American Party of South Carolina

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Not to be confused with American Party (1969) or American Party of Florida.

American Party of South Carolina
ChairpersonJim Rex
FoundedJanuary 2014; 10 years ago (2014-01)
HeadquartersGreat Falls, South Carolina, U.S.
IdeologyCentrism
National affiliationAlliance Party
Seats in the Upper House
0 / 46
Seats in the Lower House
0 / 124
Website
http://www.americanpartysc.com/

The American Party of South Carolina, is a third party in the United States. Established in 2014, the party is active only in South Carolina. In 2018, the party joined together with other state political organizations to form the Alliance Party.[1]

History[edit]

The American Party of South Carolina was founded by physician Oscar Lovelace and former South Carolina Superintendent of Education Jim Rex in 2014. According to Rex and Lovelace, their impetus in starting the new party was to present a centrist alternative to the Republican Party and Democratic Party that could address perceived government dysfunction.[2] Rex and Lovelace began collecting the 10,000 petition signatures required for formal party recognition under South Carolina state law during the 2013 South Carolina State Fair. Voter discontent with the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, which coincided with the fair, helped invigorate an unusually robust level of interest in the proposed new party.[3]

In 2014, the first year of electoral activity for the party, it unsuccessfully ran four candidates for public office in that year's South Carolina elections.[4][5][6][7][8][9] The same year, its youth wing, Young Americans, was established with an inaugural chapter at Winthrop University.[10]

The party's 2016 state convention was attended by 61 delegates from nine South Carolina counties, and nominated Peter Skewes as its candidate for president of the United States, as well as candidates for five other offices. As of 2016, the party said it hoped to expand beyond South Carolina and it registered with the Federal Elections Commission the same year.[11][12]

On October 14, 2018, a group of independent state political organizations, including the American Party, joined together to create the Alliance Party. Jim Rex is the National Chair.[1] In the 2018 South Carolina elections, the party unsuccessfully ran thirteen candidates, one of whom was under a fusion vote with the Democratic Party, for public office.[13]

In the 2020 South Carolina elections, the American Party's presidential candidate Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente Guerra received 1,862 votes, around 0.07%.[14] The party unsuccessfully ran five other candidates for public office.[15]

In the 2022 South Carolina elections, the party unsuccessfully ran three candidates. Sarah E. Work performed the best of the three with her bid for state treasurer, gaining 281,695 votes, around 19.86% of the vote, in a two way race against a Republican candidate.[16]

Platform[edit]

According to the party, it supports term limits, campaign finance reform, and "attacking problems from the center instead of the left or the right".[9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "How We Formed". Alliance Party of South Carolina. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  2. ^ Hutchins, Corey (April 9, 2014). "S.C.'s New Moderate American Party Debuts with Four Candidates for 2014". Free Times. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  3. ^ Hutchins, Corey (January 17, 2017). "Government shutdown helps new political party in S.C. | The Battery". Archived from the original on January 17, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  4. ^ "American Party of South Carolina". ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  5. ^ "Donna McGreevy". ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  6. ^ "Ed Murray". ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  7. ^ "Emile DeFelice". ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  8. ^ "Jill Bossi". ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Thompson, Scott (March 30, 2016). "3 Sun City residents running for office on third-party ticket". Blufton Today. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  10. ^ Street, Lindsay (February 10, 2014). "Organizer: New party outnumbers Democrats, Republicans at Winthrop". South Carolina Radio Network. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  11. ^ Arnsdorf, Isaac (June 28, 2016). "NFIB nabs Addington". Politico. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  12. ^ Crowder, Mike (May 15, 2016). "American Party of SC nominates candidates for a handful of offices". WRHI. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  13. ^ "2018 Statewide General Elections". www.enr-scvotes.org. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  14. ^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  15. ^ "2020 Statewide General Election - Election Night Reporting". www.enr-scvotes.org. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  16. ^ "2022 Statewide General Election". South Carolina Election Commission. November 17, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2024.

External links[edit]

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