In 2012, Angus King, a multi-millionaire former governor, won one of Maine’s seats in the U.S. Senate as an independent. Why are successful independent candidacies so rare?
Currently, the only other member of the Senate who serves as an independent is Bernie Sanders from Vermont. In 1998, James George Janos, who wrestled professionally and then acted in films as “Jesse Ventura,” was nominated for governor of Minnesota by the Reform Party and surprisingly defeated his Democrat and Republican opponents. In 1912, former Republican president Theodore Roosevelt ran for president against his successor William Howard Taft and Democrat Woodrow Wilson as nominee of his own newly created “Progressive Party.”
Nothing in the Constitution mentions political parties. The founders hated them. But eventually parties became so strong that they passed laws in most states giving advantages to the two major parties. To overcome these advantages and achieve electoral success as an independent or third party seems tied to a few key factors. First, winning is easier in smaller states or local races involving small populations. Second, ranked-choice voting, used in some states and localities, helps independents because voters’ second choices matter, and this helps elect moderate candidates. Third, successful independents tend to be people already widely known. Personal reputation substitutes for party identification to give voters the information they need. Indeed, these independents were the type of candidates the founders of our republic hoped for.
"The History of Our Freedoms" is produced by KEDT-FM in Corpus Christi. Dr. Bill Chriss is a historian and legal scholar. For more on history and the constitution, check out his blog at https://drbillchriss.substack.com/.
