Minor Party Primaries Results and Discussion

[AltWorlder]

Chafee could have been the anointed former GOP politician to be the Libertarian nominee, but I guess they wanted a turn back to ideological clarity instead of tactical electability.

[AltWorlder]

Sam Seder should've ran. Seder/Gravel might've ironically led to a decent showing.

[AltWorlder]

Isn't it too late by now?

[AltWorlder]

The Constitution Party website has released its official list of presidential candidates:

https://www.constitutionparty.com/constitution-party-candidates-for-president-2020/

Though Independent Political Report lists a few more Politics1 recorded.

As with a few of the lesser-known candidates running for the Libertarian Party nomination, I'm surprised that there's female candidates, that's neat.

[AltWorlder]

Will he???

https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1247932233333301249

[AltWorlder]

The Constitution Party has nominated Don Blankenship of West Virginia on the second ballot. William Mohr of Michigan was unanimously nominated for vice president

http://ballot-access.org/2020/05/02/constitution-party-nominates-don-blankenship-for-president-on-second-ballot/

[AltWorlder]

Virginia Constitution Party opposes Big Don, wants Justin Amash instead

[AltWorlder]

New Mexico Constitution Party also rejects Blankenship in favor of Samm Tittle

As I've posted elsewhere, would've been really interested to consider who could've tried an Amash/Ventura outsider celebrity bid to take over the CP, as it seems like along with the Greens and the Libertarians they are also experiencing a controversial sweep.

[AltWorlder]

New Mexico Constitution Party also rejects Blankenship in favor of Samm Tittle

As I've posted elsewhere, would've been really interested to consider who could've tried an Amash/Ventura outsider celebrity bid to take over the CP, as it seems like along with the Greens and the Libertarians they are also experiencing a controversial sweep.

You failed to mention that the VP candidate is going to be J.W. Fakes creating a Tittle-Fakes ticket.  

Speaking of which, J.W. Fakes appears to be a little wacko. I wonder if the Virginia CP will follow suit in supporting this ticket, or if they're sticking with the not running Amash. (Edit: they are) Even if the Greens and Libertarians aren't schisming this year (TBD), at least we're seeing one national third party do so!

[AltWorlder]

I wonder what the Greens/SPUSA think of the PSL/PFP, dueling popular fronts and united fronts

[AltWorlder]

I wonder what the Greens/SPUSA think of the PSL/PFP, dueling popular fronts and united fronts

There probably are flame wars and nastiness on the more informal surrogates on Twitter, but nothing official. Maybe as the race goes on, the race will start to get heated as they’ll ultimately come to brawls for key sectors in invaluable states both are running on officially, namely California and Vermont.

See, based on my limited view of what's happened in previous elections between third party candidates, I don't actually think that happens. It's very interesting to me because it seems like heat from third party candidates are usually reserved against the major party candidates (as the obvious targets, understandably), or against other members of the same party (as an in-fighting power struggle internal thing). I've hardly seen any fierce disagreements between third party candidates or parties themselves, which is just interesting to me.

Often, they don't even seem to acknowledge each other's existence- they're not just off the mainstream electorate's radar, they're off each other's radar. Even at third party presidential debates, when they're forced to acknowledge the existence of both diametrically ideologically opposite parties, or the existence of rival parties on the same side of the spectrum who potentially siphon off precious votes from each other, they end up agreeing with each other at the debates about 1) how the major parties are both corrupt crooks, end the duopoly, 2) end the drug war now, 3) the government is too big and/or feckless and either way must be changed.

This goes to show that despite minor parties' disparate ideologies that span far left to far right to libertarian to communitarian to centrist, in the end all third parties are alike in being A) anti-establishment and B) sound ignored and disempowered.

[AltWorlder]

So now that we only have one more "major" third party nomination to go, any bets on who will be at the inevitable fringe third party presidential debate, and who will win that?

Hawkins vs. Jorgensen vs. Blankenship vs. de la Fuente

[AltWorlder]

So now that we only have one more "major" third party nomination to go, any bets on who will be at the inevitable fringe third party presidential debate, and who will win that?

Hawkins vs. Jorgensen vs. Blankenship vs. de la Fuente

Probably who appeared at the last Free and Equal debate plus Max Abramson—so like Brian Carrol of the ASP and the Transhumanist party candidate.

La Riva was present in the 2016 debate, forgot to mention to her. I think adding the ASP and the Transhumanists would dovetail nicely with my idea of how U.S. third parties "oughta" consolidate, but I don't know why they would get invited over any other randos like uhhh Mark Charles or J.R. Myers. I'm not sure if Free and Equal sends invites based on actual polling (which is pretty much impossible given how fringe third party candidates are), or ideological "balance", or just whomever has a website and seems willing to show up.

[AltWorlder]

Oh, I assume that even in the magical world where third parties were smart and banded together instead of splitting into a billion powerless Facebook groups, there would still be minor parties beyond the ones I outlined. There would still be a ton of minuscule far leftist groups like various Trot parties who are unwilling to join the fold of La Riva thought. Idk who Green Liberals are though, I assume they'd be fine as one of the more centrist/right-wing subgroups of the Social Democrats.

[AltWorlder]

Speaking of Rocky, is he and the Alliance Party okay? The Twitter accounts of both haven't posted in nearly two weeks, which is weird because he's usually so verbose online, and a quarantine is a time period where social media buzz actually has more real-world impact. It's like they had their virtual nomination and then lost all momentum.

[AltWorlder]

This may be a rude/offensive question, but are no-hope perennial candidates “all there?” People like De La Fuente, who keep running over and over again and always lose or other candidates who know they will get no where. Are they just too narcissistic/egotistic to check themselves? Or are they literally delusional?

