Following Ross Perot's impressive showing during the 1996 presidential election, the Reform Party of the United States of America became the country's largest third party. The party's 2000 presidential candidate would be entitled to $12.5 million (~$ in ) in matching funds. Several high-profile candidates vied for the nomination, including future President Donald Trump, Pat Buchanan, and Transcendental Meditation leader John Hagelin. For a brief time, Congressman John B. Anderson and Congressman Ron Paul, who previously ran third party campaigns for President in 1980 and 1988 respectively, were considered potential candidates. Paul ultimately declined to seek the nomination. Anderson's name was placed on the ballot, but he failed to gain significant traction.

The party's 2000 candidates received a great deal of media attention, particularly after a dispute at the party's national convention in Long Beach, California led to a schism and the formation of a rebel faction. Supporters of Transcendental Meditation leader John Hagelin refused to accept Pat Buchanan as the party's chairman, and staged a walk-out, which was broadcast live on television.

Ultimately, a court decided Buchanan was the party's nominee. However, the drama surrounding the convention is often credited with leading to the downfall of the Reform Party. Ross Perot, Jesse Ventura, Pat Buchanan, Donald Trump, and other high-profile party members ultimately left the party after the 2000 election.

The campaign

Buchanan enters race

During the 1992 Republican Presidential Primaries, commentator Pat Buchanan fared extremely well and received 22.96% of the total vote. During his 1996 bid, Buchanan spent a brief time as the Republican front-runner; his campaign carried four states, including New Hampshire, Alaska, Missouri, and Louisiana. Buchanan re-entered the presidential race in 2000, hoping to be the primary "Stop Bush" candidate. He was, however, viewed much less favorably by his fellow Republicans, and he struggled to place fifth during an Iowa Straw Poll.

Reform Party member William von Raab launched a "Draft Buchanan" movement, and in October 1999 Buchanan announced his departure from the Republican Party, disparaging them (along with the Democrats) as a "beltway party." He announced that he would seek the presidential nomination of the Reform Party, and immediately sought to align himself with the "Russ Verney faction" of the party. Some in the Reform Party voiced concerns that Buchanan, ardently pro-life and anti-gay rights, would inadvertently move the party too far to the right. During a meeting with Reform Party leadership at Pat Choate's Washington, D.C. home, Buchanan assured the party elite that his campaign would not address social issues, instead focusing on economic policy.

At the time Buchanan entered the race, the Reform Party was engulfed in a feud between the supporters of Ross Perot and newly elected Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, who, as the Reform Party's highest elected official, was rumored to be considering a presidential bid on the party ticket in 2004. Buchanan's campaign immediately aligned itself with diverse factions within the party, including Russ Verney and Marxist Lenora Fulani.

On November 12, 1999, Fulani formally endorsed Buchanan, saying: "We are going to integrate that peasant army of his. We are going to bring black folks, Latino folks, gay folks and liberal folks into that army...I'm going to take Pat Buchanan to 125th Street in Harlem. We are going to have lunch at Sylvia's. I am going to take him to speak at Reverend Sharpton's National Action Network." Fulani became Buchanan's campaign co-chair.

At the same time, the Buchanan campaign began to gain support among white nationalists. He gained the endorsement of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who quit the Republican Party and joined the Reform Party to assist Buchanan's campaign. Almost all white nationalists left the Reform Party following the campaign; in 2004 the party nominated Lebanese-American Ralph Nader as its presidential candidate.

Trump enters race

Supporters of the Jesse Ventura faction began encouraging Donald Trump to enter the race, likely as a placeholder for Ventura, who said he would not consider a presidential bid until after his term as governor ended. On October 19, 1999, Donald Trump announced he would file to appear on the California primary ballot. On October 25, 1999, Trump joined the Reform Party. His pre-campaign gained a great deal of media attention. Trump told Chris Matthews on Hardball: "It's not so much the Reform Party, it's really the fact that I'd want to make that if I ran and spent a lot of money I could actually win, I could beat that Democrat-Republican apparatus." He told Fortune magazine in early January 2000: "'If I feel I could win—win—then I'd run. I think I have a good chance. Hey, I've got my name on half the major buildings in New York,' he said. 'I went to the Wharton School of Finance, which is the No. 1 school. I'm intelligent. Some people would say I'm very, very, very intelligent." He further said: "It's very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it."

During the California primary, he received 15,311 votes or 37% of the Reform votes cast, giving him the lead in a five-person field. His total was 0.3% of the entire California primary vote. Trump ultimately withdrew his candidacy. During an appearance on The Today Show, he stated: "The Reform Party is a total mess! You have Buchanan, a right winger, and you have Fulani, a Communist, and they have merged.... I don't know what you have!"

Schism

Leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement John Hagelin also entered the race for the Reform Party nomination. Hagelin had run for president in both 1992 and 1996 on the Natural Law Party ticket.

During his 2000 campaign, Hagelin appeared on ABC's Nightline (2000) and Politically Incorrect (2000), NBC's Meet the Press (2000), CNN's Larry King Live, PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Inside Politics, CNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal.

In July it was announced that Hagelin and Buchanan would be the only two candidates on the primary ballot. Supporters of Hagelin later charged the results of the party's open primary, which favored Buchanan by a wide margin, were "tainted." Buchanan countered that Russ Verney had allowed the Hagelin campaign to mail a "Stop Buchanan" pamphlet using official "Reform Party" envelopes.

Much to the dismay of many Reform Party members, it became clear that the Hagelin campaign intended to merge the Natural Law Party, which was based on the teachings of Hindu guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi with the secular Reform Party. On August 2, Buchanan's website posted a copy of a proposed resolution to merge the two parties.

