At the November 2, 2010 election, the minor party statewide nominee who polled the highest share of the votes in any state is Robert J. Healey, Jr., Cool Moose Party nominee for Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor.  He polled 126,063 votes, or 39.2% of the total, in a 3-person race.  The only other candidates in that race were Democrat Elizabeth H. Roberts, who got 54.5%, and an independent candidate named Robert Venturini, whose ballot label was “Hour with Bob.”

The Cool Moose Party has been a qualified party in the past, but is no longer.  Its high share of the vote does not restore its party status, because in Rhode Island, only the vote for President or Governor counts for that purpose.  Healey ran on a platform of abolishing the Lieutenant Governor’s office, to save tax dollars.  The Republican Party endorsed him and did not run its own nominee.