When did the US Communist Party legally register and field candidates in presidential or local elections?
Executive summary
The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) began legally running candidates in U.S. elections in the early 1920s, with organized electoral activity documented from 1922 and formal presidential tickets mounted from 1924 through 1940; it also ran many state and local campaigns through the 1920s–1940s [1] [2] [3]. After a long mid‑ and late‑20th century decline and periods of tactical withdrawal from independent slates, the party re‑announced intentions to run candidates in 2021 and saw renewed local electoral activity reported in mid‑2020s [4] [5].
1. The origins: organizing and first campaigns in the 1920s
The CPUSA emerged out of splits in the Socialist Party in 1919 and moved quickly into electoral politics: historians trace organized Communist campaigns and candidate slates back to 1922, when Communist and allied tickets began appearing under various labels such as the Workers Party of America [2] [1]. Party records and contemporary mapping of votes show that through the 1920s the CP treated elections as a way to measure and mobilize support even when victory was not expected [1] [2].
2. Presidential and statewide presence in the 1920s–1940s
The CPUSA mounted explicit presidential campaigns from 1924 and consistently placed Communist or Communist‑backed candidates on ballots in each presidential contest through 1940, and it contested gubernatorial, congressional and local offices throughout the 1920s–1940s; electoral returns from this period show several elections in which Communist tickets drew tens of thousands of votes and, in some Senate contests, over 100,000 [2] [1] [3]. Notable examples cited in secondary sources include William Z. Foster’s 1928 nomination and substantial vote totals in the early 1930s [6] [7].
3. Mid‑century tactical shifts, fusion and withdrawal
By the late 1940s and early 1950s the CPUSA’s electoral strategy shifted amid Cold War repression and internal debates: the party backed Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party campaigns in 1948 and gave support in related 1952 activity rather than pursuing only independent Communist tickets, and anti‑communist government measures and the Smith Act era constrained open CP electoral work [8] [9]. Archival holdings document extensive election records through mid‑century but also material showing strategic retrenchment and support for fusion or third‑party efforts rather than always running a standalone Communist label [9] [10].
4. Decline, intermittent local officeholders, and contested legacy
Membership and public electoral presence declined after World War II and the Red Scares, and scholars note that while the party continued to influence unions and local politics its independent electoral footprint narrowed; comprehensive maps of membership and vote totals show a peak in the 1930s followed by contraction [3] [2]. Lists compiled by researchers and reference projects record that CPUSA members have held offices at local and state levels across the 20th century—sometimes elected on non‑Communist or fusion tickets—which complicates simple claims about “legal registration” under a Communist label [11] [12].
5. Return to electoral activity in the 21st century and recent local wins
The party announced in 2021 that it intended to run candidates again after decades of limited independent slates, and reporting aggregated on open sources records increased local activity in the mid‑2020s, including city council campaigns in places such as Ithaca and Northampton and reported electoral victories in some municipal contests in 2025 [4] [5]. These contemporary developments show a formal resumption of candidate‑running by CP members or the party itself, though contemporary accounts note the CP often navigates non‑partisan municipal systems and coalition strategies rather than always appearing on ballots explicitly as “Communist” [4] [12].
6. What the sources can and cannot conclusively show
Primary archives and mapping projects decisively document CP electoral registration and fielding of candidates from 1922 through the 1940s and record later strategic entries into other parties or fusion efforts in 1948–52 [1] [2] [8] [9], and tertiary sources report renewed activity in the 2020s [4] [5]. This reporting does not exhaust every local contest or every legal form of ballot access across a century of U.S. election law; where sources are silent about specific municipal registration procedures or every instance of a CP member running on another party’s line, that gap is acknowledged rather than assumed [10] [12].