James Buckley, Last Person Elected to the U.S. Senate as the Nominee of a Party Other than Republican or Democratic, Dies

On August 18, James Buckley died at the age of 100. In 1970 he was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York. He was the Conservative Party nominee, and he defeated the nominees of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. He is the last person to have won a U.S. Senate election as the nominee of a third party.

More recently, Dean Barkley served as a third party U.S. Senator for a short time, representing Minnesota. However he was appointed by Governor Jesse Ventura, not elected. Thanks to Gene Berkman for the news.


Comments

James Buckley, Last Person Elected to the U.S. Senate as the Nominee of a Party Other than Republican or Democratic, Dies — 32 Comments

  1. Any chance in getting a court or president or assembly of state legislatures to realize:

    No third-party candidate has been elected to the US Senate in the last 26 elections (since 1970). About 33 seats are up every two years, so that is ~33 x 26 = ~860 failures to elect a third-party candidate to the US Senate.

    In what universe can you blame this failure on each and every third party in the US since 1970? In what universe can you assert that the two major parties are so good that there’s been no need for a single third-party senator out of 860?

  2. A.C. — THE COMMIE/FASCIST UNIVERSE THAT IS USA GERRYMANDER POLITICS WITH UN-EQUAL BALLOT ACCESS LAWS AND PLURALITY/MINORITY ELECTIONS.

    SOOO- HOW MANY 3RD PARTY WINNERS FOR USA SENATOR SINCE 1914 [INCLUDING SPECIAL ELECTIONS] ???

    UNDER 10 ??? MOSTLY BEFORE 1932 ???

    P-A-T

  3. Third party’s are not needed. That’s why the Constitution says we have a two party system.

  4. There was no constitution in the 1670s or 1770s, and AZ is the only one here old enough to have been in school in the 1870s.

  5. Jessie your teacher was a liberal COMMUNIST. There is no two party system in the constitution.

  6. I think she knew more about it than you. She graduated from college. Real smart lady. You probably didn’t even graduate from middle school. I bet you got all Ds and Fs.

  7. WZ –

    HOW MANY STATE CONSTS MENTION POLITICAL PARTIES ???

    ESP FOR PARTY HACK PRIMARY / CONVENTION NOMINATIONS FOR PUBLIC OFFICES ???

    MIGHT BE IN RW BAN SUPER-DATABASE ???

    P-A-T

  8. James Buckley was a distinguished and valuable participant in American politics. May he rest in peace.

  9. Jesse you are totally wrong. I finished high school with a solid B minus average due to working hard and studying every day. It might blow your mind but I actually read the whole constitution from start to finish several times all by myself. I do not need some commie college cooze to explain to me what it says because I can actually read and understand it without help. This is the difference between me and you and why I am a Trump MAGA Republican/Independent constitutional Patriot. I bet you are the kind of racist who would call me a coconut, right???

  10. Rico who said I am racist? I just respect my teacher who is smart and wise, and I respect authority. There is a lot of disrespectful people nowadays who don’t honor military, police officers, teachers, judge’s, elected officials, priests, bosses at work, or anyone in authority who is better than they are. This is not only limited to only the left or the right, it has become like everywhere. The whole third party thing is an example. Also foo foo beers. What’s wrong with just drinking regular Budweiser, Miller, and Coors. It was good enough when we were younger. It should be good enough now. We didn’t have IPA or Green Party or any of that nonsense.

  11. Can I repost this article to independentgazette.org with credit to you and your website? We are starting to gather support for open primaries in Pennsylvania

  12. Jesse you sound like a lemming. I say that with apologies to actual lemmings for the insulting comparison. They can’t help it, whereas you are just a dumbass.

  13. There isn’t a single Article or Section in either the original Constitution, or any of its amendments that makes any reference to a two party system.

    None.

  14. Why should I believe you two over my teacher? She was and still is super smart. She’s 80 now and not a communist. She taught me and my kids. She never told us if she is a Democrat or a Republican. She goes to church every Sunday. She went to college and got a college degree. Smartest lady I ever met. Very nice too, and used to be real pretty when she was younger. Her husband was a police officer who died in the line of duty. They have 4 kids and a lot of grandkids and great grandkids. She didn’t get remarried and still lives in the house they had together. Me and my son mow her lawn.

  15. I don’t know what your teacher said, but I think that I know the Constitution pretty well.

    If I have overlooked anything, please refer me to the Article and Section that you believe to be relevant.

  16. What do you mean know well. Are you claiming to be some kind of college smarty. She’s a college smarty who actually read it and understands all the fancy words because she finished college. Plus got her teaching license. That means she’s certified smart. So I trust her. I don’t know who you are or what makes you think your smarter than she is. If you said your better at mowing lawns than me id say oh yeah prove it. A lot of people talk big but cant prove nothing.

  17. The whole point of having a written Constitution is that any literate person can read it and determine what it means for themselves.

  18. PERHAPS THE ROTTED MENTION OF *PRIMARY* IN 24-1 AMDT ???

    ANY *NONPARTISAN* PRIMARY FOR USA REPS / SENS / PREZ SINCE 1888/1914 ???

    P-A-T

  19. WZ-

    SOME KNOWLEDGE OF OLDE PRE-1776 BRIT REGIME IS NEEDED TO DECIPHER PARTS OF USA/STATE CONSTS.

  20. Yes. Louisiana; special elections in Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas; California since 2010; Washington state; Alaska since 2022.

  21. The point of Amendment 24 is to prohibit any poll tax. The inclusion of the word “primary” is intended to make the scope of the Amendment comprehensive, and not to imply any sort of specific party system.

  22. Listen bud I don’t know what kind of glue you are huffing but litering is bad and it don’t make you smarter than a college smarty lady that graduated from college and got a professional teaching license. And another thing if I catch you litering I’m calling the police. No if ends or butts about it. I hate litering. I do landscaping because I like to see lawns looking beautiful. Not all trashed by trashy trash literers.

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