Unity Party of America 2028- Are you ready for this?
Unity Party of America
 | This article reads like a press release or a news article and may be primarily based on routine coverage. (May 2020) |
Unity Party of America | |
|---|---|
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| Chairman | Bill Hammons |
| Founder | Bill Hammons and Rich Hammons[1] |
| Founded | November 4, 2004 |
| Membership |  2475 |
| Ideology | Centrism (U.S.) |
| Political position | Center |
| Colors | Red, White, and Blue (de jure) Cyan (de facto) |
| Slogan | Not Right, Not Left, Forward! |
| Elected offices | 0 |
| Website | |
| unitypartyamerica.us | |
The Unity Party of America is a national political party in the United States founded on November 4, 2004, with the slogan "Not Right, Not Left, But Forward!" [2] The party has 44 state affiliates.[3] Additionally, the Unity Party has reported members in 44 states.[4]
The Unity Party of America is currently facing significant internal turmoil, marked by allegations of financial misconduct against its vice chair, who has been accused of defrauding the party. Compounding these issues, the party lost its ballot access in Colorado, leading to a fracture within the state party despite the absence of a quorum among its members. In response to these challenges, the Unity Party has announced plans to convene an emergency convention within the next 15 days, aiming to address the ongoing crisis and regroup for future elections.
The Unity Party of America has now lost its ballot access in Colorado, exacerbating internal disputes and contributing to the state party's division. This loss has raised concerns about the party's viability and electoral future.
History
The Unity Party grew out of the grassroots group named Runners for Clark, which supported General Wesley Clark's 2004 presidential campaign by raising campaign contributions and awareness of Clark's run for the presidency; Runners for Clark morphed into Unity Runners and then into the Unity Party.[5][6]
Bill Hammons of Texas, New York, and Colorado founded the Unity Party in 2004 as chairman and ran as the Unity Party of America candidate for Colorado's 2nd congressional district, centered on Boulder, in 2008[7] and again in 2010.[8] By that point, the Unity Party had expanded beyond Colorado to 27 states.[9] He then ran for the U.S. Senate in Colorado in 2014, then for the Senate again in 2016, and for Colorado governor in 2018 (the "Unity" voter affiliation option in Colorado is a direct result of his Senate candidacy).[10][11][12][5]
In 2012, veteran and Gold Star father Jim Pirtle of Colorado Springs was declared a Unity Party candidate for Congress.[13]
In 2016, Bill Hammons ran as the party's candidate in the United States Senate election in Colorado, earning 9,336 votes, or 0.34% of the electorate.[14][15]
In June 2017, the Unity Party achieved full recognition as a minor party by the state of Colorado, and its candidates in the state no longer need to petition for the ballot; instead, they only need a "show of hands" at a party assembly. By 2017, the party had spread to 37 states.[16][12][17][18]
In September 2017, Unity Party members decided to begin referring to themselves as "Uniters." [19]
In October 2018, Hammons was quoted as saying, "God did not ordain two parties in the United States," and went on to say one goal of his gubernatorial run was to help put a Unity Party presidential candidate at the top of the ballot in Colorado in 2020.[20]
In June 2019, Rebecca Keltie of Colorado Springs became the first female Unity Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. In September 2019, Joshua Rodriguez's U.S. Senate candidacy in Arvada, Colorado, created the first-ever contested Unity Party nomination race.[21][4]
Bill Hammons and Eric Bodenstab were nominated for President and Vice President, respectively, in an online convention held over WebEx on April 4, 2020.[22] Hammons and Bodenstab made it onto the ballot in Colorado,[23] Louisiana[24], and New Jersey.[25]
On September 1,8, 2020, Ian Silverii, a columnist for the Denver Post, called the Unity Party an alternative to the Colorado Republican Party after the Republicans failed to provide an official platform for their 2020 state convention, instead republishing their 2016 platform.[26]
During the 2022 House of Representatives election in District 2, the Unity Party nominated Tim Wolf as their candidate in a crowded field that included three third parties, including the ideologically similar Colorado Center Party.[27]
On August 24, 2023, Richard Ward, the Libertarian candidate for Colorado's 8th congressional district in 2022 who won 3.9% of the vote, announced that he would switch party affiliation to the Unity Party, citing the rightward shift in the Libertarian Party after its takeover by the Mises Caucus.[28]
Cole-Hammons split
