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New Party | |
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| Founder | Dan Cantor Joel Rogers |
| Founded | 1992 (1992) |
| Dissolved | 1998 (1998) |
| Preceded by | Citizens Party |
| Succeeded by | Working Families Party |
| Headquarters | 88 Third Ave., Suite 313 Brooklyn, NY 11217 |
| Ideology | Progressivism[1][2][3] |
TheNew Party was athird political party in theUnited States that tried to re-introduce the practice ofelectoral fusion. In electoral fusion, the same candidate receives nomination from more than one political party and occupies more than one ballot line. Fusion was once common in the United States but is now commonly practiced only inNew York State, although it is allowed by law in seven other states. The party was active from 1992 to 1998. (There had been an earlier, unrelated New Party in 1968 that ranEugene McCarthy for president.)
The New Party was founded in the early 1990s byDan Cantor, a former staffer forJesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign, and by political science, sociology and law professorJoel Rogers as an effort to break with the largely unsuccessful history of progressive third parties in the United States. Their strategy was to run candidates only where they had a reasonable chance of winning, and to nominate on their ballot line (or where this was not legally possible, to endorse) the candidate they favored more from another party.[4]
After a false start inNew York, the New Party built modestly successful chapters in several states. Some of these chapters—such as those inChicago andLittle Rock, Arkansas—had their main bases of support in the low-incomecommunity organizing groupACORN, along with some support from variouslabor unions. Other chapters—such as those inMinneapolis;Missoula, Montana;Montgomery County, Maryland; andDane County, Wisconsin, received institutional support from a variety of other labor unions and community organizations. These chapters built local political organizations that ran or endorsed candidates, primarily in localnon-partisan races but with occasional forays intoDemocratic Party primaries or (more rarely) traditional third party-style independent candidacies as well. Some New Party chapters introduced the idea of signed candidate contracts (saying the candidate agreed with the party's principles and would meet with party members after election) before endorsement, to encourage accountability after election—this was criticized by some of the party's detractors.[5][6][7] Party chapters were also active between elections, pressuring elected officials to pass legislation on issues such asliving wages andaffordable housing.
InMadison, Wisconsin and some other cities, the New Party partnered withGreen Party candidates.[8]
The New Party endorsedBarack Obama in his successful 1996 run for theIllinois Senate.[9][10]
Although the party's founders hoped to foster a shift in the United States toward electoral fusion, they were not successful in doing so. Their hopes rested largely on theU.S. Supreme Court caseTimmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party. In 1997, the Court, in a 6–3 decision, upheld the Minnesota ban on cross-endorsing candidates, rejecting the New Party's argument that electoral fusion was a right protected by theFirst Amendment'sfreedom of association clause.[11][12]
After the Timmons case, the New Party quickly declined and several chapters disaffiliated. Perhaps the only and certainly the most successful surviving local chapter, known asProgressive Dane, remains active and relevant in Dane County, Wisconsin. New Party founder Daniel Cantor and other key staff members left to found theWorking Families Party of New York (1998),[12] an organization which has had considerable success in building a New Party-style organization within New York state, and which now has expanded into other states that have fusion voting.
