) Henrik Shipstead - Elected on the Farmer–Labor Party ticket

U.S. Senator (1911-1923) Miles Poindexter - Switched from Republican to Progressive in 1913

U.S. Senator (1897-1903) Henry Heitfeld - Elected as a Populist

U.S. Senator (1897-1903) William A. Harris - Elected as a Populist

U.S. Senator (1876-1909) Henry Moore Teller - Switched from Republican to Silver Republican in 1897

U.S. Senator (1897-1907) Fred Dubois - Switched from Republican to Silver Republican in 1896

U.S. Senator (1896-1899) Frank J. Cannon - Switched from Republican to Silver Republican in 1896

U.S. Senator (1889-1901) Richard F. Pettigrew - Switched from Republican to Silver Republican in 1896

U.S. Senator (1895-1899) Lee Mantle - Switched from Republican to Silver Republican in 1896

U.S. Senator (1873-1903) John P. Jones - Switched from Republican to Silver in 1895

U.S. Senator (1864-1905) William M. Stewart - Switched from Republican to Silver in 1893

U.S. Senator (1893-1901) William V. Allen - Elected as a Populist

U.S. Senator (1891-1901) James H. Kyle - Elected as a Populist

U.S. Senator (1891-1897) William A. Peffer - Elected as a Populist

U.S. Senator (1883-1889) Harrison H. Riddleberger - Elected on the Readjuster Party ticket

U.S. Senator (1881-1887) William Mahone - Elected on the Readjuster Party ticket

U.S. Senator (1877-1883) David Davis - Elected as an independent in 1876

U.S. Senator (1869-1875) Carl Schurtz - Elected as a Liberal Republican

U.S. representatives

The following list is incomplete

U.S. Congressman (1997-2009) Virgil Goode - Re-elected in 2000 as Independent

U.S. Congressman (1991-2007) Bernie Sanders - Elected as Independent

U.S. Congressman (1951-1955) Frazier Reams - Elected as Independent

U.S. Congressman (1949-1955) Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. - Elected from the Liberal Party of New York ticket

U.S. Congressman (1943-1955) Harold Hagen - Elected from the Farmer–Labor Party

U.S. Congressman (1939-1945) Vito Marcantonio - Elected from the American Labor Party ticket

U.S. Congressman (1935-1943) Rich T. Buckler - Elected from the Farmer–Labor Party

U.S. Congressman (1934-1944) Merlin Hull - Elected as a Progressive

U.S. Congressman (1933-1935) Francis Shoemaker - Elected from the Farmer–Labor Party

U.S. Congressman (1923-1927) Knud Wefald - Elected from the Farmer–Labor Party

U.S. Congressman (1895-1904) John F. Shafroth - Switched from Republican to Silver Republican in 1897

U.S. Congressman (1879-1889) James Weaver - Elected as a member United States Greenback Party in 1878 and spent the rest of his congressional career with the same party

Governors

Governor of Minnesota (1999-2003) Jesse Ventura - Elected as Reform Party nominee

Governor of Maine (1995-2003) Angus King - Elected as Independent

Governor of Connecticut (1991-1995) Lowell Weicker - Elected as A Connecticut Party nominee

Governor of Alaska (1990-1994) Wally Hickel - Elected as Alaskan Independence Party nominee

Mayors

Mayoral elections are usually non partisan. These people were elected while they were registered as either a third party or independent

Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg - Re-elected as an independent in 2009

Mayor of Tomah, Wisconsin Ed Thompson - Elected as a Libertarian in 2007

Mayor of Richmond, California Gayle McLaughlin - Elected as a Green in 2006

Mayor of Burlington, Vermont Bob Kiss - Elected as a Progressive in 2005

Mayor of Miami, Florida Manny Diaz - Elected as an independent in 2000

Mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada Oscar Goodman - Elected as an independent in 1998

