Since statehood, Utah politics generally has resembled prevailing nationalpatterns emphasizing the Republican and Democratic parties. As is also the casenationally, however, Utah has also seen the involvement of third andindependent parties in electoral contests. Many of these parties haveconstituted Utah affiliates of nationally organized groups; others have beenpurely local in scope.

The most successful of the first group was the Socialist party, which electedover 100 Utahns to a variety of offices throughout the state in the first twodecades of statehood. Despite Socialist party success, other leftist partieshave had only modest support. In the early twentieth century, the SocialistLabor party appealed to Utah voters for support for its presidential ticketand, occasionally, for local offices as well. Similarly, since the 1930s, theCommunist Party USA and the Socialist Labor party appealed to Utah voters forsupport for its presidential ticket and, occasionally, for local offices aswell. Similarly, since the 1930s, the Communist Party USA and the SocialistWorkers party have fielded national tickets and candidates for other offices aswell. In the 1991 municipal elections, Socialist Workers party member NancyBoyasko ran a strong second in Salt Lake City's fourth council district,receiving over 40 percent of the votes cast. In 1968 activist-folk singer BrucePhillips (now known as U. Utah Phillips) ran a strong race for the U.S. Senateas the Peace and Freedom party nominee, garnering some 3,300 votes. Since 1980,non-restrictive ballot laws have allowed the presidential nominees of theCommunist, Citizens, New Alliance, Socialist, Populist, and AmericanIndependent parties to gain spots on the Utah ballot.

Progressive, though not necessarily socialist, parties have fared better. In1912 dissident Republicans in the Beehive State joined with their colleaguesnationally to support the "Bull Moose" crusade of Theodore Roosevelt. Runningas the Progressive nominee, Roosevelt received 24,074 votes, 21 percent of thetotal vote cast, and the party fielded strong candidates for state and localoffices as well. Two years later the Progressives and their allies in theDemocratic party "fused" and elected joint candidates to various offices,including the state legislature. In 1924 various labor, liberal, and leftistgroups supported the Progressive campaign of Robert LaFollette, who received32,514 votes in the state. In 1948 a number of prominent Utah liberals andsupporters of organized labor helped organized the Progressive party, whichsupported former vice-president Henry A. Wallace as its standard bearer.

In 1920 a similar coalition had united behind Utah attorney Parley P.Christensen in his presidential bid on the Farmer-Labor ticket. In more recentyears, two individuals with Utah ties have been third-party presidentialcandidates. In 1960 former governor and Salt Lake mayor J. Bracken Lee was thenominee for president of the Conservative Party of New Jersey. In 1984 theCitizen's party nominated Sonia Johnson, a native of Logan, who gained publicattention for her support of the Equal Rights Amendment and her subsequentexcommunication from the LDS Church. Two other Utahns, Lawrence Topham and EarlJeppson, were unsuccessful candidates on separate occasions for the Americanparty nomination.

Ironically, one third party which has never done particularly well in Utah wasthe Prohibition party. Despite several attempts, and occasional ballot status,in the 1900 to 1920 period, prohibitionists have not been successful inappealing to the Utah electorate, although many of the state's residents areabstainers from alcohol.

Conservative third parties have enjoyed some success in Utah in the post-WorldWar II period. In 1968 the American party was organized nationally to supportthe presidential candidacy of George Wallace. The former Alabama governor,whose request to have Apostle Ezra Taft Benson as his running mate was refusedby LDS Church leaders, polled 26,980 votes in Utah. The American party remaineda minor but vocal presence in the state's politics for another decade,frequently fielding candidates for congressional, state, and local offices. Theparty was sufficiently strong enough in Utah to attract the location of thenational office for a time, but eventually was thwarted by the growingconservatism of Utah's Republican party.

Since the late 1970s the Libertarian party has emerged as the most viable Utahthird party, running presidential candidates and also contesting congressional,state, and local offices. During that period of time, Utahns joined with otherAmericans in placing the independent presidential bids of Eugene McCarthy in1976, and that of John Anderson in 1980, on the Utah ballot. Running as theNational Unity party nominee, Anderson polled 30,284 votes and united acoalition of Utahns, many of whom having previously been active in Republicanand Democratic politics.

The most successful purely local third party was the American party of the1904 to 1910 period. The American party, which had the support of the Salt LakeTribune, was led by former senator Thomas Kearns, and campaigned againstthe influence of the LDS Church in Utah politics. The party successfullydominated municipal governments in Ogden and Salt Lake City for a period oftime. During those same years, a number of independent labor parties werecreated in Utah, running candidates for local office on platforms supportingthe aspirations of organized labor. Moreover, several Utah politicians, mostnotably J. Bracken Lee, have organized short-term independent parties tosupport their bids for office.

In a similar vein, in 1988 a businessman and former Republican party candidateMerrill Cook organized the Independent Party of Utah. Championing tax reductionand reducing government spending, Cook polled 136,651 votes for Governor, 21percent of the total vote cast, attracting support from both Republicans andDemocrats. Cook, who briefly flirted with returning to the Republican ranks,was the Independent party candidate for governor again in 1992, again runningunsuccessfully.