None of them won. Several of them changed the result anyway, and a few carried states nobody expected.
1Ross PerotThe Texas businessman who took 18.9% of the popular vote in 1992 with a self-funded campaign built on deficit charts.1000pts
2Evan McMullinThe former CIA officer who ran as a conservative independent in 2016 and took 21.5% of the vote in Utah.612pts
3Theodore RooseveltRan as the Progressive "Bull Moose" candidate in 1912 and took 27.4% of the vote and 88 electoral votes, beating the sitting Republican president.593pts
4John C. FrémontThe explorer who carried eleven states in 1856 as the brand-new Republican Party's first nominee.573pts
5Millard FillmoreThe former president who returned in 1856 on the Know Nothing ticket and carried Maryland.573pts
6Gary JohnsonThe former New Mexico governor whose 2016 Libertarian run drew nearly 4.5 million votes, the best result in the party's history.529pts
7Martin Van BurenThe former president who ran again in 1848 on the Free Soil ticket and took a tenth of the national vote.480pts
8John C. BreckinridgeThe sitting vice president who led the Southern Democratic ticket in 1860, carried eleven states and finished second with 72 electoral votes.423pts
9Ralph NaderThe consumer advocate whose 2000 Green Party run drew under 3% and an argument that has never stopped.423pts
10Robert F. Kennedy Jr.The environmental lawyer who left the Democrats to run as an independent in 2024, polled in double digits, then suspended his campaign in August.358pts
11John BellThe Constitutional Union nominee who carried three states in the four-way election of 1860.358pts
12Robert La FolletteThe Wisconsin senator whose 1924 Progressive run took a sixth of the vote and carried his home state.358pts
13Henry A. WallaceThe former vice president who ran on the Progressive ticket in 1948, calling for peace with the Soviet Union and an end to segregation.358pts
14William WirtThe Anti-Masonic nominee in 1832, the first third-party candidate to win a state.358pts
15Eugene V. DebsThe Socialist candidate who ran five times and took nearly a million votes in 1920 from a federal prison cell.282pts
16Norman ThomasThe six-time Socialist Party nominee from 1928 to 1948 whose best run drew nearly 900,000 votes in the Depression election of 1932.282pts
17Eugene McCarthyThe Minnesota senator who challenged his own party over Vietnam in 1968 and later ran as an independent in 1976, fighting ballot-access laws.282pts
18James G. BirneyThe abolitionist Liberty Party nominee of 1840 and 1844 whose second run drew enough New York votes to help decide the election.282pts
19James B. WeaverThe Populist candidate who won five states in 1892 on a platform of silver, railroads and farm debt.282pts
20John AndersonThe Illinois congressman whose 1980 independent run took nearly 7% without carrying a state.282pts
21George WallaceThe Alabama governor whose 1968 American Independent run won 13.5% of the vote and five Southern states, the last third-party candidate to carry any.192pts
22John P. HaleThe New Hampshire senator who carried the antislavery Free Soil banner in 1852 and won about five percent of the national vote.192pts
23Strom ThurmondThe South Carolina governor who ran as the States' Rights 'Dixiecrat' candidate in 1948 and carried four Southern states with 39 electoral votes.192pts
24Jill SteinThe Green Party's three-time nominee whose 2016 campaign drew nearly 1.5 million votes and later led a high-profile recount push.192pts
25Pat BuchananThe conservative commentator who won the Reform Party nomination in 2000 and drew notice for his surprise vote total on Palm Beach's butterfly ballot.0pts
Photo credits
- Millard Fillmore — Samuele Wikipediano 1348, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Gary Johnson — Gary Johnson from Taos, NM, CC BY 2.0
- Jill Stein — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Pat Buchanan — Bbsrock, CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments 1
27.4% of the vote and 88 electoral votes in 1912, ahead of the sitting president. Ross Perot managed 18.9% in 1992 and no electoral votes: https://youpick.best/articles/theodore-roosevelt-ranked-many-ways
YP
ypb-teamAug 21
