The American Free Soil has its first candidate. The Rev. Dr. James W. Clifton will be on the November 5th ballot for Town Council in the Town of Millersburg, IN. He will run against the GOP nominee. No Democrat will be on the ballot.
American Free Soil Party Has First Candidate
Is the party ballot qualified? I thought Indiana is one of the more difficult states to qualify a party.
What IS the American Free Soil Party?
AFAIK, a reboot of the 19th century anti-slavery political party by former prohibition party members.
http://www.american3rdpartyreport.com/2018/11/former-prohibition-party-member-reforms.html
With a name like that how can they lose? The tv show Saturday Night Live should do a skit about the name. Maybe they are a landscapping business ? May I use an old expression oooohh Vay.
So the Prohibition Party wants to reinstate the Eighteenth Amendment, and some of its former members are unaware the Thirteenth is still in effect?
Alright.
Good luck to Rev. Clifton!
New Federalist, the American Free Soil Party is not a ballot-qualified party in Indiana. Parties can’t be ballot-qualified in Indiana until after they have polled 2% for Secretary of State. Indiana doesn’t have a party petition. It just has candidate petitions, with freedom for the candidate to choose a partisan label next to his or her name on the November ballot. Rev. Clifton had to petition his way onto the Indiana ballot for that office. Other important third parties that have not ever been ballot-qualified in Indiana since WW II are the Green, Constitution, New Alliance, Reform, Americans Elect, Natural Law, Socialist Workers Party, Communist Party, Socialist Labor Party, Socialist Party. The only third parties that have been ballot-qualified in Indiana since WW II are Prohibition, American, and Libertarian.
Is it a partisan office? In most states it is not.
Thanks for the information, Richard!
Author of this article is the candidate. Do we have any independent verification? It’s possible that he did a petition and is on the ballot with a partisan label, or at the other extreme it is possible he just paid a filing fee and is on the ballot without a party label. There are options in between.
The article has a link showing he does have his party label. The office is partisan and he is the only opponent of the Republican.
Thanks. I forgot the article by the time I asked, I usually keep IPR comments in dashboard view.
Rev. Clifton is a really decent guy and deserves the support of third-party activists and others who believe the two major parties in this country have gone completely off the rails.
Moreover, any minor party in the 21st Century that derives its name from one of the most interesting third parties in American history — a moral catalyst committed to ending slavery that quickly attracted, arguably, the most interesting array of followers imaginable — can’t be all bad.
America could use a party like that today.
Best of luck to Rev. Jimmy!
Jimmy Clifton has been a long time friend and ally of mine. I want him to win!
Well, I didn’t quite pull it off. I lost by four votes. I received 47% which isn’t bad for a fairly new third party in a town that is 90% Republican.
Close but no cigar! 41-37