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

Other state constitutional offices

This list includes state constitutional offices apart from governorships. This table shows candidates who have gotten at or more than 5% of the total vote.

State attorney generals

Year	State	Nominee	# Votes	% Votes	Place
2022	Nebraska[2]	Larry Bolinger	188,649	30.3 / 100	2nd of 2[3]
	Oklahoma[4]	Lynda Steele	281,923	26.24 / 100	2nd of 2[5]
2016	Washington[6]	Joshua Trumbull	979,105	32.86 / 100	2nd of 2[7]

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)[8]
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. "Nebraska Attorney General election, 2022". Ballotpedia. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
3. The only other candidate in the race was a Republican.
4. "OK Election Results". results.okelections.gov. Archived from the original on 2024-10-08. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
5. The only other candidate in the race was a Republican.
6. "Washington Attorney General election, 2016". Ballotpedia. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
7. The only other candidate in the race was a Democrat.
8. The threshold is >5% of the vote.