THE "BIG TWO" THIRD PARTIES:
(Based upon vote performance over past two election cycles and ballot access)

SMALLER THIRD PARTIES:

ALLIANCE PARTY - The Alliance Party launched in 2018, formed by fiscally conservative/socially moderate centrists who had been Democrats, Republicans, independents, and third party members (the Modern Whig Party, American Moderates Party and the South Carolina American Party folded into it) who were upset with the dysfucntion caused by status quo political gridlock and the toxic national political divide. They explained: "Americans need not be adversaries or combatants. In reality, we are all pursuing a personal American Dream, and we are allies in our collective pursuit of a more perfect Union." The party supports free trade, reducing the national debt, a strong military, affordable health care, initiatives to combat climate change, gay equality, immigration, gun rights (with limited, constitutionally reasonable regulation), better care for veterans an emphasis on renewable energy, and term-limits. While still very small, the party has active affiliates in many states and fielded candidates in 2020. The NY Independence Party and Florida Reform Party in 2020 became state affiliates of the Alliance Party. Frequent candidate and wealthy businessman Rocky de la Fuente - who has run over the years under many different party banners - was Alliance's 2020 presidential nominee (5th place - 88,200 votes). No real sign of any activity in the 2024 cycle, except they expressed a desire to recruit congressional candidates.

AMERICAN SOLIDARITY PARTY - The American Solidarity Party is founded upon Catholic social teachings. The party is pro-life, anti-death penalty, pro-welfare, anti-gay marriage, anti-war, pro-universal health care, pro-immigrant, and pro-environmental protection. The ASP also wants to cut income taxes on earned wages, while increasing taxes on investment income and corporations. The ASP supports increased banking regulation, wants to end energy and agricultural subsidies, supports clean energy, backs tougher environmental protections, opposes military intervenionism, opposes US arms sales to foreign governments, is anti-pornography, supports a focus on rehabilitation versus arrests for narcotics, and is pro-labor unions. Retired teacher Brian Carroll was the ASP's 2020 presidential nominee and achieved ballot access in nine states (10th place - 38,600 votes). For 2024, the party nominated Connecticut regional school board member Peter Sonski for President. The ASP has already established a few state affiliates, and has a Facebook page. Since 2020, the party has also fielded a few state and local candidates.

COMMUNIST PARTY USA - The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) -- once the slavish propaganda tool and spy network for the Soviet Central Committee -- experienced a forced transformation in recent years. Highly classified Soviet Politburo records, made public after the fall of Soviet communism in the 1990s, revealed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) illegally funneled millions of dollars to the CPUSA to finance its activities from the 1920s to the 1980s. The flow of Soviet dollars to the CPUSA came to an abrupt halt when the Soviet communists were ousted from power in 1991 -- ultimately causing a total overhaul of CPUSA activities. Founded in 1924, the CPUSA reached its peak vote total in 1932 with nominee William Z. Foster (102,000 votes - 4th place). The last national CPUSA ticket -- headed by Stalinist Gus Hall and 60s radical activist Angela Davis -- was fielded in 1984 (36,000 votes - 8th place). While the party has not directly run any candidates since the late 1980s, the CPUSA sometimes backs some candidates in various local elections (often in Northeastern industrial communities) and engages in grassroots political and labor union organizing. In 2021, the party announced it would start fielding candidates again going forward - but has yet to start doing so. The CPUSA's underlying Marxist ideology remains strong. However, it evolved since the 2000 death of Hall, into a Gorbachev-style "democratic reform communist" movement until 2014. Since then, when Joe Sims became the CPUSA leader, the party shifted back to its traditional far-left Marxist stances. Official CPUSA websites include the People's World party newspaper and Political Affairs monthly party magazine.

