Mississippi Reform Party

The Mississippi Reform Party is the state party organization for Mississippi of the Reform Party of the United States of America.

In the 1990s, Ted Weill founded the Independent Party of Mississippi. Weill received 13,861 votes in his bid for Senate. ^[1]

In 1997, the Independent Party of Mississippi became the official state affiliate of the national Reform Party and renamed itself the Mississippi Reform Party.

Following the 2000 election, Pat Buchanan's supporters seized control of the party and affiliated with the America First Party, an extremely socially conservative party. ^[2] Ryan Walters was the party's chairman. ^[3] Under the control of the America First Party, the Mississippi Reform Party championed the preservation of Mississippi's state flag, defending it against accusations of racism and the demands that it be changed. ^[4]

Weill eventually regained control of the party, and in 2003, Shawn O'Hara ran for governor on the party's line. ^[5] O'Hara is a controversial figure in Mississippi politics, and ultimately garnered 4,070 votes. ^[6]

In 2004 Weill was the front-runner for the Reform Party's presidential nomination. ^[7] Weill withdrew after he learned Ralph Nader was seeking the nomination, and ultimately endorsed his candidacy.

In 2008, Weill became the Reform Party presidential candidate. ^[8] Due to a lawsuit, Weill only had a week to campaign, receiving only 481 votes. ^[9]

In 2012, instead of placing on the ballot the national Reform Party's candidate Andre Barnett, the Mississippi Reform Party nominated Barbara Dale Washer for President and Cathy L. Toole for Vice President. The ticket received 1,016 votes, or 0.08%. Also, John Luke Panell, running for U.S. Congress in the 3rd congressional district, received 58,605 votes, or 19.98%. Panell was the only challenger to incumbent Gregg Harper.

Rebel faction

Several Reform Party candidates filed to run in the 2010 Congressional election in Mississippi (but none for any statewide office). ^[10] Among these are Barbara Dale Washer, Tracella Lou O'Hara Hill, and Anna Jewel Revies. ^[11]

These candidates are aligned with controversial party figure Thomas Randolph Huffmaster, who claims he is the party chairman, albeit, the Reform Party of the United States does not recognize him as such. ^[12] Huffmaster's candidates never appeared at the debates, and never even responded to the invitations to partake. Huffmaster is aligned with John Blare, who continuously claims to be the national party's secretary,^[13] although a federal court case determined he was not. ^[14]

References