The Connecticut chapter of the Yankee National Party has submitted designation petitions for a wide range of local and state offices ahead of the 2025 and 2026 election cycles. The organization is seeking to eventually qualify as a recognized political party under state election law.
Independent Political Report first covered the Yankee National Party’s candidate recruitment efforts in November 2024, when the group was finalizing its updated platform and preparing for the future following the general election. At the time, the party said it planned to field candidates under its own label across the region, while also considering endorsements of aligned candidates running as Republicans, Democrats, Greens, or Libertarians. It also noted that it was accepting early endorsement applications for future cycles on a case-by-case basis.
According to a recent Patch article, Connecticut organizers have now submitted party designation petitions for a variety of offices to the Secretary of State’s office. A list published in the article indicates that the party is looking to run candidates under its label for president, three congressional districts, U.S. Senate, statewide offices, six state senate districts, eleven state house districts, and local offices in eleven total municipalities.
The group is also reportedly pursuing recognition as either a minor or major party under Connecticut law. A party qualifies as a minor party for a specific office if its candidate receives at least 1% of the votes cast in the most recent election for that office. This status allows the party to nominate future candidates for that office without petitioning, provided it files party rules with the Secretary of the State and continues to run candidates. Major party status is more difficult to attain and requires either that a party’s gubernatorial candidate receive at least 20 percent of the vote in a statewide election or that at least 20 percent of all registered voters in Connecticut be enrolled in the party.
A former Democratic official has also recently announced plans to seek office under the Yankee National Party banner in one of the eleven municipalities. On Wednesday, the Connecticut Examiner reported that Joshua Steele Kelly, who served as vice chair of the Waterford Democratic Town Committee until resigning Tuesday, will run for a seat on the Waterford Board of Finance. Kelly’s departure followed the Democratic committee’s decision not to endorse him, reportedly due to his role as treasurer of the Yankee National Party.
Kelly has pushed back against the decision by comparing his situation to Democrats who have accepted cross-endorsements from the Working Families Party.
Founded in 2020, the Yankee National Party describes itself as a center-left social democratic organization focused on the New England region, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. It is affiliated with the New England Independence Campaign and the California National Party but maintains its own separate structure. The party resumed organizing efforts this past year and has also since endorsed two local candidates in Massachusetts.
Well, this should be interesting. If this is democrat socialist lite, one of two things can be expected to happen: 1) This will drain off the more puss ridden part of the leftist vote from the CT Democrat party, or 2) It becomes just another annoying wanna-be party that cross endorses.
I would prefer number 1. If it is number 2, newsflash. There is plenty of election data to show that cross endorsing parties have virtually no impact on the outcome of a race. You would think otherwise, but the highly questionable data published by our phenomenally incompetent Secretary of State shows no race, at least from 2024 or 2022, where getting the endorsement of a minor party changed the outcome of the results from the major party numbers alone.
If anything, the creation of this mis-named party will test the waters to see how many more people are drifting to communism.
The irony here is, if this group would endorse Trump’s proposal to incorporate Canada into the US, that many of their stated political objectives (“a center-left social democratic organization”) would be easier to achieve with the participation of like minded folks from Canada.