CONSTITUTION PARTY - The Constitution Party is strongly pro-life, anti-gun control, anti-tax, anti-immigration, trade protectionist, "anti-New World Order," anti-United Nations, anti-gay rights, anti-welfare, and pro-school prayer. The late Conservative Coalition chair Howard Phillips founded this party, originally named the US Taxpayers Party (USTP), in 1992. The USTP renamed itself the Constitution Party in 1999. This party has fielded presidential tickets since 1992 and congressional and state candidates since 1994 (but only in a small number of states). The party received a brief boost in the media when conservative US Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire -- an announced GOP Presidential hopeful -- bolted from the Republican Party to seek the Constitution Party nomination in 2000 (but the erratic Smith quit the Constitution Party race a few weeks later and rejoined the GOP). In 2012, former GOP Congressman Virgil Goode was the party's Presidential nominee (5th place - 0.09% - 122,000 votes). Controversial coal mining magnate Don Blankenship - a former GOP US Senate candidate in West Virginia - was the party's 2020 presidential nominee (8th place - 60,000 votes). The party reliably fields a small number of state and congressional candidates in numerous states each election cycle.

FORWARD PARTY - Founded in 2021 by '20 Dem presidential hopeful Andrew Yang - immediately after Yang lost his 2021 race for NYC Mayor in the Dem primary - the Forward Party vows to "support candidates for office who align with our core principles so that we can reform the system and make it more responsive to the American people." The party supports Yang's signature issue - Universal Basic Income (guaranteed minimum monthly payments to all Americans to ensure none are below the poverty line) - along with ranked choice voting, open/nonpartisan primaries, federal term limits (18 years for House and Senate), independent redistricting commissions, and recognizing online data as an individual property right. Beyond that, the party has no platform and espouses no set beliefs. Several candidates announced for political office in 2022 as Forward Party candidates, but none secured ballot status. In 2022, the Reagan-Bush alumni group Renew America Movement (RAM) and the independent Serve America Movement Party both folded into the Forward Party. As part of the merger, ex-Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R-NJ) joined Yang as co-chair of the Forward Party. To date, no party candidates have appeared on any ballots. In 2024, the party successfully fielded two congressional candidates on the ballot in Colorado.

FREEDOM SOCIALIST PARTY - The FSP was formed in 1966 by a splinter group of dissident feminist Trotskyists who broke away from the Socialist Workers Party to create a new party in the "tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky." The FSP has always emphasized "black liberation and social feminsm" -- thus the reason Radical Women is an official alternate name used by the FSP. The FSP describe themselves as a revolutionary, Trotskyist feminist organization, "dedicated to the replacement of capitalist rule." The FSP occasionally fields a handful of local candidates in Washington, California, and New York (often in non-partisan elections). The FSP also fielded their first Presidential candidate in 2012: socialist activist Stephen Durham, who ran as a write-in when he failed to achieve ballot status in any state. No presidential candidate in 2016 or 2020. Official FSP links include the Freedom Socialist newspaper and Red Letter Press (book publishers).

INDEPENDENT AMERICAN PARTY - The small Independent American Party has existed for years in several Western states, with an ideology grounded in conservative Mormon political beliefs. In fact, the party's name is derived from an 1844 Mormon prophesy by Mosiah Hancock. Converting the unaffiliated IAP state party organizations -- united by a common Christian conservative ideology (similar to the Constitution Party) -- into a national IAP organization was an effort started in 1998 by members of Utah IAP. The Idaho IAP and Nevada IAP subsequently affiliated with the fledgling US-IAP in 1998. Since then, the party has established small chapters in some other states, but shows no real signs of any real growth. The bulk of the IAP activities remain concentrated in Utah, Nevada and Oregon. The various IAP state parties endorsed Constitution Party nominee Howard Phillips for President in 1996 and 2000. In December 2000, the IAP's national chairman issued a statement noting third parties in general registered a "dismal" performance in the Presidential election -- and questioned the IAP's future participation in Presidential campaigns. Instead, he suggested that the IAP limit itself to congressional, state and local races in the future. The party routinely fields numerous candidates each election year in Utah and Nevada. Army veteran and frequent candidate Kyle Koptike was the IAP presidential nominee in 2020 (26th place - 815 votes).