From a political perspective, these people either are ideologically out of step with the American mainstream, or in the case of de la Fuente who appears to be a garden-variety liberal, procedurally out of step because he believes running quixotic third party or impossible primary campaigns are the way to amass political power. Personally speaking they also think that the country is truly missing their leadership, or that their non-mainstream attempts to gain power will really get anywhere.

That said, I can't say they're any less sane than those who choose to work in the mainstream two party system, because you see plenty of ideological, procedural, and personal psychoses there. If anything these third party nobodies are just more honest about it.

[AltWorlder]

That’s what I’m talking about. Do Libertarians even want to be taken seriously when they have candidates like Supreme and Cohen? Cuz nobody is gonna take them seriously with them. Enjoy your 0.5% of the popular vote LP.

Donald Trump is president, dear.

[AltWorlder]

Save this for the next primary:

https://twitter.com/DemocratMachine/status/1268015324294594560

[AltWorlder]

Who cares about them?

Because we're posting in the Minor Party Primaries Results and Discussion thread.

That said, I am very interested to see who takes their place as the third preeminent third party in the U.S. after the Libertarians and the Greens. If they somehow manage to delay that by having high-profile GOP defectors give them a shot in the arm, well that's amusing to. Their national organization looks to be disintegrating, though.

[AltWorlder]

Specifically regarding the presidency, DSA is sort of like a national version of the Working Families Party, I'd say. They're less like actual political parties that puts doomed third party presidential candidates on vanity campaigns, and more like wannabe kingmakers. I don't really see them replacing the Constitution Party in national races, because they're not interested in seeking ballot access.

[AltWorlder]

My point was unclear. I think what's going to happen is that unlike third party politics in the past, with a recent peak in the 90s with the Reform Party (but not ignoring other prominent third party efforts in the 20th century), we're going into an era where it's less significant for third parties to try to go the traditional route of gaining power by launching a rabble-rousing outsider presidential campaign. That's because outsiders have entered the major parties, there's more polarization going on between the duopoly, active electoral suppression of minor parties through things like restrictive ballot access laws, etc.

So you're probably right that the DSA will eclipse the CP- they probably already have, and perhaps there will be more registered DSA members than Greens or even Libertarians. With all of the buzz around them since 2016 and all of the many caucuses they have, I almost wonder if there are more DSA than Green already. But I think parties like the DSA and WFP are different from third parties that pursue more "traditional" paths to power, and by that I mean hopeless vanity presidential campaigns.

Eventually we should draw a distinction between these new, more pragmatic, kingmaker third parties that are almost like "2.5" parties that exist to put pressure on the major parties, and the traditional 3rd parties. The good thing about being kingmaker is that it puts you closer to the mainstream and gets you more clout than doing a quixotic run. The press definitely gave more press to the WFP when they were deliberating on which Democrat to endorse than they ever covered the Greens this cycle. On the flip side, the DSA is definitely behind the Libertarians/Greens in terms of ballot access, but maybe that's the point; they're not seeking it when they can just endorse Justice Democrats or other leftist candidates within an existing major party.

That said, even within the sideshow electoral ghetto of traditional third party politics, I'm still wondering which obscure quixotic third party will replace the CP. As in, which party will have more members, more ballot access, and more coverage than them. I actually think that if they get their act together, the Alliance Party under Jim Rex's chairmanship and Rocky de la Fuente's money has a chance to unite all of the regional centrist/moderate/"independent" micro-parties, and create a new Reform Party from below. But they've still got a long way to go until then.

The traditional third party scene is fun to watch, there's something charming about the self-importance many of the people involved, despite the irrelevance. And the drama is just as fun as in duopoly politics, minus all of the actual harm. Though you're right, the wannabe kingmakers like the DSA will ultimately have greater influence and impact on actual politics. Are there any besides them and the WFP and some regional parties like the Conservative Party of New York?

[AltWorlder]

Interestingly, Ben Zion is no longer the head of the Transhumanist ticket.

what the hell happened?

The USTP hereby confirms the departure of Johannon Ben Zion (J. Ben Zion) from our organization. As the USTP and several other groups combined and reorganized, Mr. Ben Zion found himself better aligned with a more directly techno-progressive platform and has opted to head that initiative, leaving his capable running-mate as the USTP’s candidate. Accordingly, the Officers of the USTP have determined to release Mr. Ben Zion from any of his roles and affiliations with the USTP, as well as from any previous endorsements by the USTP.

I like how now the Reform Party has been reduced to the destination of also-rans from the Libertarian Party and the Transhuman Party. Just give it to Rocky de la Fuente and the Alliance Party as an affiliate.

[AltWorlder]

Why did the reform party nominate a joke like Rocky over an actual state representative?

He has lots of money and has been active in the third party scene for years. Also that state representative couldn't even hack it as a major Libertarian Party candidate and has resorted to running for the nom of the Veterans Party.

So this is the end of the primaries for third parties, really the only thing left is for the nominee apparent in the Green Party to be declared so in the upcoming GNC.

The Veterans' Party still haven't picked their nominee yet (perhaps Max Abramson will win his 3rd bid in a minor party after losing the Libertarian and Reform nominations), but otherwise, this seems to be it among 3rd parties with ballot access.

What even is the veterans party

Rational Wiki seems to be the only place that has attempted to answer that question.

I feel like at this point they're just a collection of Facebook groups and P.O. Boxes that exist to siphon off votes from disaffected low-information voters who think, "Veterans? Well I support veterans."