Lenora Fulani

Lenora Fulani won only about 250,000 votes in 1988, as the presidential nominee of the tiny New Alliance Party. But her candidacy made history as the first woman, the first African American and the first independent candidate to appear on the ballot in all 50 states.

Born in Chester, Pa., in 1950, Fulani graduated from Hofstra University and made New York her home. 

Since the 1992 election, Fulani has been active in efforts to bring third parties in the U.S. under a single banner. In 1994, she co-founded the Committee for a Unified Independent Party, which describes its mission as “to create a left/center/right multiracial alliance and to press for a set of political reform principles that empowered Americans across ideological, racial and geographic lines.”

She has earned criticism for her association with psychotherapist and New Alliance Party founder Fred Newman, a one-time associate of conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche. She briefly endorsed Pat Buchanan when he ran as the 2000 Reform Party presidential candidate, but rescinded her endorsement, saying he had hijacked the movement for viable third parties to promote a far-right agenda. 

— Zack Budryk