American Independent Party

The **American Independent Party** is a political party in the United States that was established in California in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. It gained significant attention during the 1968 US Presidential Election when it nominated George Wallace, the then-governor of Alabama, as its candidate.

The party is known for giving support to independent candidates, most recently, in 2024, nominating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the California presidential ballot.

## Background information

The party's support base initially included individuals from the Democratic Party (United States) who were opposed to the desegregation policies prevalent at the time, and it achieved notable electoral success in some Southern states.

Over time, the party became closer to the conservative movement and it renounced policy against racial equality. Today, the party still exists but many of its original members have left: most of the earlier members returned to the Democratic Party after the 1969 election and its later members have moved to the Constitution Party.

In 1967, the AIP was founded by Bill Shearer and his wife, Eileen Knowland Shearer. It nominated George C. Wallace (Democrat) as its presidential candidate and retired U.S. Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice-presidential candidate. Wallace ran on every state ballot in the election, though he did not represent the American Independent Party in all fifty states: in Connecticut, for instance, he was listed on the ballot as the nominee of the "George Wallace Party." The Wallace/LeMay ticket received 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electoral votes from the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. No third-party candidate has won more than one electoral vote since the 1968 election.

## Presidential tickets

|Year|width=300|Presidential nominee|Home state|width=300|Previous positions|width=300|Vice presidential nominee|Home state|width=300|Previous positions|Votes|References|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1968|**George Wallace** Democratic (campaign)|||**Curtis LeMay**|||9,906,473 (13.5%) 46 EV||||||
|1972|**John G. Schmitz**|||**Thomas J. Anderson**|||1,099,482 (1.4%) 0 EV||||||
|1976|**Lester Maddox**|||**William Dyke**|||170,531 (0.2%) 0 EV||||||
|1980|**John Rarick**|||**Eileen Shearer**|||41,268 (<0.1%) 0 EV||||||
|1984|**Bob Richards** (Populist)|||**Maureen Kennedy Salaman**|||66,336 (0.1%) 0 EV||||||
|1988|**James C. Griffin**|||**Charles Morsa**|||27,818 (<0.1%) 0 EV||||||
|1992|**Howard Phillips** (U.S. Taxpayers')|||**Albion W. Knight**|||43,369 (<0.1%) 0 EV||||||
|1996|**Howard Phillips** (U.S. Taxpayers')|||**Herbert Titus**|||184,656 (0.2%) 0 EV||||||
|2000|**Howard Phillips** (Constitution)|||**Curtis Frazier**|||98,020 (0.1%) 0 EV||||||
|2004|**Michael Peroutka** (Constitution)|||**Chuck Baldwin**|||143,630 (0.1%) 0 EV||||||
|2008|**Alan Keyes** (America's Independent)|||**Wiley Drake**|||47,694 (<0.1%) 0 EV||||||
|2012|**Tom Hoefling** (America's)|||**Robert Ornelas**|||40,641 (<0.1%) 0 EV||||||
|2016|Donald Trump (Republican)|||**Mike Pence**|||62,984,825 (46.1%) 304 EV||||||
|2020|**Rocky De La Fuente** (Alliance; Reform)||Businessman and perennial candidate|**Kanye West** (Independent; Birthday)|||60,160 (0.34%) 0 EV||||||
|2024|**Robert F. Kennedy Jr.** (Reform; We The People; Texas Independent; Natural Law; Independent of Delaware)||Environmental lawyer|Nicole Shanahan||Attorney|TBD||||||

## Infobox (political party)

- **name**: American Independent Party
- **leader1 title**: Chairman
- **leader1 name**: Markham Robinson (California, CA)
- **leader2 title**: Vice Chairman
- **leader2 name**: Mark Seidenberg (California, CA)
- **headquarters**: 476 Deodara St.
Vacaville, California Zip code, 95688
- **ideology**: Paleoconservatism
- **position**: Independent politicians
- **national**: America's Party
- **colors**: Purple
- **seats1 title**: California State Senate, State Senate
- **seats2 title**: California State Assembly, State House
- **state**: California