Oregon has a proud history of independent politics. We are one of 3 states to elect an independent as Governor. Wayne Morse served as an independent in the United States Senate.

Unfortunately, it is now all but impossible to run for public office as an independent candidate in Oregon. In 2005, the Oregon State Legislature enacted House Bill 2614, a law intended to keep independent candidates off of the Oregon ballot by disqualifying all Republicans and Democrats who vote (on anything) in the primary election from signing any petition for a candidate seeking to qualify for the general election.

Even more important, the same Legislature passed a law to eliminate the word "Independent" on all ballots. Before 2006, any candidate who qualified for the ballot by collecting sufficient signatures of registered voters was identified on the ballot an "Independent." But the Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature thought that word sounded too good. After all, someone who is "independent" is strong, resourceful, and smart. So they changed the word to "non-affiliated," which instead brings to mind someone who is a loner, misfit loser. But the unintended consequence of this law was to release the term "Independent" to be used as the name of a political party in Oregon.

In response to this new law, citizen activists collected 26,000 signatures during 2006 to form the Independent Party of Oregon. The party was officially recognized by the Oregon Secretary of State in January 2007.

The Independent Party of Oregon seeks to enfranchise the 30 percent of Oregon voters who are not members of a political party and to provide a common sense alternative for voters and political candidates who have grown frustrated with partisan division and special interest control of our elections and government decisions.

The IPO does not adhere to rigid ideology that characterizes many "3rd party" movements in Oregon and America and is not affiliated with any other party on any level (international, national, state). Instead, we seek to recruit members and promote candidates who believe in the importance of good government and who are committed to restoring citizen control over our government processes. We are open to collaborating with members of other political parties in pursuit of these goals and encourage all people of good conscience to join us in that effort.

A candidate may join the Independent Party and run as an Independent without running afoul of the prohibitive requirements that effectively ended Ben Westlund's bid for Governor as an independent in 2006.

If you are a candidate who is interested in running as an Independent, we encourage you to review our For Candidates page.