Mayor of Burlington, Vermont Peter Clavelle - Elected as a Progressive in 1988

Mayor of Burlington, Vermont Bernie Sanders - Elected as a Progressive in 1980

State legislatures

Name Party Chamber District Years in Office
Watkins Abbitt, Jr. Independent Virginia House 59th District 1986-Present
Matt Ahearn Green New Jersey Assembly 38th District 2002-2004
Juan Arambula Independent California State Assembly 31st District 2004-Present
Tim Ashe Progressive Vermont Senate Chittenden 2009-Present
Odon L. Bacque Independent Louisiana House 43rd District 1988-
Robert Barry Independent Maine House 15th District 1979-
Harold Billings Independent Vermont House R6 1981-
Lucius Black Independent Alabama House 67th District 1984-
Audie Bock Green California State Assembly 16th District 1999-2000
Terry Bouricius Progressive Vermont House C7 1991-
Gary Bressor Independent Vermont House C4 1993-
Peppi Bruneau Independent Louisiana House 94th District 1976-2007
Mollie S. Burke Progressive Vermont House Orange
Charlotte Burks Write In Tennessee Senate 23rd District 1999-Present
Tom Cameron Independent Mississippi House 52nd District 2000-
James Campbell Independent Maine House 138th District
William A. Carey Independent Massachusetts House HS2 1979-
Rick Carroll Green Arkansas House 39th District 2009-Present
Mary T. Christian Independent Virginia House 92nd District 1985-
Wendell Coleman Independent Vermont House Rp Wh-4 1997-
Ginger Collins Independent Georgia House 29th District 1988-
Dean Corren Progressive Vermont House C7 1995-
Dominic L. Cortese Reform California State Assembly 16th District 1981-1996
Foy Covington Independent Alabama Senate 30th District 1984-
Mark Dailey Write In Rhode Island House 69th District 1991-
Buddy DeLoach Independent Georgia House 172nd District 2001-
Tony Dominick Progressive Vermont House A2 1999-
Charles Greg Davis Independent Mississippi House 7th District 1991-1997
Susan Davis Progressive Vermont House Windham
William J. Davis Independent Tennessee Senate 27th District 1979-
Gerald Dial Independent Alabama Senate 13th District 1984-
Francisco Diaz Independence New York State Assembly 68th District 1996
Ron Dodson Independent Georgia House 75th District 1999-2006
Nell Doland Independent Louisiana Senate 26th District 1992-
Carina Driscoll Progressive Vermont House C-7-4 2001-
John Eder Green Maine House 188th District 2003-2007
Sarah Edwards Progressive Vermont House Windham
Kenneth Fanning Libertarian Alaska House 20th District 1981-
Bill Fuller Independent Alabama House 38th District 1984-
Aram Garabedian Independent Rhode Island House 23rd District 1999-
Belinda Gerry Independent Maine House 73rd District 1997-
Jill Goldthwait Independent Maine Senate 5th District 1995-
Timothy P. Gordon Independence New York State Assembly 108th District 2007-Present
Roger Green Liberal[13] New York State Assembly 57th District
Adam Greshin Independent Vermont House Washington
Stephen L. Gunn Independent Louisiana House 22nd District 1992-1996
Sandy Haas Progressive Vermont House Windsor
Stephen Harnish Independent New Hampshire House G7 1983-
Steve Hingtgen Progressive Vermont House Chittenden 1999-2004
Franklin Hooper Independent Vermont House L1 1981-
Tommy Horne Independent Mississippi House 81st District 1996-
Michael L. Jackson Independent Louisiana House 61st District
Bob Jenson Independent Oregon House 57th District 1997-Present
William Johnson Independent Vermont House Rp E-C-2 1999-
Rick Jore Constitution Montana House 12th District 2007-Present
Roger Kayhart Independent Vermont Senate A1 1993-
Lucy Killea Independent California Senate 39th District
Sheila Kiscaden Independence Minnesota Senate 30th District 1993-2007
Bob Kiss Progressive Vermont House Chittenden 2001-2006
Quentin L. Kopp Independent California Senate 8th District 1986-1998
Bob Leeper Independent Kentucky Senate 2nd District 1991-Present
Jim Lendall Independent Arkansas House 61st District 1989-
Bob Lessard Independence Minnesota Senate 3rd District 2001-2003
Andre Marrou Libertarian Alaska House 5th District 1985-1987
John M. Michael Independent Maine House 74th District 2001-
Denny J. Meredith Independent Missouri House 162nd District 1999-
Donald Moore Independent Vermont House R3 1983-
Edward J. O'Neill Independent Rhode Island Senate
Jim Neal Independent Mississippi House 72nd District 1980-
David R. Nelson Independent Massachusetts House B12 1979-
Charles Palmer Independent Vermont House B3 1987-
Daryl L. Pillsbury Progressive Vermont House Windham 2001-Present
Chris Pearson Progressive Vermont House Chittenden 2006-
Taylor Pouncey Independent Illinois House 26th District 1979-
Paul Poirier Independent Vermont House Washington
Lacey E. Putney Independent Virginia House 19th District 1962-Present
Dick Randolph Libertarian Alaska House 20th District 1979-1982
Lyle Rice Independent Vermont House R6 1985-
Jerome Richard Independent Louisiana House 55th District
Joel Robideaux Independent Louisiana House 45th District
Thomas Rossi Independent Rhode Island House 6th District 1985-
Ellen Samuelson Write In Kansas House 74th District 1995-
James Sasser Independent Alabama House 88th District 1984-
Harold Silverman Independent Maine Senate 20th District 1979-
Charles B. Smith Independent Mississippi House 35th District 1996-
Tom O. Smith Progressive Vermont House C7 1991-
Lewis Spratt Independent Alabama House 59th District 1984-
Gordon Stafford Independent Vermont House E 1993-
Will Stevens Independent Vermont House Addison
John Stringer Independent Mississippi House 81st District 1980-
Jack Stump Write In Virginia House 4th District 1990-
Fred Thiele Independence New York State Assembly 2nd District 1995-Present
Albert Vann Liberal[13] New York State Assembly 56th District 1975-2001
Steve Vaillancourt Libertarian New Hampshire House H44 2001-
Jimmy Wallace Independent Tennessee House 71st District 1979-
Ed Willis Independent Alaska House 25th District 1995-
Jeffrey Wood Independent Wisconsin State Assembly 67th District 2002-Present
Richard B. Weldon, Jr. Independent Maryland House 3B District 2003-Present
David Zuckerman Progressive Vermont House Chittenden 2005-Present

