| Election Name: | Third-party and independent presidential candidates for the 2008 residential election |
| Country: | United States |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 2004 |
| Previous Year: | 2004 |
| Next Election: | Third-party and independent candidates for the 2012 United States presidential election |
| Next Year: | 2012 |
This article contains lists of official third party or independent candidates associated with the 2008 United States presidential election.
Third party is a term commonly used in the United States to refer to political parties other than the two major parties, the Democratic Party and Republican Party. The term is used as innumerate shorthand for all such parties, or sometimes only the largest of them.
An independent candidate is one who runs for office with no formal party affiliation. Candidates who received, or ran for, the presidential nomination of a political party other than that of the two major parties in the 2008 presidential election, as well those who ran as independents, are listed below.
The following nominees appeared on enough state ballots to theoretically obtain the minimum 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.
| Candidate | Image | Background | Delegates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
See main article: article and Alan Keyes 2008 presidential campaign. Political activist, former U.S. diplomat. Republican candidate for president in 1996, 2000 and 2008, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 1988, 1992, and 2004. | 125.7 | |||
| Max "The Swashbuckler" Riekse | Former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel.[3] | 4.5 | ||
| Susan Gail Ducey | Stay at home mom and registered nurse from Kansas. Started out 2008 presidential campaign running as a Republican then switched to independent prior to seeking the Constitution Party nomination. She was also a 1996 Republican presidential candidate and made a brief run for the United States Congress in 2000 as a Republican in Oklahoma.[4] [5] | 1 | ||
| Daniel Imperato | Businessman from Florida and Libertarian Party presidential candidate. | 1 |
| Candidate | Image | Background | Delegates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kat Swift | State Party Co-Chair, progressive activist and newspaper credit manager from Texas. | 38.5 | ||
| Kent Mesplay | Inspector at the air pollution control district of San Diego County (2001–2015) from California. | 35 | ||
| Filmmaker, and 2006 Senate candidate and 2004 gubernatorial candidate for the Mountain Party from West Virginia. | 32.5 | |||
| Elaine Brown | Former Chairwoman of the Black Panther Party from California | 9 | ||
| Jared Ball | College professor, journalist from Maryland.[8] (endorsed McKinney) | 8 | ||
| Howie Hawkins | Co-Founder of the Green Party and Activist from New York | 8 |
| Candidate[9] | Image | Background | Delegates (1st Ballot) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Ruwart | Author of Healing Our World, research scientist, activist, candidate for the Libertarian 1984 presidential nomination and 1992 vice-presidential nomination. | 152 | ||
| Wayne Allyn Root | Sports handicapper, businessman, author, and TV show host from Nevada. | 123 | ||
| Mike Gravel | See main article: article and Mike Gravel 2008 presidential campaign. Former U.S. Senator from Alaska. Previously a candidate for the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential nomination. | 71 | ||
| George Phillies | Professor of Physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute,[10] 2002 candidate for chair of the Libertarian National Committee, and 1998 Congressional candidate from Massachusetts. | 49 | ||
| Steve Kubby | Businessman, marijuana legalization activist, and 1998 Gubernatorial candidate from California. | 41 | ||
| Mike Jingozian | Software company founder from Oregon.[11] [12] | 23 | ||
| Christine Smith | Humanitarian activist, and writer from Colorado.[13] [14] | 6 | ||
| Daniel Imperato | Businessman from Florida. | 1 | ||
| Robert Milnes | Activist from Camden, New Jersey.[15] | 0 |
For independent candidates that did not achieve ballot access in enough states to win 270 electoral votes, see Independents section.
The nominees of the following parties appeared on fewer state ballots than needed to qualify for the minimum 270 electoral votes required to win the electoral college. These candidates could only theoretically have been elected in the unlikely event of a successful write-in campaign, or in the event that no candidate received at least 270 electoral votes. In the latter scenario, the election of the President would be determined by the House of Representatives.
| Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|
Alan Keyes | See main article: article. Former Ambassador in the Ronald Reagan administration. Unsuccessfully sought the nominations of the Republican Party and the Constitution Party before beginning a campaign as an independent. In some of the states he appeared on the ballot for, he was listed as the candidate for America's Independent Party, a party formed by his supporters. Keyes received 47,694 votes.Brian Rohrbough of Colorado was Keyes' running mate. | |
Joe Schriner | Journalist and author from Ohio. Independent presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004.[18] Dale Way of Michigan was Schriner's running mate. | |