The Reform Party of the United States of America was started by Ross Perot in 1995. Ross Perot was the independent that ran in the 1992 presidential election. He was the first independent since 1912 to appear to have a chance of winning presidency. He had a lead in july of that year, but then he quit running for a few months. He said that the republicans threatened to ruin his daughters wedding. When he started running again, it was too late. He got about 18% of the popular vote.
In 1995, the people that supported Perot in 1992, decided to form a new party with his leadership. The next year, Perot ran for president, but some of the party thought that he cheated Dick Lamm out of the parties candidacy. The people that supported Dick Lamm created a new party called the American Reform Party.
In 1998, Jesse Ventura won the Minnesota governor election, backed by the party. The party also had more votes than any other minority group that year, making them the third biggest. Then Ventura split from the party forming the Reform Party of Minnesota.
In the 2000 presidential election, many big names like Donald Trump, Ron Paul, and John McCain we suggested as the parties candidate, but none of them stayed with the party. In the end, Pat Buchanan got the ticket. He got about half a million votes.
Since then, the party has not gotten any big wins. In fact their best presidential candidate since then got about 1000 votes.
Some of the major issues the party is focused on are campaign reform, congressional term limits, balancing the federal budget, and overhauling the health-care system.
Their Emblemhttps://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1219365302/Reform_Party_Button_Logo.jpg" data-sz="f" />Ross Perot
Comments
Great summary of their history but brief on the issues.