City councils

There are also Green Party members on city councils (or equivalent) in several major cities [1].

Notable elections

Recent gubernatorial

Listed below is any election since the 1998 involving a third party or independent candidate receiving at least 5% of the vote.

1998

  • In the Pennsylvania election, the Constitution party nominee Peg Luksik obtained 10% of the vote in third place.
  • In the Rhode Island election, the Cool Moose party nominee Robert Healey obtained 6% of the vote in third place.

1999

2000

  • In the NH election, independent Mary Brown obtained 6% of the vote.

2002

  • In the New Mexico election, Green Party nominee David Bacon obtained 6% of the vote.
  • In the Oklahoma election, independent Gary Richardson obtained 14% of the vote.
  • In the Wisconsin election Libertarian party nominee Ed Thompson obtained 11% of the vote.

2006

2007

2008

2009

Recent senatorial

Listed below is any election since the 1998 involving a third party or independent candidate receiving at least 5% of the vote.

2000

  • In the Arizona election Green party nominee Vance Hansen obtained 8% of the vote in third place and Libertarian party nominee Barry Hess received 5% of the vote in fourth place.
  • In the Massachusetts election Libertarian party nominee Carla Howell obtained 12% of the vote in third place, while Constitution party nominee Phil Lawler obtained 12% in fourth place.

2002

  • In the Kansas election Libertarian party nominee Steven Rosile obtained 9% in second place while Reform party nominee George Cook obtained 8% in third place.

2004

2006

2008

Presidential

Listed below is any election since 1856 involving a third party or independent candidate receiving at least 5% of the vote. Elections where a candidate won electoral votes (excepting faithless electors) are marked with an asterisk (*).

1856*

Main article: United States presidential election, 1856

In 1856 the original two-party system (Democrat and Whig) collapsed. The Whigs, who had been one-half of the two-party system since 1832 and had won the presidency in 1840 and 1848, disintegrated. Southern Whigs and a minority of northern Whigs coalesced around the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic American Party, better known as the "Know Nothing" movement. Their candidate was former President Millard Filmore, who won 22% but carried only one state, Maryland, thus winning 8 electoral votes.

1860*

Main article: United States presidential election, 1860

Breckenridge, the third party candidate of southern Democrats, got 18.2% winning 72 electoral votes from several south states. Bell finished with 12.6% but received 39 electoral votes from three states.

1892*

Main article: United States presidential election, 1892

James B. Weaver, the Greenback Labor nominee in 1880, ran as presidential candidate for the Populist Party. The Populist Party won 22 electoral votes and 8.51 percent of the popular vote [3]. Weaver became the first third-party candidate to win a state since John Bell in the transitional election of 1860. The Democratic Party eventually adopted many Populist Party positions after this election, notably the Populist call for the free coinage of silver, making this contest a prominent example of a delayed vote for change.

1896

Main article: United States presidential election, 1896

The Populist Party supported Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan after Bryan and the Democrats came out for support of Free Silver. Bryan won 47% of the vote and 171 electoral votes, losing to Republican William McKinley.

1912*

Main article: United States presidential election, 1912

Republican Theodore Roosevelt ran as the "Bull Moose Party" (Progressive Party) nominee in the 1912 election. Roosevelt won 27.4% of the popular vote and carried six states totaling 88 electoral votes. If the transitional elections of 1856 and 1860, when there was no clear two-party structure, are excluded, Roosevelt's was the most successful third-party candidacy in American history. It was also the only third-party effort to finish higher than third. Instead incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft finished third, taking only 23% of the popular vote and 8 electoral votes. The split in the Republican vote gave Democrat Woodrow Wilson victory with 42% of the popular vote, but 435 electoral votes.

