Last month, Ray J. Writz, Constitution Party nominee for U.S. Senate from Idaho, polled 41,677 votes. This was 6.14%, and is the highest percentage of the vote for a non-major party candidate for U.S. Senate from Idaho since 1926.

Writz had to win a contested Constitution Party primary to gain the party’s nomination. Here is his web page. The other candidates in the general election were Republican incumbent Mike Crapo, who polled 449,017 votes; and Democrat Jerry Sturgill, who polled 188,249.

The 1926 candidate who did better than Writz was the Progressive Party nominee, H. F. Samuels, who received 29.60%. Samuels placed behind Republican Frank Gooding but ahead of Democrat John Nugent. There was no national Progressive Party in 1926, but there were several states that had strong Progressive Parties that year.