The animosity between the two campaigns reached a breaking point at the party's convention in Long Beach, California. Buchanan supporters blocked Hagelin and his delegates from entering the convention. Hagelin's supporters declared the convention illegitimate, and announced their own rival convention nearby, where they endorsed John Hagelin as their presidential candidate.

With two individuals both claiming to be the Reform Party candidate, a court would have to determine who would be permitted to appear on the ballot and receive the $12.5 million in matching funds.

Results of the mail-in primary by state States won by Pat BuchananStates won by John Hagelin + 2000 Reform Party presidential primaries by state Alt URL Pat Buchanan John Hagelin Margin State Total State # % # % # % # Alabama 222 79.29 58 20.71 164 58.58 280 AL Alaska 549 79.80 139 20.20 410 59.60 688 AK Arizona 1,042 72.77 390 27.23 652 45.54 1,432 AZ Arkansas 347 80.70 83 19.30 264 61.40 430 AR California 8,166 51.95 7,554 48.05 612 3.90 15,720 CA Colorado 571 43.69 736 56.31 −165 −12.62 1,307 CO Connecticut 557 63.44 321 36.56 236 26.88 878 CT Delaware 125 73.10 46 26.90 79 46.20 171 DE D.C. 78 59.09 54 40.91 24 18.18 132 DC Florida 2,806 63.93 1,583 36.07 1,223 27.86 4,389 FL Georgia 807 73.03 298 26.97 509 46.06 1,105 GA Hawaii 67 35.08 124 64.92 −57 −29.84 191 HI Idaho 289 73.35 105 26.65 184 46.70 394 ID Illinois 1,896 79.26 496 20.74 1,400 58.52 2,392 IL Indiana 931 77.39 272 22.61 659 54.78 1,203 IN Iowa 1,192 50.90 1,150 49.10 42 1.80 2,342 IA Kansas 663 69.21 295 30.79 368 38.42 958 KS Kentucky 571 66.24 291 33.76 280 32.48 862 KY Louisiana 472 81.66 106 18.34 366 63.32 578 LA Maine 284 58.32 203 41.68 81 16.64 487 ME Maryland 710 54.64 369 45.36 52 9.28 560 MD Massachusetts 1,010 69.94 434 30.06 576 39.88 1,444 MA Michigan 1,812 69.48 796 30.52 1,016 38.96 2,608 MI Minnesota 1,213 73.20 444 26.80 769 46.40 1,657 MN Mississippi 256 82.05 56 17.95 200 64.10 312 MS Missouri 1,128 72.73 423 27.27 705 45.46 1,551 MO Montana 245 75.38 80 24.62 165 50.76 325 MT Nebraska 267 75.85 85 24.15 182 51.70 352 NE Nevada 341 65.33 181 34.67 160 30.66 522 NV New Hampshire 801 76.87 241 23.13 560 53.74 1,041 NH New Jersey 1,406 77.94 398 22.06 1,008 55.88 1,804 NJ New Mexico 273 59.61 185 40.39 88 19.22 458 NM New York 4,160 52.51 3,762 47.49 398 5.03 7,922 NY North Carolina 896 49.28 922 50.72 26 1.44 1,818 NC North Dakota 192 89.72 22 10.28 70 79.44 214 ND Ohio 2,181 72.53 826 27.47 1,355 45.06 3,007 OH Oklahoma 474 74.65 161 25.35 635 49.30 1,758 OK Oregon 269 65.04 141 34.96 128 30.08 410 OR Pennsylvania 2,809 70.94 756 29.06 2,053 41.88 3,565 PA Rhode Island 164 68.33 76 31.67 88 36.66 240 RI South Carolina 567 77.88 161 22.12 406 55.76 728 SC South Dakota 158 77.07 47 22.93 111 54.14 205 SD Tennessee 641 74.80 216 25.20 425 49.60 767 TN Texas 1,690 63.32 979 36.68 711 26.64 2,669 TX Utah 266 66.17 136 33.83 130 32.34 402 UT Vermont 94 65.96 70 34.04 24 31.92 164 VT Virginia 1,035 67.03 509 32.97 526 34.06 1,544 VA Washington 1,054 51.69 985 48.31 69 3.38 2,039 WA West Virginia 326 84.90 58 15.10 268 69.80 384 WV Wisconsin 946 67.38 458 32.62 248 34.76 586 WI Wyoming 98 55.46 33 44.54 65 10.92 131 WY TOTALS: 49,529 63.44 28,539 36.56 20,990 26.89 78,068 US

Maps

Post-convention Ultimately, when the Federal Election Commission ruled Buchanan was to receive ballot status as the Reform candidate, as well as about $12.6 million in federal campaign funds secured by Perot's showing in the 1996 election, Buchanan won the nomination. In his acceptance speech, Buchanan proposed U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations and expelling the U.N. from New York, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Housing and Urban Development, taxes on inheritance and capital gains, and affirmative action programs.

As his running mate, Buchanan chose African-American activist and retired teacher from Los Angeles, Ezola B. Foster. Buchanan was supported in this election run by future Socialist Party USA presidential candidate Brian Moore, who said in 2008 he supported Buchanan in 2000 because "he was for fair trade over free trade. He had some progressive positions that I thought would be helpful to the common man." On August 19, the New York Right to Life Party, in convention, chose Buchanan as their nominee, with 90% of the districts voting for him.(2000-08-01) Right To Life Party Picks Buchanan, Ballot Access News.

On November 2, party founder Ross Perot endorsed Republican George W. Bush for president.