Ditto to what Richard said. He was running on a third party ballot-line–that’s all that matters.

Also in 2008, Green nominee Jack Kretzer polled 23.57% for State Senate, 24th district.

All the races I mention in this e-mail only had one major party running, so one can make a good case that the 2009 Tucson city council showing is more impressive than those 2008 examples. I am making this comment only because comment #18 also mentions the type of race with only one major party opponent, and I didn’t want people to think no minor party candidate had got as much as 8% in all those years (also, that US Senate race was in 2000, not 1998).

In general, there appears to have been an anti-Democratic, anti-incumbent mood in the Tucson City Council elections. Councilwoman Nina Trasoff lost reelection and even Richard Fimbres won by single digits. What makes this particularly impressive is that all three Republican candidates were recruited by robocalls to random Republican voters asking them to run for City Council.

DeCamp’s performance is impressive given that the Green Party has been on the ballot in Arizona for just over a year. This is the best performance by a third party candidate in the state, if I remember correctly, since Vance Hansen (Green) and William Toel (Independent) each polled 8% against Jon Kyl for U.S. Senate in 1998, in a race where there was no Democratic candidate.

You have to say that Hoffman was a Conservative. He was not running on any line that told the voter he was Republican.

On the ballot, it said “Conservative Party.” So, that is the party that would have gotten the credit for electing him.

It is different in fusion states that show (by the order of party names) which party the candidate is a member of. But in New York, it is impossible from looking at the ballot to know how any candidate is registered, so the only fair way to judge the outcome is by which party line produced the most votes for that winner.

- Tom McLaughlin Says:
November 4th, 2009 at 8:26 am

The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania is currently the only qualified minor political party in Pennsylvania. The current qualification is valid through the 2010 Election cycle. Marakay Rogers vote count should extend the Libertarian Party’s qualification through the 2011 Election Cycle. Under the current Pennsylvania Election Code Minor Political Party status still requires party candidates to collect the same number of signatures as indpendent and political body for ballot access, but it does require the state to print the party name as a choice on the Voter Rgistration Forms and allows the party to name its candidate in an Special Election without petitioning. This was how Marakay Rogers gained ballot access in this Special Election for Superior Court Justice. –

I stand by for corrections by Richard Winger here, or maybe I will get an e-mail to him begging for clarity.