Election results, 2024: Minor party candidates who won more than the margin of victory
Last updated: January 13, 2025
In 2024, 58 minor party or independent candidates received more votes than the margin of victory in their election.
Margins of victory can be used to measure electoral competitiveness or political party or candidate strength. This page identifies those elections where the difference between the winning and losing candidates was smaller than the number of votes received by a minor party candidate. This article contains information on these candidates and elections, organized by level of government.
The partisan affiliation of these candidates was as follows:
- 21 independent or unaffiliated
- 14 Libertarian Party candidates
- 8 Green Party candidates[1]
- 5 U.S. Taxpayer's Party candidates[2]
- 2 Working Class Party
- 1 Approval Voting Party
- 1 Common Sense Party
- 1 Constitution Party
- 1 Disrupt the Constitution Party
- 1 Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party of Vermont
- 1 Independent Party of Oregon
- 1 Natural Law Party
- 1 Unity Party of Colorado
In 2024, these minor party or independent candidates who received more votes than the margin of victory in their election ran in eight U.S. House or Senate elections, eight statewide elections, 24 state-level district elections (such as for state legislature), and one local election within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.
Here are some other notable minor party statistics:
- The number of minor party candidates whose votes exceeded the margin of victory increased by two compared to 2022, when 56 candidates achieved this. In 2020, 77 candidates earned more votes than the margin of victory in their races.
- In 2024, independent (including unaffiliated, undeclared, or unenrolled) candidates most frequently won more votes than the margin of victory. In 2020 and 2022, candidates for the Libertarian Party did so more than any other candidate.
- The Libertarian Party saw 14 candidates receive more votes than the margin of victory in 2024, less than their 2020 total of 26 and less than their 2022 total of 23 candidates.
- The Green Party saw eight candidates receive more votes than the margin of victory in 2024, less than their 2020 total of nine, and more than their 2022 total of five candidates.
2024 elections
Federal elections
| Minor party U.S. House or Senate candidates receiving more votes than the MOV, 2024 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election | Minor party candidate | Minor party candidate affiliation | Minor party votes | Winning candidate[3] | Winning votes | Second place candidate[4] | Second place votes | Margin of victory |
| U.S. House, Colorado District 8 |  Chris Baum |
Approval Voting Party |
5,741 (1.7%) |  Gabe Evans |
163,320 (49.0%) |  Yadira Caraveo |
160,871 (48.2%) | 2,449 (0.8%) |
| U.S. House, Colorado District 8 | Susan Hall |
Unity Party of Colorado |
3,677 (1.1%) | Gabe Evans |
163,320 (49.0%) | Yadira Caraveo |
160,871 (48.2%) | 2,449 (0.8%) |
| U.S. House, North Carolina District 1 |  Tom Bailey |
Libertarian Party |
9,949 (2.6%) | Donald Davis |
186,341 (49.5%) | Laurie Buckhout |
180,034 (47.8%) | 6,307 (1.7%) |
| U.S. House, Ohio District 9 | Tom Pruss |
Libertarian Party |
15,381 (4.1%) | Marcy Kaptur |
181,098 (48.3%) | Derek Merrin |
178,716 (47.6%) | 2,382 (0.7%) |
| U.S. House, Oregon District 5 |  Brett Smith |
Independent Party of Oregon |
18,665 (4.7%) | Janelle Bynum |
191,365 (47.7%) | Lori Chavez-DeRemer |
180,420 (45.0%) | 10,945 (2.7%) |
| U.S. Senate, Michigan | Joseph Solis-Mullen |
Libertarian Party |
56,697 (1.0%) | Elissa Slotkin |
2,712,686 (48.6%) | Mike Rogers |
2,693,680 (48.3%) | 19,006 (0.3%) |
| U.S. Senate, Michigan | Douglas P. Marsh |
Green Party |
53,978 (1.0%) | Elissa Slotkin |
2,712,686 (48.6%) | Mike Rogers |
2,693,680 (48.3%) | 19,006 (0.3%) |
| U.S. Senate, Michigan | Dave Stein |
U.S. Taxpayers Party of Michigan |
41,363 (0.7%) | Elissa Slotkin |
2,712,686 (48.6%) | Mike Rogers |
2,693,680 (48.3%) | 19,006 (0.3%) |
| U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania | John Thomas |
Libertarian Party |
89,596 (1.3%) | David McCormick |
3,398,602 (48.8%) | Bob Casey Jr. |
3,382,293 (48.6%) | 16,309 (0.2%) |
| U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania | Leila Hazou |
Green Party |
66,317 (1.0%) | David McCormick |
3,398,602 (48.8%) | Bob Casey Jr. |
3,382,293 (48.6%) | 16,309 (0.2%) |
| U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania |  Marty Selker |
Constitution Party |
23,615 (0.3%) | David McCormick |
3,398,602 (48.8%) | Bob Casey Jr. |
3,382,293 (48.6%) | 16,309 (0.2%) |
| U.S. Senate, Wisconsin | Phillip Anderson |
Disrupt The Corruption Party |
42,315 (1.2%) | Tammy Baldwin |
1,672,777 (49.3%) | Eric Hovde |
1,643,996 (48.5%) | 28,781 (0.8%) |
Statewide elections
Non-statewide elections
Local elections
| Minor party local-level candidates receiving more votes than the MOV, 2024 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election | Minor party candidate | Minor party candidate affiliation | Minor party votes | Winning candidate[3] | Winning votes | Second place candidate[4] | Second place votes | Margin of victory |
| North Carolina 3rd Superior Court Division Judicial District 10C | Stephanie Davis |
Unaffiliated |
9,598 (7.8%) | Sean Cole |
59,490 (48.3%) | Rebecca Waters Holt |
54,111 (43.9%) | 5,379 (4.4%) |
Analysis for 2022
In 2022, 56 minor party or independent candidates received more votes than the margin of victory in their election.
Margins of victory can be used to measure electoral competitiveness or political party or candidate strength. This page identifies those elections where the difference between the winning and losing candidates was smaller than the number of votes received by a minor party candidate. This article contains information on these candidates and elections, organized by level of government.
The partisan affiliation of these candidates was as follows:
- 23 Libertarian Party candidates
- 15 independent or unaffiliated candidates
- Five Green Party candidates
- Three Constitution Party candidates
- Two U.S. Taxpayer's Party candidates[5]
- Two Working Class Party candidates
- One American Constitution Party candidate
- One Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota candidate
- One Independent American Party candidate
- One Independence Party candidate
- One Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate
- One United Utah Party candidate
See also
- Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
- Election results, 2024: State legislative races decided by fewer than 100 votes
Footnotes
- ↑ This total includes one candidate from the Pacific Green Party of Oregon, which is the Green Party's Oregon affiliate.
- ↑ The U.S. Taxpayers Party is the Constitution Party's Michigan affiliate.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 In multi-seat elections, this refers to the winning candidate with the least votes.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 In multi-seat elections, this is the top-placing candidate who did not win instead.
- ↑ The U.S. Taxpayers Party is the Constitution Party's Michigan affiliate.
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