Simone Lawson
While it is rare for third-party candidates to take large shares of the vote in US presidential elections, there have been several occasions where they have carried states or split the vote with major-party candidates. In fact, the first US president, George Washington, was the only independent candidate to win the presidency, receiving all the votes from the Electoral College in 1789 and 1792. Since then, no third-party candidate has won a US election, though some have won electoral votes, such as George Wallace of the American Independent Party, who won five states in 1968.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of independent candidates who have won the US presidential election | 1 |
| Name of the independent candidate who won the US presidential election | George Washington |
| Year of the election | 1789 |
| Number of votes received | All votes from the Electoral College |
| Number of states won | 10 |
| Number of electoral votes received | 132 |
| Year with the highest percentage of votes for an independent candidate (excluding Washington) | 1992 |
| Name of the independent candidate with the highest percentage of votes | Ross Perot |
| Percentage of votes received by Ross Perot | 19% |
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What You'll Learn
- George Washington: the only independent candidate to win the US presidency
- George Wallace: the last third-party candidate to win an electoral vote
- Ross Perot: won 19% of the popular vote in 1992
- Ralph Nader: consumer and environmental advocate who won 3% of the popular vote in 2000
- John C. Breckinridge: a third-party candidate who won more than 5% of the popular vote
George Washington: the only independent candidate to win the US presidency
George Washington is the only independent candidate in history to win the US presidency. He was the first US president, serving two terms in office. Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). After the US won the war, he helped set up a new government for his country at the Constitutional Convention.
In the first US presidential election on January 7, 1789, Washington won handily. He received all the votes from the Electoral College, winning the electors of all ten eligible states. In the 1792 election, Washington was re-elected, again receiving all 132 electoral votes and winning each of the 15 states. He was the only US president to be unanimously elected.
Washington opposed the development of political parties, which had begun to solidify as the Federalist faction, centred on Vice President John Adams and Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and the Democratic-Republican faction, centred on Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In his 1796 Farewell Address, he warned against the "baneful effects of the spirit of party generally".
It is rare for candidates outside the six major parties to take large shares of the vote in US elections. The last third-party candidate to win electoral votes was George Wallace of the American Independent Party in 1968.
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George Wallace: the last third-party candidate to win an electoral vote
As of 2025, the last third-party presidential candidate to win an electoral vote was former Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, who ran as a candidate for the American Independent Party in 1968.
Wallace's pro-segregation policies during his term as Governor of Alabama were rejected by most. However, his outsider status was popular with voters, particularly in the rural South. He ran an anti-elite, anti-establishment, anti-media platform, appealing to white Americans who felt abandoned by their government. Wallace's target voter was the "ordinary American", who was often white, blue-collar, and rural. His supporters were mostly traditional Democrats who had voted for Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Wallace polled as high as 23 per cent in 1968, just behind Vice President Hubert Humphrey for a period in the early autumn, and ultimately won ten million popular votes (13.5% of votes cast nationally) while carrying five Southern states – Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi – and 45 electoral votes plus one vote from a faithless elector.
Wallace's strategy was not to win the election outright, but to prevent either major-party candidate from winning a majority in the Electoral College, thereby throwing the election into the House of Representatives, where he would have bargaining power. Although Nixon ultimately won a majority of 301 electoral votes, Wallace's effort put the chance of a brokered electoral college relatively close.
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Ross Perot: won 19% of the popular vote in 1992
In the 1992 US presidential election, Ross Perot, a billionaire businessman from Texas, ran as an independent candidate. Perot's campaign initially gained widespread popularity, especially among voters who were dissatisfied with the traditional politics of the Democratic and Republican parties. In May and June of 1992, polls even showed Perot leading both the Democratic and Republican candidates, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. However, Perot unexpectedly dropped out of the race in July, before returning to the campaign trail in September with former admiral James Stockdale as his vice-presidential running mate.