LIBERAL PARTY USA - The Liberal Party USA is a splinter group formed in 2024 by four Libertarian Party state parties that broke away after the radical Von Mises Caucus won control of the national Libertarian Party in 2022. The LPUSA fielded candidates in 2022 under the names of the Keystone Party (PA) and as an alternative Libertarian Party (NH) - but decided to reform and rebrand themselves as the Liberal Party USA (as in the "classical liberalism" of Locke, Hayek, Malthus, Sowell, Friendman, etc - and not New Deal social liberalism, as the word is more commonly used in the US). The LPUSA describes itself as the "national home of autonomous state political parties committed to furthering the agenda of free people and limited government." The LPUSA has a very clean, concise statement of values grounded in libertarian values. One line, for example, reads: "The sole legitimate purpose of government is to foster human progress, and protect the rights of individuals to life, liberty, property, expression, and the pursuit of happiness." The LPUSA are again fielding some federal and state candidates in 2024, but no presidential candidate.

PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION - The Party of Socialism & Liberation (PSL) is alternatately called "a revolutionary Marxist party" created "to be a vehicle for the multinational working class in the struggle for socialism ... Only a multinational party can create the unity necessary to defeat the most powerful capitalist class the world has ever seen ... We aim for revolution in the United States ... We want a revolution; and, we work hard to make it happen." Additionally, the PSL explains that "the most crucial requirement for [PSL] membership is the dedication to undertake this most important and most necessary of all tasks: building a new revolutionary workers party in the heart of world imperialism." The PSL was founded in 2006 by a breakaway faction of the communist revolutionary wing of the Workers World Party. The PSL espouses a pro-Cuba/pro-China view, and the iconic Che Guevarra's call for continual world revolution against capitalism. The PSL fielded its first candidates in 2008: a Presidential ticket and Congressional candidates. Longtime Marxist revolutionary and perennial candidate Gloria LaRiva was again the PSL presidential nominee in 2020 (6th place - 86,000 votes), marking her 8th time on a presidential ticket. PSL organizer and theologian Claudia De la Cruz is the party's 2024 presidential nominee. The PSL also sponsors and/or directs numerous popular front groups including International Action Center, Congress of Resistance, ANSWER Coalition, Breaking The Chains, and many others. The party's offiical newspaper is Liberation and the PSL's campaign website is VotePSL.org.

PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY - Founded in the 1960s as a left-wing party opposed to the Vietnam War, the party reached its peak of support in 1968 when it nominated Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver for President. Although a convicted felon, Cleaver captured nearly 37,000 votes (ironically, Cleaver ultimately became a Reagan Republican in the early 1980s, and was later a crack cocaine addict in the late 1980s, before emerging as an environmental activist in the late 1990s). Famed "baby doctor" Benjamin Spock -- a socialist, pacifist and staunch opponent of the Vietnam War -- was the PFP Presidential nominee in 1972. Since then, the small party has largely been dominated by battling factions of Marxist-Leninists (aligned with the communist Workers World Party (WWP), which later split into the militant revolutionary Party of Socialism & Liberation (PSL)), Trotskyists, and true democratic socialists. The PFP today is small is a self-described "feminist socialist party" with activities centered only in California. In 2008, the party let consumer activist Ralph Nader use their California ballot line in support of his Independent run for President. In 2009, the party announced plans to try expanding into "a nationwide electoral party dedicated to socialism, feminism, democracy, environmentalism, and racial equality." The communist PSL's candidates captured several key PFP statewide candidate nominations in California in 2010, but then lost control again in 2012 when the PFP nominated comic actress Rosanne Barr for President (6th place - 67,500 votes - 0.05%). Since 2012, the PFP has merely endorsed the presidential nominees of the PSL The PFP continue to reliably field a handful of state and federal candidates each cycle in California..

PIRATE PARTY - The US Pirate Party is the US affiliate of the European-based Pirate Parties International umbrella group, a global movement founded in 2006 with affiliates active in nearly 70 nations. The USPP was founded the same year. The various Pirate parties support protection of privacy and civil liberties, reform of copyright laws to reflect open source and free culture values, government transparency, rolling back corporate personhood and corporate welfare, and egalitarianism and meritocracy based on the hacker ethic. "We support the legalization of sharing movies, music and other art online, so our opponents would call us the Pirate Party anyway. We feel it’s better to reclaim that name. Historically, pirate ships had a tradition of egalitarian radical democracy, and provided a refuge for social outcasts and escaped slaves from a society unfriendly to them. We’re anti-establishment, so pirates declaring mutiny seems like a good metaphor for us. We believe politics and activism can have a sense of humor while still being dead serious," they playfully explain. The USPP began fielding a handful of political candidates in 2012, but very little ballot activity since then. The USPP has chapters in a few states.

