While it’s very hard for third-party and independent candidates to win statewide elections outright, they can have some impact on the outcome. This may be true again in some 2014 contests for U.S. Senate and governor. Some outsider candidates will get a fair amount of press, such as ex-Sen. Larry Pressler’s independent Senate bid in South Dakota or Libertarian Robert Sarvis’ second statewide run, this time in Virginia’s Senate contest (Sarvis won a sizable amount of the vote in the 2013 Old Dominion gubernatorial race). But only a few minor-party candidates will truly be in a position to actually affect the final results. Below are some races where this may be the case: CONT.
Geoffrey Skelley, Sabato’s Crystal Ball