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
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	3rd
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
2018	Vermont	Independent	Bernie Sanders	183,529	67.32 / 100	Re-elected
2012	Maine	Independent	Angus King	370,580	52.89 / 100	Elected
2012	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
2006	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
1970	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
2022	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
2016	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
	Puerto Rico At-large	Popular Democratic	Rafael Cox Alomar	881,181	47.16 / 100	2nd
	California 33	Independent	Bill Bloomfield	146,660	46.04 / 100	2nd
	Kansas 3	Independent	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
2014	Rhode Island	Independent	Lincoln Chafee		123,571	36.1 / 100	Elected
1998	Maine	Independent	Angus King		246,772	58.61 / 100	Re-elected
1998	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
1990	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	Party	Nominee	# Votes	% Votes	Place
2022	Nebraska^[2]	Legal Marijuana Now	Larry Bolinger	188,649	30.3 / 100	2nd of 2^[3]
2022	Oklahoma^[4]	Libertarian	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]
2014	Arkansas^[8]		Aaron Cash	43,245	5.2 / 100	3rd of 3

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)^[9]
State	Gubernatorial elections			Senate elections			Total elections
State	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

Notes and references

^ ^a ^b Also listed as the de facto Democratic nominee.
^ "Nebraska Attorney General election, 2022". Ballotpedia. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
^ The only other candidate in the race was a Republican.
^ "OK Election Results". results.okelections.gov. Archived from the original on 2024-10-08. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
^ The only other candidate in the race was a Republican.
^ "Washington Attorney General election, 2016". Ballotpedia. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
^ The only other candidate in the race was a Democrat.
^ "Arkansas Attorney General election, 2014". Ballotpedia. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
^ The threshold is >5% of the vote.

[Galvin-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] "Arkansas Attorney General election, 2014". Ballotpedia. Retrieved December 25, 2024.

[9] The threshold is >5% of the vote.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]