PROHIBITION PARTY - "If you are a reform-minded conservative and a non-drinker, the Prohibition Party wants you," exclaimed an official party message in 2002. The Prohibition Party -- founded in 1869 and billing themselves as "America's Oldest Third Party" -- espouses a generally ultra-conservative Christian social agenda mixed with anti-drug and international anti-communist views. The party's strongest showing was in 1892, when former Congressman John Bidwell received nearly 273,000 votes (2.3% - 4th place). The late, long-time Prohibition Party's leader Earl Dodge, the party's six-time presidential nominee, scored the all-time low for the party (140 votes in 2004). The party's 2020 presidential nomination process was a fiasco. First they nominated a neo-Confederate activist, but his radical views caused a party rift and forced him to withdraw shortly after, claiming he was "sabotaged." They next picked a second nominee, but he withdrew soon after citing health problems. Eventually, they settled on conservative activist and frequent candidate Phil Collins as their 2020 replacement nominee (ballot states in 4 states - 13th place - 6,300 votes). Retired businessman Michael Wood is the party's 2024 presidential nominee. The Prohibition Party also fields a few local candidates from time to time. Additional party-related web sites are the Partisan Prohibition Historical Society and Facebook: Prohibition Party.

REFORM PARTY - Once a rapidly growing and populist third party, the Reform Party first shifted far to the right during 1999-2002, before imploding due to factional in-fighting. After the shift, it quickly experienced massive waves of conservative defections away into other right-wing parties in 2002, before withering into an insignificant shadow of its former glory years. First, some history: after running as an Independent in 1992, billionaire Texas businessman Ross Perot founded the Reform Party in 1995 as his vehicle for converting his independent movement into a permanent political party. In 1996, Perot ran as the Reform Party's presidential nominee (8,085,000 votes - 8%). The party originally reflected Perot's center-conservative fiscal policies, while avoiding taking any official positions on social issues. The RP was plagued by a lengthy period of nasty ideological battles in 1998-2000 involving three main rival groups: the "Old Guard" Perot faction, the more libertarian Jesse Ventura faction, and the social conservative Pat Buchanan faction. Donald Trump even briefly and unsuccessfully sought the party's 2000 presidential nomination. After several nasty and public battles, the Ventura faction quit the RP in 2000, and the old Perot faction lost control of the party in court to the Buchanan faction. That gave the Buchanan faction control of the party's $12.6 million in 2000 federal matching funds. The party made a hard ideological shift to the right, mirroring Buchnan's paleocon politics. As the 2000 nominee, Buchanan was on the ballot in 49 states, captured 449,000 votes (4th place - 0.4%), and later told reporters his foray into third party politics was likely a mistake. In 2002, the party splintered further, losing most of its conservative activists to other right-wing third parties. The RP was just about bankrupt by late 2004, having less than $50 remaining in its bank account. The party last fielded a national ticket in 2016 (8th place - 33,097 votes). A few isolated state Reform Party entities remain marginally active, fielding random scandidates from time to time - although some are now affiliates of the national Alliance Party.

SOCIALIST PARTY USA - The SPUSA are true democratic socialists -- advocating left-wing electoral change versus militant revolutionary change. Many of the SP members could easily be members of the left-wing faction of the Democratic Party. Unlike most of the other political parties on this page with "Socialist" in their names, the SP has always been staunchly anti-communist. The original Socialist Party USA was founded by labor union leader, ex-Democratic elected official and pacifist Eugene V. Debs in 1900, the SP was once a mighty national third party. Debs himself was the SP nominee for president five times between 1900 and 1920. Debs received over 900,000 votes (6%) in 1912 -- the SP's best showing ever. Former minister and journalist Norman Thomas was the SP Presidential nominee 6 times between 1928 and 1948 -- his best showing being 883,000 votes (2.2%) in 1932. The SP also elected congressmen, mayors and other officials throughout the 20th Century (largely during the 1910s through 1950s). The party withered and splintered so much that, by the last 1972, it barely existed. The Democratic Socialists of American and the Social Democrats USA -- both linked above -- are the other splinter groups from the original Debs/Thomas SP entity. Activists from the old SP reconstituted the party in 1976 and began to again field SPUSA national tickets for the first time in over two decades. They also field a small number of state/local candidates each cycle. In 2020, SPUSA co-nominated Green Party presidential nominee Howie Hawkins. But, in 2024, they are back to fielding their own candidate: college professor and longtime SPUSA activist Bill Stodden is their presidential nominee. SPUSA's youth wing -- the Young People's Socialist League -- has been in existence since the early 1900s. Other SPUSA sites: Socialist National Committee / VoteSocialist.org (campaigns/candidates) and The Socialist (newsletter).

