Reform Party

The Reform Party of the United States of America is a relatively recent political party founded by Ross Perot in 1995 based on his belief that Americans were disappointed with the state of politics and the corruptness of the two-party system. He wanted to offer an alternative to the Democratic and Republican Parties because he felt they were not sufficiently confronting vital U.S. issues such as the federal deficit and term limits. Perot's creation of the Reform Party began after he ran for the presidency in the 1992 elections as an Independent and became the first non-major party candidate since 1912 to have been considered viable enough to win the presidency, earning 18.9% of the popular vote. Though he was less successful in the 1996 elections and his dispute with Dick Lamm over the party's presidential nominee caused a split within the party, his financial and emotional support from the party spurred one of the most successful third parties in U.S. history.

Initially, Perot's Reform Party gained ballot access in all 50 states. The party's controversy, however, over who should be the presidential nominee for the 2000 elections and the Federal Election Committee (FEC) investigation resulting from accusations of ballot fraud affected its original positive image. Pat Buchanan was ultimately recognized by the FEC as the official presidential candidate in 2000, but the investigations and underground dealings that surfaced during his reign alienated over 90% of the Reform Party's supporters. The misspending of large amounts of money caused most states to remove the party from their ballots. By the October 2003 National Convention, the Reform Party had only started rebuilding after interference from Buchanan's brigade, but several former state organizations had already elected to rejoin. They increased their membership from 24 to 30 states and managed to regain ballot access in seven states.

Despite ongoing disputes on the national level between founders and extremists, several Reform Party state parties have been actively running candidates across the country. In the past, the Reform Party has run candidates for various offices and seats, including president, Senate, House of Representatives, state house, county commissions, and city councils. The most notable of these candidates include Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and Ralph Nader, all of whom ran for the presidency in consecutive elections. In 1998, the Reform Party gained ground when Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota, the highest office win to date for the Reform Party. Since then, the party has consistently appeared on ballots in many other states with active Reform Party organizations petitioning to regain ballot access in their states.

In 2006, the Reform Party ran candidates in several states, including Arizona, California, and Mississippi. The Reform Party of Kansas nominated a slate of candidates led by Iraq War veteran Richard Ranzau. In Colorado, a former assistant Environmental Protection Agency administrator and Navy veteran, Eric Eidsness, ran on the Reform Party ticket in Colorado's fourth congressional district and received 11.28% of the vote. The Florida Reform Party sponsored Max Linn of Florida Citizens for Term Limits (a traditionally Republican organization) in the 2006 Florida gubernatorial election. Linn was supported by a campaign staff with connections to the Perot and Ventura campaigns but received only 1.9% of the vote. Most recently, Daniel Imperato has pursued the Reform Party nomination in the 2008 presidential elections.

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