Third Parties in Senate Races: Still Not Their Year

Just a quick spotlight on non-Democrat/Republican Senate
candidates who have managed to pull substantially more than one
percent, so far,
using RealClearPolitics’ numbers:

•For the Libertarian Party, the
controversial Sean Haugh of South Carolina is now pulling 3.6,
substantially more than the current very narrow spread between
currently in-the-lead Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Kay
Hagen.

•But! A L.P. Senate candidate I had not been following at all is
doing even better, Kansas’ Randall Batson,
currently with 4.3 percent, in a race where the number two is also
an Independent, Greg Orman. Batson’s current numbers beat the
spread between Orman and currently in-the-lead Republican incumbent
Pat Roberts.

•In Virginia,
Robert Sarvis is failing to carry over the momentum of his over
6 percent governor results last year, currently at just 2.7, still
a substantial spread-beat between winning Republican Ed Gillespie
and losing Democrat Mark Warner. [UPDATE: In ten minutes
since posting the race has reversed, with Warner now slightly
ahead. All the “winning/losing” declarations in this post are as of
the timestamp.]

•Gaylon Kent, L.P. Senate candidate in Colorado, now at 2.4,
nowhere near the spread between winning Republican Cory Gardner and
losing Democrat Mark Udall.

•In South Carolina, reality TV star of Bravo’s Southern
Charm, former Republican state treasurer with a checkered past
Thomas Ravenel is pulling 7.1 percent as an Independent.

That’s all the Senate races in which
RealClearPolitics is showing a non-major-party
candidate with over 2 percent. And while
RealClearPolitics is currently missing it, L.P. Senate
candidate in Illinois Sharon Hensen is
at 3.64, and L.P. Senate candidate from Kentucky David
Patterson
is at 3.07 (neither are beating the major party
spread).