United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 2016

United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 2016

2016 U.S. presidential election
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This article contains lists of official and potential third party and independent candidates associated with the 2016 United States presidential election.

"Third party" is a term commonly used in the United States to refer to political parties other than the two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. An independent candidate is one who runs for office with no formal party affiliation.

Parties with ballot access in states holding 270 or more electoral votes are listed first in this article because 270 electoral votes represent a majority of the 538 electoral votes in the Electoral College. The number of electoral votes for which a party or independent candidate has secured ballot access may increase as those parties or candidates complete their petitions for ballot access, until September 2016 when the last petition deadlines occur.^[1]

Ballot access to 270 or more electoral votes

Green Party

Ballot Access: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Washington D.C., Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin (296 electoral votes)^[2][3]

Declared candidates

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Notes
Darryl Cherney	Environmental activist	California	December 11, 2015[4]
Jill Stein	Physician 2012 presidential nominee Two-time candidate for Governor of Massachusetts	Massachusetts	June 22, 2015[5][6]

Previous

The following individual has been the focus of presidential speculation as an independent candidate in multiple media reports during the 2016 election cycle, but such speculation has ostensibly ceased for a period of three months or longer.

• Rosa Clemente, activist, journalist, and 2008 Green Party vice presidential nominee from New York^[7]

Libertarian Party

Ballot Access: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (325 electoral votes)^[8]

Declared candidates

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Notes
Gary Johnson (campaign)	Governor of New Mexico, 1995–2003; presidential nominee in 2012	New Mexico	January 6, 2016[9]
John McAfee	Computer programmer and businessman	Tennessee	December 24, 2015 [10]	Before running as a Libertarian, McAfee had originally announced that he would run as the candidate of a newly created Cyber Party with Ken Rutkowski as his running mate.[11][12]
Austin Petersen	Pundit and activist	Missouri	October 27, 2015 [13]

Withdrawn

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Withdrew
Robert David Steele	Activist and author	Virginia	June 16, 2015[14][15]	January 5, 2016[15][16]

Publicly expressed interest

As of January 2016, the following potential candidate has, within the past three months, expressed interest in running for president.

• 

  Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota 1999-2003^[1][2]

1. ^ Jesse Ventura's Off the Grid (2016-01-21). "Jesse Ventura on a Possible 2016 Presidential Run". Ora.tv. Retrieved 2016-01-26. 
2. ^ "Ventura still toying with entering White House race", TwinCities.com. January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.

Declined

The following person has been the focus of presidential speculation as a Libertarian candidate in multiple media reports during the 2016 election cycle, but has announced a bid for another party.

• Rand Paul, U.S. Senator from Kentucky since 2011 (has announced his candidacy as a Republican candidate)^[17][18]

Ballot access to fewer than 270, but more than 50 electoral votes

Constitution Party

Ballot Access: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming (129 electoral votes)^[19][20]

Withdrawn

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Withdrew
Darrell Castle	Attorney and 2008 Constitution Party vice-presidential nominee	Tennessee	?	January 6, 2016 [21]

Previous

The following individuals have been the focus of presidential speculation as a Constitution Party candidate in multiple media reports during the 2016 election cycle, but such speculation has ostensibly ceased for a period of three months or longer.

• John Hostettler, U.S. Representative from Indiana, 1995-2007^[22][23]
• Steve Stockman, U.S. Representative from Texas, 1995-1997, 2013-2015; candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014^[24][25]

Peace and Freedom Party

Ballot Access: California, Florida (84 electoral votes)^[26][27]

Declared candidate

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Notes
Gloria La Riva	Newspaper printer and activist 2016 Presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation	New Mexico	October 2015[28]

Previous

The following candidate received speculation, which has ceased within the last three months.

• Roseanne Barr, Entertainer and writer from Hawaii^[29]

America's Party

Ballot Access: California and Florida (84 electoral votes)^[30]

Nominee

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Tom Hoefling	Political activist	Iowa	January 2016[31]

Ballot access to fewer than 50 electoral votes

American Freedom Party

Ballot Access: Mississippi (6 electoral votes)^[30]

Nominee

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Bob Whitaker	Political activist	South Carolina	July 2015[32]	Tom Bowie of Maryland[33]

American Independent Party

Ballot Access: New Mexico, Oregon, Utah (18 electoral votes)^[30]

Nominee

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Tom Hoefling	Political activist	Iowa	November 7, 2015[34]

Nutrition Party

Ballot Access: Colorado (9 electoral votes)^[35]