SOCIALIST ACTION - Socialist Action is a Trotskyist political party of "revolutionary socialists" originally founded in 1983 by expelled members of the Socialist Workers Party. While the SA shares the SWP's pro-Cuba views, the SA still tries to retain its Trotskyist ideological roots (versus the SWP, which has drifted away from Trotskyism towards a Soviet authoritarian communist ideology). The SA states that they "oppose the Democrats and Republicans, all capitalist political parties, and all capitalist governments and their representatives everywhere ... [and] Stalinist and neo-Stalinist regimes from the ex-Soviet Union to China." This communist party has fielded some local political candidates in the San Francisco Bay area over the years, and ran its first congressional candidate in 2010 (in Connecticut). The party fielded SA National Secretary Jeff Mackler as the 2016 and 2020 presidential nominee, but he was just a write-in hopeful both times. Other official sites: Youth for Socialist Action and VoteSocialistAction.

SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE PARTY - Socialist Alternative, founded in 1986 and originally named the Labor Militant, split from the Labor Party in the 1990s in order to pursue a more radical leftist and anti-globalization party. The party is the US member of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), an international association of Trotskyist political paries from nearly 50 nations. SocAlt is not as radical as some Marxist parties, as they espouse democratic socialism and have formed alliances of convenience with non-socialists for political advantage. for example, the party has endorsed the Green Party's presidential nominees in multiple years, most recently in 2020. The party wants to build a socialist mass workers movement, and is critical of the Leninist-Stalinist historical dictatorships as a perversion of true Marxism. The party supports a $15 national minimum wage, universal free health care, a guaranteed $500/week minimum income for all, public ownership of major banks, forcing bankrupt companies into public ownership, free college education, and slashing the military budget. In a major upset in 2013, Kshama Sawant became the first party member to win an election when she won a seat on the Seattle City Council (and was reelected twice before retiring to return to Trotskyist political organizing). Some SocAlt candidates for Minneapolis city council were been competitive, making the runoffs, but not winning. The party currently has chapters in roughly a dozen states.

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS, USA - The SD-USA to date has only fielded candidates for local office. The SD-USA is a small group of more ideologically centrist, staunchly anti-communist leftists who were more directly aligned with the Democratic Party in the 1970s-1980s than the more traditionally leftist Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). In fact, the views of the SPUSA in 1972 caused the DSA (then named the DSOC) to splinter away in a ideological rift. The SD-USA refused to support George McGovern for President that year because of his opposition to the Vietnam War -- versus the DSOC, which supported McGovern and an immediate end to the war. SD-USA also disputes the claims of DSA and SPUSA to be the true heirs to the legacy of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas, claiming instead that the SD-USA "is the only legitimate successor" to the party of Debs and Thomas. However, by 2010, SD-USA eventually ceded all rights to the name "Socialist Party USA" to the SPUSA. The Socialist International stripped SD-USA of full member status in 2007, deeming SD-USA to be a defunct organization. The SD-USA started reorganizing in 2009, with a new leadership team. SD-USA holds nation conventions and is currently focused on rebuilding the group at the local level. Chapters currently exist in CA, KS, MA, NY and PA, and elected Monroe County Legislator Carolyn Delvecchio Hoffman (NY) is a SD-USA member.

