United Citizens Party
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The United Citizens Party (UCP) was first organized in 1969 in South Carolina in response to the state Democratic Party's opposition to nominating black candidates. The party's objective was to elect blacks to the legislature and local offices in counties with black majority populations. The party ran candidates in 1970 and 1972; as a result in 1970 the first three black candidates were elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives since Reconstruction.
In South Carolina, as in New York and unlike most other states, a single candidate may be nominated by two or more legally separate political parties. This practice is called electoral fusion. In the past, several South Carolina state legislators, who concurrently served as Democrats, were cross-endorsed by the United Citizens Party. Other political parties that have practiced fusion include the New York Conservative Party, the Working Families Party of New York and the New York Liberal Party. The American Labor Party was a historically important party in New York State which both practiced fusion and elected candidates independently.
Since the opening up of the state Democratic Party to black candidates, the party has mainly served as a means for various third party candidates to appear on the South Carolina Presidential ballot.
For a period of time in the 1990's the party used the name Patriot Party before returning to its original and current name.
In 2000, the UCP nominated Ralph Nader for President in South Carolina. He received 20,279 votes or about 1.46% of the total 1,384,253.
In 2004, the UCP chose to nominate the Socialist Party candidate Walt Brown for President. Brown received 2,124 votes or about 0.13% of the total 1,617,730. Ralph Nader appeared on the South Carolina ballot as an independent, receiving 5520 votes or 0.34%. David Cobb appeared on the new South Carolina Green Party ballot line and received 1488 votes or 0.09% of the statewide total.
In 2006, the Party endorsed John "JC" Nellums for State House District 79 (Kershaw, Richland) [1], and did not cross-endorse candidates of any other party.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Kevin Gray for Governor. Archived United Citizens Party 2002 Gubernatorial campaign site. Archive date December 2, 2002. Retrieved from Library of Congress Minerva archive on June 21, 2006.
- Mark Whittington for Congress. United Citizens Party 2002 candidate for House, South Carolina, 2nd District. Archive date November 6, 2002. Retrieved from Library of Congress Minerva archive on June 21, 2006.
[edit] See also
- Peoples, Betsy. Historically Black political party still alive. The New Crisis. Nov/Dec 2002.
- Bursey, Brett (Summer 2000). "Is South Carolina Ready For A Progressive Third Party?". The Point: South Carolina's Independent Newsmonthly 10. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
