In apresidential system, aunity ticket is a form ofticket balance in which a candidate and arunning mate of separatepolitical parties run on a singleticket. Candidates may retain their separate political parties for the duration of the election, or they may adopt a new party name to represent their unified platform. In a system where the running mate is next in line for the presidency, a unity ticket can cause a mid-term shift in policy if the president dies or is removed from office. Unity tickets are common during periods ofpolitical realignment.[citation needed]
The termunity ticket may sometimes be used more broadly for any political ticket that is meant to appeal to two different political factions. A unity ticket is distinct from afusion ticket where multiple parties endorse a single candidate.
Presidential tickets in Brazil commonly have two candidates of competing political parties, and as a result thePresident of Brazil and theVice President of Brazil are often of different political parties. In2010 and2014,Dilma Rousseff of theWorkers' Party andMichel Temer of theBrazilian Democratic Movement were elected under theWith the Strength of the People coalition. Following Rousseff'simpeachment and removal from office, Temer became president.
In the2016 presidential election,James Soong of thePeople First Party ran withHsu Hsin-ying of theMinkuotang.
Opposition candidateAugustino Mrema ofNCCR–Mageuzi was to run on a unity ticket with a candidate from theCivic United Front in the1995 general election, but the parties were unable to agree on a running mate and the Civic United Front ran its own ticket.[1]
Prior to the ratification of theTwelfth Amendment, the presidential runner-up would be elected vice president. This resulted inJohn Adams of theFederalist Party winning the presidency while opponentThomas Jefferson of theDemocratic-Republican Party became his vice president. The only unity ticket to win the presidency was theNational Union Party in the1864 presidential election, which ran a unity ticket betweenAbraham Lincoln of theRepublican Party andAndrew Johnson of theDemocratic Party. Lincoln'sassassination resulted in Johnson taking office and drastically changingreconstruction era policy.[citation needed]
DemocratJohn Kerry considered choosing RepublicanJohn McCain as his running mate in the2004 presidential election.[2][3][4] In turn, John McCain gave serious consideration to a unity ticket with former DemocratJoe Lieberman in the2008 presidential election.[5][6] Several commentators suggested that the Democratic Party field a unity ticket with a moderate Republican to challengeDonald Trump in 2020 and win the votes ofNever Trump Republicans.[7][8][9] Presidential unity tickets in the 21st century are often criticized as being unrealistic.[10][11]
Some notable third party runs have incorporated unity tickets:
In2014,Bill Walker of the Republican Party andByron Mallott of the Democratic Party were elected governor and lieutenant governor ofAlaska.[12] DemocratPatrick Murphy floated a gubernatorial campaign with RepublicanDavid Jolly in the2018 Florida gubernatorial election, but they ultimately did not run.[13] When RepublicanBob Krist launched an independent campaign in the2018 Nebraska gubernatorial election, it was speculated that he would run a unity ticket, but he eventually ran as the Democratic nominee with a Democratic running mate.[14]
