Overview

The Liberal Party is the longest existing third party in the history of the United States. It was founded in 1944 as an alternative to a state Democratic Party dominated by local party machines rife with corruption and a Republican Party controlled by special interests. The Liberal Party has a history of nominating candidates on the basis of merit, independence, and progressive viewpoints, regardless of party affiliations. Past Liberal Party nominees have included such distinguished public servants as Governors Averell Harriman, Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo, United States Senators Robert Wagner, Sr., Herbert Lehman, Jacob Javits, Robert Kennedy and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and New York City Mayors Fiorello LaGuardia, Robert Wagner and John Lindsay.