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

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 Alaska state legislative elections

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

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

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

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

List of third-party and independent performances in Wyoming 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	# Votes	% Votes	% Votes On Ballot	Electoral Votes	Place	Notes
1912	Progressive	Theodore Roosevelt	Hiram Johnson	4,120,609	27.39 / 100	27.86 / 100	88 / 531	2nd
1856	American	Millard Fillmore	Andrew J. Donelson	872,703	21.54 / 100	21.54 / 100	8 / 296	3rd
1992	Independent	Ross Perot	James Stockdale	19,743,821	18.91 / 100	18.91 / 100	0 / 538
1860	Southern Democratic	John C. Breckinridge	Joseph Lane	851,844	18.20 / 100	22.04 / 100	72 / 303	2nd
1924	Progressive	Robert M. La Follette	Burton K. Wheeler	4,833,821	16.62 / 100	16.69 / 100	13 / 531	3rd
1968	American Independent	George Wallace	Curtis LeMay	9,901,118	13.53 / 100	13.56 / 100	46 / 538
1860	Constitutional Union	John Bell	Edward Everett	590,946	12.62 / 100	15.43 / 100	39 / 303
1848	Free Soil	Martin Van Buren	Charles F. Adams	291,475	10.13 / 100	13.79 / 100	0 / 290

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	54.5 / 100	Re-elected
	Vermont	Independent	Bernie Sanders	183,529	67.32 / 100	Re-elected
2012	Maine	Independent	Angus King	370,580	52.89 / 100	Elected
	Vermont	Independent	Bernie Sanders	209,053	71.04 / 100	Re-elected
2010	Alaska	Republican (write-in)	Lisa Murkowski	101,091	39.49 / 100	Re-elected	Lost Republican primary
2006	Connecticut	Connecticut for Lieberman	Joe Lieberman	564,095	49.71 / 100	Re-elected	Lost Democratic primary
	Vermont	Independent	Bernie Sanders	171,638	65.41 / 100	Elected
1976	Virginia	Independent	Harry F. Byrd Jr.	890,778	57.2 / 100	Re-elected
1970	Virginia	Independent	Harry F. Byrd Jr.	506,237	53.54 / 100	Re-elected
	New York	Conservative	James L. Buckley	2,288,190	38.95 / 100	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	37.6 / 100	2nd
	Texas 26	Libertarian	Mike Kolls	81,208	30.7 / 100	2nd
2020	Alaska At-large	Independent/Undeclared	Alyse Galvin[1]	159,856	45.3 / 100	2nd
2018	Alaska At-large	Independent/Undeclared	Alyse Galvin[1]	109,615	45.84 / 100	2nd
2016	Northern Mariana Islands At-large	Independent	Gregorio Sablan	10,605	100.0 / 100	Elected
	Arizona 8	Green	Mark Salazar	93,954	31.43 / 100	2nd
2014	Northern Mariana Islands At-large	Independent	Gregorio Sablan	8,549	65.29 / 100	Elected
2012	Puerto Rico At-large	New Progressive	Pedro Pierluisi	905,066	48.44 / 100	Elected
		Popular Democratic	Rafael Cox Alomar	881,181	47.16 / 100	2nd
	California 33	Independent	Bill Bloomfield	146,660	46.04 / 100	2nd
	Kansas 3		Joel Balam	92,675	31.55 / 100	2nd
2008	American Samoa At-large	Independent	Eni Faleomavaega	7,498	60.38 / 100	Elected
	Puerto Rico At-large	New Progressive	Pedro Pierluisi	1,010,285	53.05 / 100	Elected
	New York 23	Conservative	Doug Hoffman	69,553	45.98 / 100	2nd
	Puerto Rico At-large	Popular Democratic	Alfredo Salazar Jr.	810,093	42.54 / 100	2nd
	American Samoa At-large	Independent	Amata Coleman Radewagen	4,349	35.02 / 100	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	48.1 / 100	Elected
	Rhode Island	Independent	Lincoln Chafee		123,571	36.1 / 100	Elected
1998	Maine	Independent	Angus King		246,772	58.61 / 100	Re-elected
	Minnesota	Reform	Jesse Ventura	Mae Schunk	773,713	36.99 / 100	Elected
1994	Maine	Independent	Angus King		180,829	35.37 / 100	Elected
1990	Alaska	Alaskan Independence	Wally Hickel	Jack Coghill	75,721	38.88 / 100	Elected
	Connecticut	A Connecticut Party	Lowell Weicker	Eunice Groark	460,576	40.36 / 100	Elected

Statistics

Note: Prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913, most states did not hold direct elections to the Senate.^{[citation needed]}

Legend:		1st		2nd		3rd

Elections with notable third party electoral performances (1900–present)[2]
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. Also listed as the de facto Democratic nominee.
2. The threshold is >5% of the vote.