Crashing the parties
Do we have too much of a good thing?
I saw a social media post the other night that came from an entity called the Independent American Party of Delaware. That was news to me, since I knew there are about 20 political parties recognized by the state (even one called The Mandalorians, because this is the way) but this one didn’t sound familiar. And I was correct: the IAP has a social media presence in each state (probably run by a single person or small group of people, since the Maryland and Delaware ones are pretty much identical) but the Independent American Party is not a registered party in Delaware at this time.*
Initially based in Utah, the IAP has a platform relatively similar to that of the Constitution Party, of which I’ve been a registered voter since I moved here in 2019. (In fact, they came close to merging with the CP some years ago but chose not to.) And that’s what brings me to the point I want to make today.
In Delaware, political party membership is easily accessible back to 2010, so that’s a pretty good place to start as that year was the midst of the reactionary awakening of the conservative side of the political spectrum thanks to the TEA Party. At that time there were a total of 26 political parties registered in Delaware, ranging from the lone member of the Statesman Party, two devotees of the “ROL” (Rule of Law?), and five participants in the New Frontier Party to the 287,821 members of the Democrat Party.
In 2013, nine of the least-performing political parties (including the three tiny ones noted above as well as the U.S. Taxpayers Party, which was the largest one broomed) were relgated to the bin called “other” by the state. Since then, only two parties have joined the fold: the American Delta Party, which came on board in 2016 and briefly had the numbers for ballot qualification - one of two states where they qualified, the other being Mississippi - and the aforementioned Mandalorians, who began in 2021. Neither currently have the numbers for ballot access, so there are 19 parties in the state, with six having ballot access (which requires 0.1% of registered voters to declare party membership, so roughly 770 or more members.)
The six with ballot access are the Democrats and Republicans (of course) along with the Libertarians, Conservative Party, Independent Party of Delaware, and Non-Partisan Delaware. Just missing out at the moment are the Green Party (which has had ballot access previously) and the Liberal Party. (At one time during the Obama administration the Working Families Party was also ballot-eligible, but their numbers now are less than half.)
But there has been an ebb and flow to party membership over the years. It’s the kind of numeric research I like to do, but what I was out to determine was which parties are ascendent and which ones have fallen out of favor over the course of the last thirteen years. This list is in order of current registration (high to low) but also shows the number at peak registration and when that peak occurred. I think there was a registration purge earlier this spring as the total number of registered voters peaked back in February of this year.
(Hint to Substack: I would have really liked to insert this as an Excel file.)
Democrat, 364,009 (368,701 - February, 2023)
Republican, 211,103 (213,725 - February, 2023)
No Party, 174,859 (176,512 - March, 2023)
Independent Party of Delaware, 10,543 (10,634 - March, 2023)
Libertarian, 2,152 (2,224 - February, 2023)
Non-Partisan Delaware, 1,202 (1,229 - December, 2022)
Conservative, 783 (809 - December, 2022)
Green Party, 734 (857 - March, 2017)
Liberal, 715 (727 - February, 2023)
“Other", 660 (667 - March, 2023)
American, 549 (593 - December, 2020)
American Delta, 544 (854 - October, 2016)
Working Families, 326 (741 - August, 2012)
Constitution, 250 (459 - December, 2011)
Socialist Workers, 136 (276 - January, 2010)
Blue Enigma, 86 (311 - September, 2010)
Natural Law, 80 (159 - January, 2010)
Mandalorians, 64 (current)
Reform, 48 (128 - January, 2010)
As you can see, some of these parties have peaked recently while several of those at the bottom have faded from the limelight. There was a purge of several underperforming parties after the 2012 election and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the bottomfeeders (except for the Mandalorians) disappear after the 2024 election as they have slowly lost members and interest over the years. For example, the Blue Enigma Party lost its ballot access after the 2008 election and is essentially one person and a Facebook page. Similarly, the Natural Law Party disbanded at the federal level nearly 20 years ago, and the Reform Party has all but died after the passing of its founder Ross Perot.
But what if we were to strategically eliminate some parties while preserving others? Aside from those who claim no party, the top six parties enjoy ballot access.
Out of the remaining group from #8 to #15, it would behoove us on the Right to quietly encourage the Green Party, Liberal Party, and Socialist Workers Party to remain as separate entities and work toward ballot access by picking up regressive far-left former Democrats. Meanwhile, the Libertarians, Non-Partisan Delaware, and the Mandalorians reflect a schism of the Libertarian Party that occurred nationally, with Non-Partisan Delaware and the Mandalorians being the more left-leaning section of the Libertarian coalition that split off when a more conservative brand of libertarianism took over the national party. And the American Delta Party is basically a personality-driven party that was formed by perennial national candidate Rocky De La Fuente.
So that leaves two entities: the American Party, which I know nothing about unless my asterisk below is correct, and the Constitution Party, of which I am registered. If you ask me, the Conservative Party is wasting a precious and valuable ballot line because they didn’t run a single candidate and there’s no national organization.
It’s my opinion that parties have to build on the state level to be successful at the national level. However, the Constitution Party has the infrastructure at both levels if enough members of the Conservative Party (plus a few disaffected Republicans) switch their affiliation to give the Constitution Party ballot access again in Delaware.
I have no illusions about winning elections with the Constitution Party in Delaware in the short-term. But the idea of getting these Christian and conservative entities together is two sides of the same coin.
If we can run a statewide ticket for governor and LG (it’s two separate elections) there’s an opportunity to compare and contrast a caring and conservative approach to government for the state. And on the legislative side, there were a total of 24 (out of 62) seats where the winner was unopposed in 2022, so if there is a Constitution Party member in those areas here was a wasted chance to join in the debate and educate the public.
It’s worth noting that the three minor parties who did participate in 2022 (Libertarian, IPoD, Non-Partisan Delaware) employed this strategy to an extent: the Libertarians and Non-Partisan Delaware had a candidate for Congress. These parties also ran candidates for legislative seats, mainly against incumbent Republicans or in GOP-leaning areas. Non-Partisan Delaware also ran a candidate for each county sheriff position. Some of that may be the fact that their party members are concentrated in GOP areas, but I think they were all attempting to advance their agendas. We should do the same, but ballot access is key. No one votes for a write-in candidate.
I like choices, but in this case consolidation would be a benefit to right-thinking Delawareans.
*That is, unless they are known as the “American Party” to the state, in which case they would be a natural fit for my idea and practically insure the numbers to stay on the ballot.