Rent is 2 Damn High

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The Rent is 2 Damn High is a political party. As of September 2019, it was not a ballot-qualified party in New York. The party ran candidates in the 2005 and 2009 New York City mayoral elections and the 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial elections. The party was founded by Jimmy McMillan. In 2014, the party expanded activity to Washington, D.C. by running candidates in the Democratic primaries for city council.[1]

Note: This party was previously ballot-qualified in New York. As of March 8, 2022, it is no longer ballot-qualified. The content here reflects the most current information as of March 8, 2022.

Background

McMillan and the party gained a cult following in 2010 after his appearance in a debate at Hofstra University. He was a crowd favorite for his "ceaseless tirade against high rents throughout the state." New York magazine crowned McMillan as the debate's winner.[2] The video of part of the debate can be found below:

Ballot access for political parties

See also: List of political parties in the United States


As of November 2022, there were at least 53 distinct ballot-qualified political parties in the United States. There were 209 state-level parties.[3] Some parties are recognized in multiple states. For example, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are recognized in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. These two parties account for more than half of the 209 total state-level parties.[4][5][6] Three minor parties were recognized in more than 10 states as of November 2022:

  1. Libertarian Party: 39 states
  2. Green Party: 27 states[7]
  3. Constitution Party: 15 states[8]

Although there are dozens of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.

The number of ballot-qualified political parties fluctuates as parties gain or lose qualified status. In addition, some states distinguish between major parties and minor parties. Specific differences between major and minor parties differ from state to state. For example, in all states, major parties are granted access to primary elections. Some states, however, do not permit minor parties to participate in primary elections. Consequently, minor party candidates in these states can run only in general elections.[4]

The table below lists all ballot-qualified political parties in each state as of December 2021. Click "[show]" to expand the table.[4]

Platform

McMillan's viral campaign slogan inspired a number of impersonators at political rallies around the country.

A platform released by McMillan in 2010 had the following points:[9]

  • Declaring an economic state of emergency
  • Housing Homeless Emergency Bill
  • Combining various housing boards into the New York State Rent Board
  • Travel tax deductions
  • Free college tuition
  • Property tax cut
  • Landlord Tenant and Criminal Court reform
  • Restoring family values

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Rent is 2 Damn High. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Rent is 2 Damn High - Google News

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ USA Today, "'Rent is too damn high' candidate is back," August 26, 2014
  2. ↑ USA Today, "Anti-high-rent candidate becoming folk star," October 19, 2010
  3. ↑ This total does not include parties that have attained ballot status at the municipal level. Only those parties with state-level ballot status are included here.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Roneka Matheny, "Research of state election agency websites and email correspondence with state election agencies," November 2022
  5. ↑ As of November 2022, there were six state-level parties that called themselves Independent or Independence parties. For the purposes of this article, these were not tallied when counting the number of distinct ballot-qualified parties in the United States because it is difficult to determine to what extent these various parties are affiliated with one another.
  6. ↑ Because Washington utilizes a top-two, nonpartisan primary system, the state does not officially recognize parties. Consequently, only the state's two largest parties, the Democratic and Republican parties, were included in this tally.
  7. ↑ This figure includes the D.C. Statehood Green Party, Maine's Green Independent Party, Oregon's Pacific Green Party, and West Virginia's Mountain Party.
  8. ↑ This figure includes Nevada's Independent American Party and Michigan's U.S. Taxpayers Party.
  9. ↑ The Rent is Too Damn High Party, "Campaign Issues," accessed February 10, 2015
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