A Cross Party Ticket

Politics in today's USA has become very partisan. Could a cross party ticket happen? There has only been one cross party ticket in our country's history, it was called the National Union Party in 1864. Abraham Lincoln (R) and Andrew Johnson (D) ran together. This ticket won in a landslide. The electoral vote was 212 to 21. The Democrat opposing them, George McClellen only carried three states.

Initial thought is there would be a squabble about which party is at the top of the ticket. But let's think about it, if the Senate majority hangs in the balance, the vice president and president would be both important to getting things through. Think about the people within the Republican party who are in the #NeverTrump camp. Would they be willing to unite with Democrats to unity run? With people fed up over the partisan bickering, would they be willing to vote for it?

Who would you like to see on a National Union Party ticket for 2020?

It would have been strange, a McCain (R)/Lieberman (I) ticket. Lieberman is an Independent who caucused with the Democrats. If on the same ticket would he have aligned with the Republicans or the Democrats for the majority?

What if a current Republican and a current Democrat came out together announcing that they would be running on a National Union Party ticket. I'm using that name because it has been used before. They would not have to go through the Republican or Democrat primaries. They would be running as a third party on the General Election in November. Lincoln/Johnson was with the blessing of the Republican party, I am not sure that would happen in today's climate. There are enough #NeverTrump people that would be willing to make an outside run. If a popular Democrat was on board, it could really pull people from both parties.

Would a cross party ticket, get enough votes to win? Donald J Trump's election to the presidency was proof that you do not have to be a politician to win. Barack H Obama's election to the presidency showed that you do not have to be white, and you can be a first term senator, not a lifelong politician. I believe that we will see an election where it is not the Republican nor the Democrat ticket that wins. Whether that is a cross party ticket or independent ticket, I think it will happen.

Look at Bernie Sanders, a long time politician, who has always run in the primary as a Democrat but an Independent in the general... He was able to make progress against Hillary R Clinton. I don't think anyone thought he would do as well as he did.

David said:

Sanders is a socialist routinely elected to the Senate by a Repub base. Anyone that was following him before the primary knew he was going to have a chance.

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Bernie Sanders prior to this election, always runs as a Democrat in the primary, then switches to an Independent in the general.


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David said:

Which doesn't change my point. Vermont is mostly libertarian Republican. These Repubs are how Sanders keeps getting elected to Congress. Hell even that island of blue, Burlington, was a Repub stronghold until he became mayor, made the city rich, and turned them all into Soviet loving socialists. lol

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I understand what you are saying, but I just find it difficult to call Vermont a Republican stronghold. Yes, there are Republicans there. The governor is a Republican. But anyway, let's give you that and call it a Republican state. Are you trying to claim that socialist Bernie Sanders, who wins the Democrat primary then goes on to be an Independent is Senator because he is getting a significant number of Republican votes?

In 2012, Bernie Sanders (I) got 207,848 votes in the General Election. His opponent, John MacGovern (R) got 72,898. Vermont has an open primary system. In the Democrat primary Bernie Sanders (D) got 36,902 votes whereas in the Republican primary John MacGovern (R) got 6,358 votes.

Currently Vermont has
0/2 US Senators who are Republican
0/1 US Representative who are Republican
1/6 Statewide offices are held by Republicans (and that's the governor)
7/30 seats in the State Senate are held by Republicans
53/150 seats in the State House are held by Republicans
5/14 county executives are Republicans
16/42 county judges are Republicans

I just do not see an overwhelming number of Republicans in the state. In the presidential race of 2016, it went 30% for Trump (R) and 56% for Clinton (D).

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