List of third-party and independent performances in United States elections explained

This article contains statistics on third-party and independent performances in US elections and a list of pages containing lists of those elections.

Lists of third-party and independent, performances in United States elections

• List of third-party and independent performances in United States presidential elections
• List of third-party and independent performances in United States gubernatorial elections
• List of third-party and independent performances in United States Senate elections
• List of third-party and independent performances in United States House elections
• List of third-party and independent performances in United States state legislative elections

List of third-party and independent performances in West Virginia state legislative elections

• List of third-party and independent performances in United States mayoral elections

Notable performances

Presidential elections

The following are third party and independent candidates who received more than 10% of the total popular vote.

Year	Party	Nominee	Running mate	data-sort-type=number	Votes	data-sort-type=number	% Votes	data-sort-type=number	% Votes On Ballot	data-sort-type=number	Electoral Votes	Place	Notes
1912	Progressive	Theodore Roosevelt	Hiram Johnson	4,120,609				2nd
1856	American	Millard Fillmore	Andrew J. Donelson	872,703				3rd
1992	Independent	Ross Perot	James Stockdale	19,743,821
1860	Southern Democratic	John C. Breckinridge	Joseph Lane	851,844				2nd
1924	Progressive	Robert M. La Follette	Burton K. Wheeler	4,833,821				3rd
1968	American Independent	George Wallace	Curtis LeMay	9,901,118
1860	Constitutional Union	John Bell	Edward Everett	590,946
1848	Free Soil	Martin Van Buren	Charles F. Adams	291,475

Senate elections

The following are third party and independent candidates who have won senate seats since 1970.

Notable third-party senatorial performances (1991–2020)

Year	State	Party	Nominee	Votes	% Votes	Place	Notes
2018	Maine	Independent	Angus King	337,378		Re-elected
	Vermont	Independent	Bernie Sanders	183,529		Re-elected
2012	Maine	Independent	Angus King	370,580		Elected
	Vermont	Independent	Bernie Sanders	209,053		Re-elected
2010	Alaska	Republican (write-in)	Lisa Murkowski	101,091		Re-elected	Lost Republican primary
2006	Connecticut	Connecticut for Lieberman	Joe Lieberman	564,095		Re-elected	Lost Democratic primary
	Vermont	Independent	Bernie Sanders	171,638		Elected
1976	Virginia	Independent	Harry F. Byrd Jr.	890,778		Re-elected
1970	Virginia	Independent	Harry F. Byrd Jr.	506,237		Re-elected
	New York	Conservative	James L. Buckley	2,288,190		Elected

House elections

The following are third party and independent candidates who have received more than 30% of the popular vote since 2008.

Notable third party House performances (2022) – 19 entries

Year	District	Party	Candidate	Votes	% Votes	Place
2022	North Dakota At-large	Independent	Cara Mund	89,644		2nd
	Texas 26	Libertarian	Mike Kolls	81,208		2nd
2020	Alaska At-large	Independent/Undeclared	Alyse Galvin	159,856		2nd
2018	Alaska At-large	Independent/Undeclared	Alyse Galvin	109,615		2nd
2016	Northern Mariana Islands At-large	Independent	Gregorio Sablan	10,605		Elected
	Arizona 8	Green	Mark Salazar	93,954		2nd
2014	Northern Mariana Islands At-large	Independent	Gregorio Sablan	8,549		Elected
2012	Puerto Rico At-large	New Progressive	Pedro Pierluisi	905,066		Elected
		Popular Democratic	Rafael Cox Alomar	881,181		2nd
	California 33	Independent	Bill Bloomfield	146,660		2nd
	Kansas 3		Joel Balam	92,675		2nd
2008	American Samoa At-large	Independent	Eni Faleomavaega	7,498		Elected
	Puerto Rico At-large	New Progressive	Pedro Pierluisi	1,010,285		Elected
	New York 23	Conservative	Doug Hoffman	69,553		2nd
	Puerto Rico At-large	Popular Democratic	Alfredo Salazar Jr.	810,093		2nd
	American Samoa At-large	Independent	Amata Coleman Radewagen	4,349		2nd

Gubernatorial elections

The following are third party and independent candidates who have won governerships since 1990.