Nominee

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Vice presidential nominee
Rod Silva	Restaurateur	New Jersey	October 20, 2015[36]

Party for Socialism and Liberation

Ballot Access: Florida (29 electoral votes)^[37]

Nominee

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Gloria La Riva	Newspaper printer and activist 2008 presidential nominee	New Mexico	July 2015[38]	Eugene Puryear of Washington, D.C.[38]

Prohibition Party

Ballot Access: Arkansas, Colorado, and Mississippi (21 electoral votes)^[39]

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced candidacy	Nominated	Vice-presidential nominee	Notes
	James Hedges	Tax Assessor Thompson Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania (2002-2007)	Pennsylvania	July 2015[40]	July 31, 2015[40]	Bill Bayes of Mississippi

Veterans Party of America

Ballot Access: Mississippi (6 electoral votes)^[41]

Nominee

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Chris Keniston	Reliability Engineer	Texas		Deacon Taylor of Florida

No ballot access

Socialist Party USA

Nominee

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Mimi Soltysik	Former National Co-Chair, Socialist Party USA	California	October 17, 2015[42]	Angela Walker of Wisconsin

Candidates

Name	Prior positions	State	Announced	Notes
Elijah Manley	Student, youth activist	Florida	May 22, 2015[43]	(Constitutionally ineligible – under age 35)

Workers World Party

Nominee

Name	Prior positions	State	Nominated	Vice presidential nominee
Monica Moorehead	Perennial candidate and activist	New Jersey	November 8, 2015[44]	Lamont Lilly[44]

Independent candidates

Declared candidates

Dan Bilzerian	Professional poker player	California	June 2015[45]
Zoltan Istvan	Futurist, writer, transhumanist philosopher	California	October 2014[46][47][48]	Proposed founding of the Transhumanist Party
Terry Jones	Pastor for Dove World Outreach Center	Florida	July 2013[49][50]
Merlin Miller	Filmmaker	Tennessee	July 2015[51]
Deez Nuts	High school student	Iowa	July 2015 [52][53]	(Constitutionally ineligible – under age 35)
Guy Schwartz	Musician	Texas
Ron White	Comedian and actor		November 2015[54]

Publicly expressed interest

As of January 2016, the following potential candidates have, within the past three months, expressed interest in running for president as an independent candidate.

• 

  Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City (2002-2013)^[1]

1. ^ Burns, Alexander; Haberman, Maggie (January 23, 2016) "Bloomberg, Sensing an Opening, Revisits a Potential White House Run", The New York Times. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

Previous

The following individuals have been the focus of presidential speculation as an independent candidate in multiple media reports during the 2016 election cycle, but such speculation has ostensibly ceased for a period of three months or longer.

• Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (previously sought Democratic Party presidential nomination) ^[55]
• Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota 1999–2003, Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota 1991–1995 (has publicly expressed interest in a Libertarian Party candidacy instead)^[56]

Withdrew

• Waka Flocka Flame, rap artist from Georgia^[57]
• John McAfee, anti-virus software businessman (originally declared as third-party candidate under named 'Cyber Party', before seeking Libertarian Party nomination)^[58]
• Ted Williams, voice actor from Ohio^[59]

Declined

Individuals listed in this section have been the focus of media speculation as being possible 2016 presidential candidates but have unequivocally ruled out an independent presidential bid in 2016.

• Jon Huntsman, Jr., United States Ambassador to China 2009–2011; Governor of Utah 2005–2009; presidential candidate in 2012^[60]
• Dennis Michael Lynch, businessman, documentary film maker and conservative commentator from New York (formed an exploratory committee for a potential bid as an independent before electing to instead explore a potential bid for the Republican nomination)^[61][62]
• Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont since 2007; U.S. Representative from Vermont 1991–2007 (expressed interest in a possible independent presidential bid before declaring his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination)^[63][64][65]
• Donald Trump, business magnate; Chairman of The Trump Organization since 1971, candidate for 2016 Republican nomination (campaign)^[66]
• Jim Webb, U.S. Senator from Virginia (2007–2013) (campaign)^[67]
• Robby Wells, former Savannah State University head football coach, from North Carolina; Reform Party and Constitution Party presidential candidate in 2012 (initially filed with the FEC as an independent candidate but later amended the filing to run as a Democratic candidate)^[68][69]

See also

• Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016
• Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
• United States presidential election, 2016 timeline

References

External links

• 2016 Presidential Form 2 Filers at the Federal Election Commission (FEC)

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