Debs, running in his fourth consecutive Presidential election as the Socialist Party candidate, won 6% of the vote, an all-time high for the Socialists. The elections of 1860 and 1912 are the only two times that four candidates each cleared 5% of the popular vote in a Presidential election.

1924*

Main article: United States presidential election, 1924

Erstwhile Republican Robert M. La Follette ran as a Progressive. After the Democrats nominated conservative John W. Davis, many liberal Democrats turned to La Follette. He received 4,831,706 votes for 16.6% of the popular vote and won his home state of Wisconsin receiving 13 electoral votes. With the Democrats split, incumbent President Calvin Coolidge won election by a wide margin.

1948*

Main article: United States presidential election, 1948

Democrat Strom Thurmond ran on the segregationist States' Rights ("Dixiecrat"). Thus the Democratic vote was split three ways between Thurmond on the right, Henry A. Wallace on the liberal left, and incumbent President Harry S. Truman in the center. Thurmond received 1,175,930 votes (2.4%) and 39 votes in the electoral college from Southern states. Wallace earned 1,157,328 votes for an identical 2.4% of the popular vote, but no votes in the Electoral College due to his support being mostly concentrated in the more populous states of New York and California.

1968*

Main article: United States presidential election, 1968

Former Democratic Governor of Alabama George Wallace ran on the American Independent Party line. Wallace received 9,901,118 votes for 13.5% of the popular vote, receiving 45 electoral votes in the South and many votes in the North. Wallace remains the only third party candidate since 1948 to win a state.

1980

Main article: United States presidential election, 1980

Congressman John B. Anderson received 5,719,850 votes, for 6.6% of the vote, as an independent candidate for President. Libertarian Party candidate Ed Clark won 921,128 votes, or 1.1% of the total. No other Libertarian candidate has ever gotten more than 0.5% in a presidential election.

1992

Main article: United States presidential election, 1992

Ross Perot, an independent, won 18.9% of the popular vote (but no electoral votes). His was the second-best popular vote showing ever for a third-party candidate, trailing only Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Perot finished second in three states: in Alaska and Utah ahead of election winner Bill Clinton, and in Maine ahead of incumbent President George H. W. Bush.

1996

Main article: United States presidential election, 1996

Ross Perot ran for president again, this time as the candidate of the newly formed Reform Party. He won 8% of the popular vote.

Others

See also

Resources

References

  1. '^ Neuhart, P. (22 January 2004). Why politics is fun from catbirds' seats. USA Today., http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/neuharth/2004-01-22-neuharth_x.htm, retrieved 2007-07-11 
  2. ^ See Two party ballot suppresses third party change, by Theresa Amato, Ralph Nader's national campaign manager, Harvard Law Record, 4 December 2009
  3. ^ 2000 PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS, Federal Election Commission, http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2000/2000presge.htm, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  4. ^ (pdf) OFFICIAL GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS FOR UNITED STATES PRESIDENT, Federal Election Commission, November 2, 2004, http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2004/2004pres.pdf, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  5. ^ Lister, J (September 1980), "1980 Debates", The New England journal of medicine (Commission on Presidential Debates) 303 (13): 741–4, ISSN 0028-4793, PMID 6157090, http://www.debates.org/pages/his_1980.html, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  6. ^ What Happened in 1992?, http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/1992.html, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  7. ^ What Happened in 1996?, http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/1996.html, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  8. ^ What Happened in 2004?, opendebates.org, http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/2004.html, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  9. ^ 2004 Candidate Selection Criteria, Commission on Presidential Debates, September 24, 2003, http://www.debates.org/pages/news_030924.html, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  10. ^ 2004 Debates, Commession on Presidential Debates, http://www.debates.org/pages/his_2004.html, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  11. ^ The 15 Percent Barrier, opendebates.org, http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/15percent.html, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  12. ^ Commission on Presidential Debates Announces Sites, Dates, Formats and Candidate Selection Criteria for 2008 General Election, Commission on Presidential Debates, November 19, 2007, http://www.debates.org/pages/news_111907.html, retrieved 2007-12-20 
  13. ^ a b http://www.ballot-access.org/2007/120107.html

External links

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Translations: Third-party
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Home > Library > Literature & Language > Translations

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - tredjeparts-

Français (French)
adj. - (Jur, Assur) tiers

Deutsch (German)
adj. - Haftpflicht-, der dritten Person

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - τρίτου προσώπου, έναντι τρίτων

Italiano (Italian)
di terzi

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - terceiros

Русский (Russian)
трехпартийный (режим), трехпартийная (система)

Español (Spanish)
adj. - tercero, tercera persona

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - tredje part, tredje man

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
第三方的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 第三方的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 제3자에 의한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 第三者の, 対第三者賠償の

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של צד שלישי (פרט לשני העיקריים), עומד מהצד, משקיף‬

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