Notable third party gubernatorial performances

Year	State	Party	Nominee	Running mate	Votes	% Votes	Place
2014	Alaska	Independent	Bill Walker	Byron Mallott	134,658		data-sort-value="1st"	Elected
	Rhode Island	Independent	Lincoln Chafee		123,571		data-sort-value="1st"	Elected
1998	Maine	Independent	Angus King		246,772		data-sort-value="1st"	Re-elected
	Minnesota	Reform	Jesse Ventura	Mae Schunk	773,713		data-sort-value="1st"	Elected
1994	Maine	Independent	Angus King		180,829		data-sort-value="1st"	Elected
1990	Alaska	Alaskan Independence	Wally Hickel	Jack Coghill	75,721		data-sort-value="1st"	Elected
	Connecticut	A Connecticut Party	Lowell Weicker	Eunice Groark	460,576		data-sort-value="1st"	Elected

Statistics

Note: Prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913, most states did not hold direct elections to the Senate.

Legend:		1st		2nd		3rd

Elections with notable third party electoral performances (1900–present)^[1]
State	Gubernatorial elections			Senate elections			Total elections
	Threshold reached	Threshold candidates	Third party victory	Threshold reached	Threshold candidates	Third party victory	Threshold reached	Threshold candidates	Third party victory
Alabama	5	6	0	4	4	0	9	10	0
Alaska	9	10	2	6	6	1	15	16	3
Arizona	5	5	0	7	11	0	12	16	0
Arkansas	10	11	0	6	6	1	16	17	1
California	8	10	1	9	11	0	17	21	1
Colorado	4	6	0	4	5	0	8	11	0
Connecticut	7	9	1	4	4	1	11	13	2
Delaware	2	2	0	1	1	0	3	3	0
Florida	3	3	1	3	3	0	6	6	1
Georgia	4	4	0	2	2	0	6	6	0
Hawaii	3	3	0	2	2	0	5	5	0
Idaho	13	16	0	4	5	0	17	21	0
Illinois	4	5	0	2	2	0	6	7	0
Indiana	2	4	0	4	4	0	6	8	0
Iowa	1	1	0	1	1	0	2	2	0
Kansas	7	8	0	5	6	0	12	14	0
Kentucky	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	0
Louisiana	3	3	0	2	2	0	5	5	0
Maine	13	18	3	5	5	2	18	23	5
Maryland	1	1	0	3	3	0	4	4	0
Massachusetts	10	10	0	4	4	0	14	14	0
Michigan	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	0
Minnesota	21	25	5	19	22	5	40	47	10
Mississippi	2	2	0	4	4	0	6	6	0
Missouri	1	1	0	1	1	0	2	2	0
Nebraska	10	10	1	4	5	1	14	15	2
Nevada	6	7	2	7	8	0	13	15	2
New Hampshire	4	4	0	1	1	0	5	5	0
New Jersey	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	0
New Mexico	2	2	0	1	1	0	3	3	0
New York	11	12	0	8	8	1	19	20	1
North Carolina	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
North Dakota	7	8	1	9	11	1	16	19	2
Ohio	3	4	0	3	4	0	6	8	0
Oklahoma	7	7	0	3	3	0	10	10	0
Oregon	6	7	1	9	14	0	15	20	1
Pennsylvania	3	3	0	4	5	0	7	8	0
Rhode Island	7	9	0	1	1	0	8	10	0
South Carolina	0	0	0	2	2	1	2	2	1
South Dakota	7	9	0	5	7	0	12	16	0
Tennessee	7	8	0	4	4	0	11	12	0
Texas	9	12	0	1	1	0	10	13	0
Utah	6	7	0	3	3	0	9	10	0
Vermont	11	11	0	4	4	3	15	15	3
Virginia	4	4	0	14	18	2	18	22	2
Washington	7	8	0	5	6	0	12	14	0
West Virginia	4	4	0	0	0	0	4	4	0
Wisconsin	18	21	3	12	15	2	30	36	5
Wyoming	2	2	0	1	1	0	3	3	0
Total	284	327	21	203	236	21	487	563	42

See also

• List of third party and independent United States state governors
• List of United States major third party presidential tickets
• List of Libertarian Party politicians who have held office in the United States
• List of Green politicians who have held office in the United States
• List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States
• List of Democratic Socialists of America public officeholders

Notes and References

1. The threshold is >5% of the vote.