Perot's base was primarily young, white, and male, but his appeal extended beyond this demographic. He won nearly 19% of the popular vote, the highest percentage of any third-party candidate in a US presidential election in 80 years. Despite this, many political scientists argue that Perot's independent candidacy did not spoil the election for Bush, who ultimately lost to Clinton. Clinton won 43% of the vote, with Bush receiving 37.4% and Perot 18.9%.
Perot's success in the 1992 election is considered the beginning of a third party in American politics. He also ran in the 2000 election, where he won 6% of the popular vote.
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Ralph Nader: consumer and environmental advocate who won 3% of the popular vote in 2000
Ralph Nader is an American lawyer, political activist, and consumer and environmental advocate. He is a perennial presidential candidate, having run for president four times (in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008).
Nader's name first appeared in the press as a potential presidential candidate in 1971 when he was offered the opportunity to run as the candidate for the New Party, a progressive split from the Democratic Party. However, he declined the offer. In 1996, Nader ran for president on the Green Party ticket, although he collected less than 1% of the vote.
In 2000, Nader was again nominated by the Green Party as its presidential candidate. This time, his campaign focused on universal healthcare, environmental and consumer protections, campaign finance reform, and strengthened labour rights. He pushed a progressive agenda and brought plenty of new people, many of them young, into the political process. Despite this, he only won nearly 3% of the popular vote. However, this was enough to lead to claims that he was responsible for Al Gore's defeat to George W. Bush in Florida, where Bush won by just 537 votes. Nader himself preferred Bush over Gore, believing that environmental and consumer regulatory agencies would fare better under Bush.
Nader announced in 2003 that he would not seek the Green Party's nomination in 2004, but did not rule out running as an independent candidate. He ran as an independent in 2004 and 2008, but his vote share is not publicly known.
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John C. Breckinridge: a third-party candidate who won more than 5% of the popular vote
While no third-party candidate has ever won the US presidential election, George Washington, the first US president, ran as an independent candidate. Washington won the first presidential election in 1789 with all the electoral votes of the ten eligible states. He also won the 1792 election, receiving all 132 electoral votes from the fifteen states.
John C. Breckinridge, a third-party candidate in the 1860 US presidential election, won more than 5% of the popular vote. Breckinridge was a former vice president and a young senator from Kentucky. Breckinridge's supporters at the 1860 Democratic National Convention included former Kentucky governor Lazarus W. Powell and former Kentucky representative William Preston. Breckinridge, however, did not attend the convention and instructed his supporters not to nominate him as long as James Guthrie remained a candidate. Despite this, Breckinridge was nominated for president by a delegate from Arkansas.
Breckinridge was a supporter of slavery and was favoured by Southern Democrats. He was also the standard-bearer of the Southern Democrats, who refused to support the party's platform of popular sovereignty. Breckinridge's supporters wanted a plank calling for federal protection of slavery and its extension into new territories. This caused a split in the Democratic Party, with Northern Democrats refusing to support slavery. Unable to agree on a platform or a candidate, the convention dissolved.
In the 1860 election, Breckinridge captured the electoral votes of most of the Southern states but finished a distant second among four candidates. Abraham Lincoln won the election, and Breckinridge, who sympathised with the Southern cause, fled to the Confederacy after Kentucky sided with the Union. He joined the Confederate States Army and was expelled from the Senate.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, George Washington is the only independent candidate to have won the US presidential election. He was the first US president and won the election in 1789.
Yes, a few independent candidates have won a significant share of the popular vote. In 1992, Ross Perot won 19% of the popular vote. In 2000, Ralph Nader won nearly 3% of the popular vote. In 1980, former congressman John Anderson won nearly 7% of the popular vote.
Yes, in 1968, George Wallace of the American Independent Party won five states.
In 2024, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Jill Stein, and Cornel West ran as third-party candidates.
It is difficult for third-party or independent candidates to win enough votes to secure the 270 electoral votes needed to become president. They often do not appear on enough ballots and typically cannot defeat the candidates from the two major political parties.
