According to this story, former Republican U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee will formally declare his independent candidacy for Governor of Rhode Island on January 4.
According to this story, former Republican U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee will formally declare his independent candidacy for Governor of Rhode Island on January 4.
So what is Rhode Island’s history of support independent or third party candidates for Gov?
The last time anyone other than a Democrat or Republican got as much as 5% for Governor of Rhode Island was 1998, when Robert J. Healey, nominee of the Cool Moose Party, got 6.28%.
Phil Sawyer wrote on the previous page:
December 30th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
4.Steve Rankin Says:
December 30th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
… [snip] … #3: Doesn’t California’s American Independent Party also invite independents to vote in its state and congressional primaries? In presidential primaries, California independents have their choice of the Democratic or the AIP primary. … [snip] …
Phil Sawyer responds:
Yes, the American Independent Party of California does allow indpendents to vote in its primary elections (other than for County Central Committee, I think). If the “top-two†somehow passes this coming year, I think that AIP-CA might become a party that other minor parties might try to take over. I have been thinking that this could happen to the Republican Party also. As the GOP continues to lose voter registrants in California, it will become more vulnerable to outside groups. If a minor party could take over the party machinery of AIP-CA or the Golden State’s GOP, it would no longer have ballot access problems.