SOCIALIST EQUALITY PARTY - The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) was originally named the Workers League (WL). The WL was founded in 1966 as a Trotskyist communist group closely associated with the electoral campaigns of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). The goal of these Trotskyist groups was a build a working-class labor party in the US affiliated with the International Committee of the Fourth International (the global Trotskyist umbrella network). They believe that "the egalitarian and internationalist legacy of the Russian Revolution" could have succeeded, but was "betrayed by Stalinism" and its progeny. When the SWP drifted away from Trotskyism in the early 1980s, the WL broke with the SWP and began fielding its own candidates. The WL fielded its first Presidential ticket in 1984. The WL later renamed itself as the Socialist Equality Party in 1994. The Michigan-based SEP regularly fields Congressional and local candidates, mainly in Michigan and Ohio. The SEP is very realistic about its candidates, acknowledging a campaign is an opportunity to "present a socialist alternative to the demagogy and lies of the establishment parties and the mass media." SEP national leader Joseph Kishore was the party's nominee in 2020 (30th place - 351 votes) - and is again their nominee for 2024. The SEP's news site -- the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) -- is updated daily with articles, analysis, history, etc., written with a hardcore internationalist, Trotskyist perspective.

SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY - Originally a pro-Trotsky faction within the Communist Party, the SWP was formed in 1938 after the Communist Party -- acting on orders from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin -- expelled the American Trotskyites. The SWP was for many years the leading voice of Trotskyism in the USA. Since the 1980s, the SWP rapidly shifted away from Trotskyism and embraced the brand of authoritarian communist politics espoused by the old Soviet Union and former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (the SWP site described communist Cuba "a shining example for all workers"). During that ideological shift, the SWP expelled their Trotskyist faction in 1983 (which lead to the founding of the rival Socialist Action party). The SWP has run candidates for President in every election since 1948 -- plus many federal, state and local candidates nationwide. The SWP's best electoral showing was in 1976, when presidential nominee Peter Camejo captured 90,000 votes (note: Camejo was expelled from the the SWP in 1980 for embracing democratic socialism). Communist political organizer Alyson Kennedy was the SWP's candidate in 2016, and again in 2020 (11th place - 6,791 votes). An interesting quirk is that the SWP requires all members to be "proletarians" by having them take factory jobs in order to advocate for a worker-based communist class struggle. The party's weekly newspaper The Militant, which was launched in 1928 and pre-dates the SWP, is the party's only online presence. The SWP also owns a book publishing house: Pathfinder Press.

UNITED STATES PACIFIST PARTY - This tiny political party fielded party founder Bradford Lyttle as a write-in candidate for President in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2012 and 2020 (and ran a US Senate candidate in Colorado in 1998). In 2008, for the first time, Lyttle achieved ballot status in one state (110 votes), a feat he again matched in 2016 (382 votes). The USPP opposes military actions in all circumstances and wants to transform the US military into "a non-violent defense and humanitarian service corps." The USPP platform advocates generally left-wing political stances and slashing the military budget to "zero."

UNITY PARTY - The Unity Party began as a centrist political party in Colorado in 2005. For the first decade the party was only active in Colorado, and began fielding candidates there starting in 2006. In 2016, the party began expanding and launched some state affiiates. In 2020, they fielded party founder Bill Hammons for President, and he achieved ballot access in three states (13th place - 6,647 votes). The party also fielded candidates for office in several states. After 2020, it gets complicated. Hammons held onto a national faction named the Unity Party of America, which holds itself out as the national party and Hammons as a national chair, However, the United National Committee - which legally seems in control of the real national party - says the Hammons group is not the real national entity and is just "causing trouble." Meanwhile, the Colorado Unity Party - the only state where the party has ballot status) - shifted to become a leftist party with similar stances to that of the national Green Party. In 2024, both the Colorado party and the Hammons faction nominated separate presidential tickets - although the Colorado ticket seems to be the lawful, authorized nominees.

WORKERS WORLD PARTY - The WWP was formed in 1959 by a pro-Chinese communist faction that split from the Socialist Workers Party. Although the WWP theoretically supports worker revolutions, the WWP supported the Soviet actions that crushed worker uprisings in Hungary in the 1950s, Czechoslovakia in the 1960s and Poland in the early 1980s. The WWP was largely an issue-oriented revolutionary party until they fielded their first candidate for president in 1980. The militant WWP believes that "capitalist democracy produces nothing but hot air" and that "the power of the workers and the oppressed is in the streets, not in Washington." FBI Director Louis Freeh attacked the WWP in his May 2001 remarks before a US Senate committee: "Anarchists and extremist socialist groups -- many of which, such as the Workers World Party -- have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States" of rioting and street violence. The more revoltionary wing of the WWP broke away in 2006 to form the Party of Socialism & Liberation (PSL). After the WWP-PSL split, the WWP failed to field a Presidential ticket in 2008 and 2012. In 2016, the party nominated longtime party activist Monica Moorhead for President (18th place - 4,250 votes). Moorhead was previously the WWP presidential nominee in 1996 and 2000. The WWP failed to field any presidential ticket in 2020. Official news site: Workers World.