On June 23, 2023, Tijani "TJ" Cole, a judge, lawyer, football coach, and failed Democratic candidate for the University of Colorado regent at-large seat in 2023, was elected chairman of the Colorado affiliate of the Unity Party, the formal core of the party, and the only branch of the party with ballot access.[29] Cole and Hammons, the party's federal President, quickly entered a dispute over who should be the Unity Party's 2024 nominee, with Hammons supporting Paul Noel Fiorino while Cole sought a big-name such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., before giving Cornel West the state ballot spot instead of the party's official candidate.[30][31]
Cole and his wing of the party seized control of the party's website, unityparty.us, forcing Hammons to create a new website, unitypartyamerica.us, and to announce on his website that the Colorado affiliate was the only affiliate of the Unity Party, and to disregard any statements made by Hammons, and vice versa.[32] Hammons' campaign against Cole, dubbed the Double Yellow Line Project, denounces Cole as "Communist and/or Fascist filth" and that he'd be "better off saving [his] energy by [trying to] launch [his] own party." Hammons has sought an appeal with the Federal Election Commission to force Cole to cease and desist using the Unity Party moniker while also trying to get him disbarred since "A judge should not act as an arbitrator or mediator or otherwise perform judicial functions apart from the judge's official duties unless expressly authorized by law." [33]
The two factions of the party would have rival conventions in 2025, with Hammons holding one online on April 19, while Cole held one in Lafayette on June 21. Both factions dug in at their conventions and tried to discredit the rival faction.[33]
Party structure
Chairman
| No. | Name | Term start | Term end | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Hammons | November 4, 2004 | February 11, 2022 | The party's founder and longtime perennial candidate.[1] |
| 2 | Elijah Herson | April 9, 2022 | June 7, 2022 | Longtime party Vice-Chairman resigned due to personality disputes in the party's national committee.[1] |
| 3 | Tim Wolf | June 7, 2022 | March 29, 2023 | Former vice-president, there is no interim-chairman role in the party's constitution. Upon Herson's resignation, Wolf became chairman until his own resignation.[1] |
| 4 | Eric Bodenstab | April 7, 2023 | May 12, 2023 | Upon Wolf's resignation, Vice-Chair Jim Wiest declined the chairmanship, so Secretary Eric Bodenstab became chairman.[1] |
| 5 | Alex Darlington | May 12, 2023 | July 29, 2023 | Popular national committeeman Alex Darlington was elected chairman in an attempt to end the instability in party leadership; however, he too would resign.[1] |
| 6 | Sabrina Bryan | July 29, 2023 | July 30, 2023 | Another interim chairman who oversaw the transfer of power back to Hammon.[1] |
| 1 (7) | Bill Hammons | October 7, 2023 | Incumbent | To conclude the leadership instability, the treasurer and founder, Bill Hammons, was reinstated as chairman.[1] |
Elections
2020 election
Nominees Hammons and Bodenstab finished 12th nationally in the 2020 United States presidential election, winning 6,647 votes.[34]
Downballot, the party's Senate candidate, Stephen "Seku" Evans, won 8,971 votes, coming in very last place,[35] underperforming Hammons both in his senatorial run and in his 2018 gubernatorial run.
In the House of Representatives, the party ran only candidates in Colorado, who averaged between 0.5% and 1% of the vote in their respective districts.[35]
The Unity Party's best performance came from James Triebert, who ran for Adams County Commissioner against Democrat Chad Tedesco. He won 29.1% of the vote, with 57,387 votes.[36]
2024 election
On December 21, 2023, Donnie Harold Harris, the President of the Unity Party of Indiana, and Hammons announced that for the first time in the Unity Party's history, there will be a Unity Presidential primary, which will determine the candidate in time for the April 13, 2024, Unity Party convention. Additionally, the pair announced that former party chairman Elijah Herson will be moderating a debate.[37]
On April 6, 2024, the Unity Party nominated Paul Noel Fiorino and Matthew May for President and Vice President, respectively, at the 7th United National Convention via Google Meet.[38] However, the Colorado faction of the party, which has the party's ballot access, met on April 13, 2024, and nominated independent Cornel West.[39][40] It was at this time that the Colorado party started to butt heads with the national party. By May 2025, the Colorado affiliate announced that it would seek
an affiliation with the Justice for All Party instead.[41]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 3rd-party presidential campaign had also approached the Unity Party of Colorado for its nomination before it gave it to West.[42]
2028 election
In April 2023, Harris and Hammons also announced that they would be seeking the party's nomination in the 2028 election, with Hammons for President and Harris for VP.[43]
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