2010 Elections Wrap-Up

The 2010 elections were a mixed bag for the third party and independent political movement.  Public discontent with the Democratic and Republican parties undoubtedly raised the profiles of third party and independent candidates for office across the country and at all levels of government.  Yet, that discontent did not translate into deep and widespread support for third party and independent alternatives to the false choice offered by the Democratic and Republican parties.  At the same time, however, there were quite a few notable successes:

• Rhode Island elected its first Independent governor, Lincoln Chafee.  
• In Maine, Eliot Cutler further demonstrated the viability of Independent politics, besting his Democratic rival for second place in a contest which the Independent ultimately lost by only a few percentage points. 
• In Colorado, Tom Tancredo's late entrance into the gubernatorial race significantly raised the national profile of the Constitution Party, and demonstrated the viability of third party politics, besting his Republican rival for second place in the race.
• Third parties gained or retained ballot access in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin.  See this preliminary report at Ballot Access News.
• The Vermont Progressive Party has likely won seven seats to the state legislature.  
• Over 1,000,000 votes were cast for Libertarian candidates for US House across the country.
• Green Party candidates won a number of elections for local offices across the country. 
• Candidates of the Independent American Party of Nevada won four races for local offices.

I launched Third Party and Independent Daily at the beginning of this year in the expectation that 2010 would be an historic year for third party and independent politics in the United States.  And, as numerous studies have shown, it was.  But we still have a long way to go.

As a final note, I'd like to thank all of TPID's contributors for their many posts over the course of the year.  Be sure to check out their respective sites linked in the sidebar if you haven't already!  I would also like to thank the numerous candidates who took the time to respond to requests for comments or  interviews, including Dan La Botz, Eliot Cutler, Jake Towne, Daniel Reale, Jaimes Brown, and Darcy Richardson.  And, of course, many thanks to TPID's friends and readers across the country and throughout the third party and independent blogosphere!