United Citizens Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1969[a] |
| Split from | Democratic Party[1] |
| Ideology | Progressivism[2] Black nationalism[2][1] |
| Political position | Center-left toleft-wing[2][1] |
| National affiliation | Reform (1996) |
| Website | |
| Archived Website | |
TheUnited Citizens Party (UCP) is an American political party first organized in 1969 in the U.S. state ofSouth Carolina byJohn Roy Harper II and others, in response to thestate Democratic Party's opposition to nominating black candidates. The party's objective was to elect blacks to the legislature and local offices in counties with black majority populations. The party ran candidates in 1970 and 1972; as a result in 1970 the first three black candidates were elected to theSouth Carolina House of Representatives sinceReconstruction.
The first president was John Roy Harper II,[3] named at the first annual convention on April 13, 1970; he later served as party chairman.[4] Harper stated that he had split from theDemocratic Party due to the party's refusal to nominate Black candidates.[1] The party's candidate in 1970 wasThomas Broadwater for Governor. The party's founding document stated that it was creating “a separate party running people who will do what we, the people, want done,” and that, “furthermore, whites have never publicly promised Black folks nothing-we need to divorce.”[4]
In 1972 the party was able to secure a line on the ballot forGeorge McGovern inhis campaign againstRichard Nixon viafusion voting.[5] The1972 elections also marked the entry of Black South Carolinian Democrats to the House, largely due to the efforts of the UCP, despite the party electing no stand-alone candidates.[6] In 1974, the political scientistsHanes Walton Jr. and William H. Boone cited the UCP up to that point as an example of a successful sub-national African American political party.[7]
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Since 1972 the party stood no additional candidates, largely going dormant, however, in 1986 new election laws passed in South Carolina requiring a party to run candidates in at least every other general election.[2] In 1988, theNew York basedNew Alliance Party filed the paperwork to run a candidate for the UCP line,Lenora Fulani, for President of the United States.[8] She ran again as a UCP candidate in her 1992 run for president.[9] During this period Fulani changed the name of the party to thePatriot Party (PP) and was also simultaneously working with supporters ofRoss Perot to make a national political party for Perot.[2]
For his second bid for president in 1996, Perot's newly formedReform Party (RP) also secured ballot access in South Carolina, meaning Perot appeared twice, once for the RP, and the other for the PP.[10] The PP would earn Perot 36,913 votes in South Carolina, to the Reform Party's 27,464.[11] The combined 64,386 votes was 5.60% of the electorate.[12] However, with an established state branch of the Reform party, Perot's supporters migrated, leaving the PP dormant.[2]
In 2000, Michael Avey, then a professor ofpolitical science atLander College, with some activist friends, took over the dormant PP and wrote to theFederal Election Commission requesting federal recognition for changing the name back to the United Citizens Party.[13] Ralph Nader ran as the UCP nominee in his2000 bid for president, earning him 20,279 votes or 1.47% of the electorate.[14] The party's original founder Harper has come out in support of Avey's restored party, applauding his efforts to make a party for Black Americans stating that "The problems and inequities the United Citizens Party identified 30 year ago are still problems today. Sure, there have been a number of black legislators elected, but not enough to make difference without the support of white Democrats, which too rarely happens. The [Democratic] Party gives lip service to the needs of the black community and working people, but it stops there."[2]
In the2002 election for the Second Congressional District in South Carolina, Mark Whittington received 17,189 votes or 10.03% of the total.[15] Activist and political operativeKevin Alexander Gray was a gubernatorial candidate representing the South Carolina United Citizens’ Party and theSouth Carolina Green Party. He did not collect the required number of signatures to be on the ballot, and consequently ran as a write-in candidate.[16]
In presidential election of 2004, the UCP chose to nominate theSocialist Party candidateWalt Brown for president. Brown received 2,124 votes or about 0.1% of the total 1,617,730.
In 2006, the Party endorsed John "JC" Nelums for State House District 79 (Kershaw, Richland)[17] and did not cross-endorse candidates of any other party.
On March 29, 2008, the party endorsedBarack Obama via convention for the2008 presidential election,[18] but the nomination was not accepted. Obama appeared on the ballot as solely as the candidate of theDemocratic Party.[19]
In 2010, the party cross-endorsed former football player Morgan Bruce Reeves for governor, alongside the South Carolina Green Party. Reeves received 0.9% of the vote. On the November 2014 ballot, the party nominated Reeves for Governor and David Edmond for Commissioner of Agriculture. Reeves received 0.5% of the vote.
In 2018 and 2022, Chris Nelums ran as a United Citizens Party candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture.[20] In 2018 Nelums received 118,671 votes, or 8.85% of the vote; in 2022, he received 95,625 votes, or 6.84% of the vote.[21]
For the2024 United States presidential election, the UCP chose to nominateCornel West.[22] Also on the 2024 UCP ticket are Gregg Marcel Dixon[23] running forSouth Carolina's 6th Congressional District challenging Democratic incumbentJim Clyburn, and Chris Nelums[24] running for State Senate District 19, challenging Democratic incumbentTameika Isaac Devine.[25] Neither the UCP's leadership, nor its candidates, responded to requests fromThe State for an interview to be included in their profile of third-party candidates.[26] None of the party's candidates were elected.
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