WORKING CLASS PARTY - The WCP was founded in 2016 as a socialist, anti-capitalist, anti-racist party which asserts "working people need our own party, a party of our whole class, built around the conviction that the working class and the employing class have nothing in common." The party looks at the late socialist Eugene Debs as a hero of their movement, although they seem to express a more radical view that disdains elections. "The working class cannot solve its problems through elections, not in a society where the capitalist class controls all the levels of power. Elections were not the end goal of these candidates, only the beginning," they explain. The WCP wants to have militant unions to fight both "the bosses" and capitalism, and have the WCP act as the political entity to carry on the fight in the electoral venue. The WCP has active chapters and routinely fields congressional and state candidates in Michigan, Maryland, Illinois and Massachusetts.

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY - The WFP, founded in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions, was for many years a one-state party which operated only in New York. During 2006-08, the WFP expanded by launching new chapters in a few other states. By 2008, the WFP obtained ballot access and nominated congressional candidates in New York, Connecticut and Oregon. The WFP essentially operates as a "fusion" party which co-nominates candidates of established parties. This fusion move allows WFP candidates -- who are almost exclusively Democrats -- to appear on a second ballot line in the same election. Fusion "gives voters a way to 'vote their values' without spoiling an election," explain the WFP's website. The WFP exists to advance a pro-labor union political agenda focused almost entirely on liberal economic and employment issues. The WFP to date has endorsed candidates in the Democratic presidential contests: Bernie Sanders for President in 2016, and endorsed Elizabeth Warren in 2020. No WFP presidential nominee fielded to date.

CANARY PARTY - Founded in 2011, this party is solely focused upon health care -- particularly their anti-vaccination beliefs. They explain they were founded by "a group of parents of children who were suffering from neurological and autoimmune disorders, and who had been active for years in their efforts to get mainstream medicine to address the causes of, and find treatments for, their children's poor health, faced the realization that while they had been earnest in their engagement of both the private medical industry and government public health officials, the medical establishment was not working in good faith with them." This party essentially believes vaccines and other medicines cause autism (note: something widely debunked by decades of scientific studies). This single-issue party wants to address these anti-vaxx concerns with federal government action.

CONSERVATIVE PARTY USA - Founded in 2009, this conservative party has yet to field any candidates. The party's mission statement reads as follows: "To re-establish the limits and boundaries of Government as framed in the Constitution." They claim they were formed as a new party because the GOP cannot be trusted ("The Republican Party has consistently failed to uphold conservative principles ... Trying to change the GOP is like drilling holes in water because they donÂ’t stand for anything except getting elected"). This is how the party describes their agenda: "The primary duty of the President is to protect America from its enemies, both foreign and domestic; Veterans must be honored and supported for their sacrifices; Marriage is between one man and one woman; Life begins at conception; Budget Earmarks must be eliminated and fiscal discipline restored; Illegal immigration must be stopped; Healthcare must include meaningful Tort Reform." Note: This party has no affiliation with the well-established Conservative Party of New York State.

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA - The DSA is the official US full member party of the Socialist International (which includes UK's Labour Party, the French Parti Socialiste and nearly 140 other political parties around the globe). Unlike most other members of the Socialist International, the DSA never fields candidates for office on its own ballot line. The DSA explains their mission as follows: "building progressive movements for social change while establishing an openly socialist presence in American communities and politics." Thus, the DSA is less like a traditional US political party and much more like a political education and grassroots activism organization. Working within the Democratic Party primaries starting around 2010, the DSA fields and endorses Democratic Socialist candidates against more mainstream Democratic incumbents. In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) became the first DSA members elected to congress. DSA, Social Democrats USA and the Socialist Party USA each claim to be the one true heir to the ideological legacy of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas (and DSA disputes the Socialist Party-USA's claim to the title arguing it is a modern-era creation that simply appropriated the older name of the defunct party of Debs/Thomas). The DSA -- then named the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) -- split from the SD-USA in 1972 in a rift over the Vietnam War (SDUSA supported the war and opposed McGovern for President; DSOC supported McGovern and opposed the war). Official DSA affiliates include: Young Democratic Socialists, Socialist Forum, Democratic Left (publication) and Religious Socialism.

