Fusion Party is a term that may have a variety of meanings in the political history of the United States.
The Fusion Party was the original name of the Republican Party in the state of Ohio. In 1854, anti-slavery parties were forming in many northern states in opposition to the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854. While many of these state parties adopted the name "Republican", the Ohio convention adopted the name "Fusionist" or "Fusion Party", which they felt more accurately described the fusion of person from a variety of political backgrounds, including members of the Free Soil Party, the Conscience Whig Party, the Know-Nothing Party, as well as members of the Democratic Party who were opposed to slavery.
In South Dakota, the Fusion Party was a short-lived political party that existed in the late 19th and early 20th century. The party was formed in 1896 from an alliance of Democrats, Free Silver Republicans, and Populists who were opposed to the platform of the state Republican Party.[1] A total of 56 Fusion Party representatives were elected to the state legislature during its brief existence.[2] In addition, Senator Richard F. Pettigrew, who served from 1889-1901, was the Fusion Party candidate for Senate in 1900, having left the Republican Party to join the Silver Republicans in 1896.[3] South Dakota Governor Andrew E. Lee was also an elected to his second term as a Fusionist.[4]
At other times, the term "Fusion" candidate did not refer to a candidate from a specific party, but rather represented an electoral technique in which a candidate was nominated by more than one political party. In the general election, people could vote for a candidate under their preferred political party. All the votes for a single candidate cast under different parties would be totaled, thus enabling smaller parties to sometimes defeat a larger party. Fusion candidates were common in the 1880s and 1890s. Many states have since passed laws prohibiting candidates from being listed on the ballot under more than one party. See electoral fusion.