Independent Democratic

Independent Democrat

In U.S. politics an Independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party (i.e. chooses to be an independent). Independent Democrat is not a political party. Several elected officials, including members of Congress, have identified as Independent Democrats.

The first member of the United States House of Representatives to identify as an Independent Democrat was Zadok Casey of Illinois, who served from 1833 to 1843. Casey was a Jacksonian Democrat before becoming an Independent.

In 1848, a candidate for Mayor of Chicago, James Hutchinson Woodworth, labelled himself an Independent Democrat to distance himself from what was at the time a corrupt and disorganized Chicago Democratic party organization; he preferred being described as an Independent Democrat rather than as a Whig as that party was itself experiencing a transition. He won election in his first campaign by an overwhelming majority and then was re-elected for a second term. However his Mayoral political success sealed his departure from any further association with the then Illinois Democratic party. When the Whigs in Illinois became the new Republican party, and he was able to confirm that his Abolitionist ideals would be recognized, he registered as a member of the GOP. He subsequently was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Illinois as a member of the GOP. Woodworth served one term in Congress, and return to a banking career in Chicago that spanned the Civil War era and the Reconstruction.

Andrew Jackson Hamilton, in western Texas, was an Independent Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, but did not run for re-election in 1860.

Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was elected to the United States Senate in 1954 and served as an Independent Democrat in the 84th Congress until his resignation on April 4, 1956. In November of that year he was elected as a Democrat to fill the vacancy created by his resignation. Thurmond later became a member of the Republican Party in 1964.

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