PEOPLE'S PARTY -  The Movement for a People’s Party - which evolved into the People's Party - was formed in 2020 by progressive activists from the 2016 and 2020 Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns (although Sanders himself has no involvement with this party). The PP supports Medicare for All, anti-militarism, restorative justice proposals, anti-Wall Street regulations, pro-organized labor, etc. Additionally, the party's social media accounts are staunchly pro-Putin and anti-Israel. They also believe the Democratic Party is too dominated by corporate interests and billionaires. The first three state chapters - Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Ohio - were launched immediately after their founding national convention (7,600 people participated in the online convention). College professor and progressive activist Cornel West - a co-founder of the party - was initially going to be the PP's 2024 presidential candidate. However, West quickly bolted to run as an Independent, and the PP failed to field any candidates.

PROGRESSIVE LABOR PARTY - The PLP is a New York-based, militant, Stalinist-style communist party dedicated to bringing about a world-wide, armed, communist revolution. The party was formed in 1961 by members of the CPUSA who felt the Soviet Union had betrayed communism and become revisionist and state capitalist. Founders also felt the CPUSA had adopted unforgivable reformist positions such as "peaceful coexistence" with the US, turning to electoral politics, and hiding communist views behind a veneer of reform-oriented front groups. In the 1960s, the PLP heavily infiltrated the radical Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) group. Today, the PLP still abhors democracy, elections, freedom of nearly any sort, capitalism and religion -- and praises dictator Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union as their role model. Because they denounce all elections as "frauds," the PLP vows to never field any candidates for public office (for these guys, its either armed victory or nothing at all). Lots and lots of online ideological articles written in the typical dogmatic communist style ... with titles like "The Hoax of the 1932-33 Ukraine Fasmine," "Fascism Grows In The Auto Industry," "The Road to Revolution." Articles in English, Spanish, Russian, German, etc.

REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY USA - The RCP is based upon the teachings of the late Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong -- a form of rigid communism derivative of Leninist-Stalinist Marxism. The party strongly denounces capitalism and advocates a "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Programme" as "a battle plan for destroying the old and creating the new [and] is a kind of road map for how to win the revolution." Even the RCP's logo is consistent with the proletarian revolutionary theme (i.e., note the red flag flying from a rifle bayonet). The RCP clearly advocates change through revolution (and various popular front groups), not elections -- so don't look for any RCP candidates on the ballot. The RCP's most visible activity is running several branches of a store called Revolution Books. RCP Chairman Bob Avakian and his writings also receive extensive coverage on the party's official site, as he has been the party leader since 1979.

REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNISTS OF AMERICA - Yet another splinter communist party. This one, founded in 2024, is "the US section of the Revolutionary Communist International" and "the International Marxist Tendency" -- so, yup, another Trotskyist group. They also have a Twitter account. The RCA vows to fight for "the complete overthrow of capitalism ... [and] a socialist revolution in our lifetime." No candidates to date.

WORKERS PARTY, USA - The WP-USA is a hardcore Marxist-Leninist political party founded in 1992 by the late Michael Thorburn. The party was established to "bring the working class out as an independent class force." The WP-USA shares much of the CPUSA's ideology. While the WP-USA has yet to field any candidates, the Chicago-based party publishes a bi-weekly newspaper named The Worker and a quarterly theoretical journal named -- not surprisingly -- The Worker Magazine. The WP-USA site features an extensive on-line archive of dogmatic screeds largely denouncing "monopoly capitalists," Western imperialism, the USA, etc. -- and praising the working class and "revolutionary politics." Thorburn's Anti-Imperialist News Service ("assisting the people's struggles against war and militarism") is also affiliated with the WP-USA.