# Any Independent Presidential candidates campaigning yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 7, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438 "2019-10-07T18:49:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/1 "2019-10-07T18:49:25Z")
First off, I hate Trump, not a fan of his admin or policy, and I’m a Independent/Libertarian with Republican leanings (hey, hey, put down that rotten fruit, m’kay, Trump is an utter classless moron and is a disgrace to the office of the President!) that said, I don’t think any of the Democrat candidates speak for me either, reasons are irrelevant to this thread, but none of them have any compelling arguments to me, and one in particular is utterly abhorrent to me and think that they should immediately drop out of the race. Yes, I know voting Independent is most likely “throwing my vote away”, but it’s my vote, and no political candidate resonates with me anyway, and my state will probably go for one of the main party candidates I loathe anyway, so my vote really doesn’t count in the big picture anyway… so, any independent choices afield yet? ---
**Author:** ![Yankees\_1996\_Champs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Yankees\_1996\_Champs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yankees_1996_Champs)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/2 "2019-10-20T00:32:07Z")
You’re feeling like I am feeling; I am a Independent voter who is disillusioned with both political parties. The Democratic Party has moved too far to the left. The Republican Party has moved too far to the right. The American economy gets a C- right now. However, Howard Schultz got scared out from running as a centrist Independent from the leftwing. The flawed Electoral College makes it difficult for any Independent to win an election. An Independent candidate must get at least 15% in polling to qualify for a debate. No, I don’t see any Independents running in 2020—maybe Tulsi Gabbard. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/3 "2019-10-21T00:54:59Z")
Wouldn’t it be a little early for independents to be campaigning, given that, pretty much by definition, an “independent” either (a) doesn’t have to run in primaries, so why bother wasting campaign money at this point, or (b) tried to get a party’s nomination, so they wouldn’t be independent yet? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/4 "2019-10-21T02:05:10Z")
I assume by ‘Independent’ you mean the silly third parties. If so, here you go. Don Blankenship is trying to get the nomination of the Constitution Party [http://ballot-access.org/2019/10/20/don-blankenship-speaks-at-constitution-party-national-committee-meeting/](http://ballot-access.org/2019/10/20/don-blankenship-speaks-at-constitution-party-national-committee-meeting/) They’re basically a white supremacist party. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/5 "2019-10-21T17:40:14Z")
> [@Yankees\_1996\_Champs](#): > > No, I don’t see any Independents running in 2020—maybe Tulsi Gabbard. Has Gabbard officially withdrawn from the Democratic primaries? If she appears on the California Democratic (or any other party’s) primary ballot, she is ineligible to appear on the state’s November ballot (California Elections Code, Section 8301: _“A candidate for whom a nomination paper has been filed as a partisan candidate at a primary election, and who is defeated for his or her party nomination at the primary election, is ineligible for nomination as an independent candidate.”_) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/6 "2019-10-21T20:07:30Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Has Gabbard officially withdrawn from the Democratic primaries? If she appears on the California Democratic (or any other party’s) primary ballot, she is ineligible to appear on the state’s November ballot (California Elections Code, Section 8301: _“A candidate for whom a nomination paper has been filed as a partisan candidate at a primary election, and who is defeated for his or her party nomination at the primary election, is ineligible for nomination as an independent candidate.”_) True, sore loser laws might hurt her. But, if she wants to rat fuck the election, California isn’t where she’d do it. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/7 "2019-10-22T06:02:04Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Has Gabbard officially withdrawn from the Democratic primaries? If she appears on the California Democratic (or any other party’s) primary ballot, she is ineligible to appear on the state’s November ballot (California Elections Code, Section 8301: _“A candidate for whom a nomination paper has been filed as a partisan candidate at a primary election, and who is defeated for his or her party nomination at the primary election, is ineligible for nomination as an independent candidate.”_) Presidential candidates aren’t “defeated for his or her party nomination at the primary election.” A presidential primary doesn’t nominate anybody, it just (at most) elects delegates. (Also, if she did try to run as a spoiler, she probably wouldn’t do it as an “independent candidate.”) ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/8 "2019-10-22T15:14:12Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Presidential candidates aren’t “defeated for his or her party nomination at the primary election.” A presidential primary doesn’t nominate anybody, it just (at most) elects delegates. > > **(Also, if she did try to run as a spoiler, she probably wouldn’t do it as an “independent candidate.”)** Is there another party who’s nomination she might seek? I suppose the Green party would be most likely, but if the Greens let her in all they would succeed at doing is getting a whole lot of people pissed off at them, even more than when they ran Ralph Nader or Jill Stein. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/9 "2019-10-22T15:22:46Z")
[Here is a link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election#Libertarian_Party) to the third party/no party candidates running. If you scroll up you can also see all the Democratic and Republican candidates. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/10 "2019-10-22T21:20:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Here is a link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election#Libertarian_Party) to the third party/no party candidates running. If you scroll up you can also see all the Democratic and Republican candidates. Yes! [Vermin Supreme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermin_Supreme) is making his fifth run for President. This time as a Libertarian; he’s also campaigned as a Democrat and a Republican. Really which party is more conducive to a platform of zombie apocalypse awareness, time travel research, and the “right to pony?” For some strange reason this makes me happy. It’s just not a Presidential campaign without Vermin somewhere in the race. After a 4th place finish in the New Hampshire Democratic primary last cycle this could just be his breakout year. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/11 "2019-10-22T22:32:37Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Yes! [Vermin Supreme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermin_Supreme) is making his fifth run for President. This time as a Libertarian; he’s also campaigned as a Democrat and a Republican. Really which party is more conducive to a platform of zombie apocalypse awareness, time travel research, and the “right to pony?” For some strange reason this makes me happy. It’s just not a Presidential campaign without Vermin somewhere in the race. > > After a 4th place finish in the New Hampshire Democratic primary last cycle this could just be his breakout year. 😛 It is a sad commentary on our times that I clicked on the link and read the ENTIRE article. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-independent-presidential-candidates-campaigning-yet/841438/12 "2019-10-22T22:34:57Z")
The Democrats should finance a Trump-vote-drawing candidate.