Third Parties in Senate Races: Still Not Their Year

Just a quick spotlight on non-Democrat/Republican Senate candidates who have managed to pull substantially more than one percent, so far, using RealClearPolitics' numbers:

•For the Libertarian Party, the controversial Sean Haugh of South North Carolina is now pulling 3.6, substantially more than the current very narrow spread between currently in-the-lead Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Kay Hagen.

•But! A L.P. Senate candidate I had not been following at all is doing even better, Kansas' Randall Batson, currently with 4.3 percent, in a race where the number two is also an Independent, Greg Orman. Batson's current numbers beat the spread between Orman and currently in-the-lead Republican incumbent Pat Roberts.

•In Virginia, Robert Sarvis is failing to carry over the momentum of his over 6 percent governor results last year, currently at just 2.7, still a substantial spread-beat between winning Republican Ed Gillespie and losing Democrat Mark Warner. [UPDATE: In ten minutes since posting the race has reversed, with Warner now slightly ahead. All the "winning/losing" declarations in this post are as of the timestamp.]

•Gaylon Kent, L.P. Senate candidate in Colorado, now at 2.4, nowhere near the spread between winning Republican Cory Gardner and losing Democrat Mark Udall.

•In South Carolina, reality TV star of Bravo's Southern Charm, former Republican state treasurer with a checkered past Thomas Ravenel is pulling 7.1 percent as an Independent.

That's all the Senate races in which RealClearPolitics is showing a non-major-party candidate with over 2 percent. And while RealClearPolitics is currently missing it, L.P. Senate candidate in Illinois Sharon Hensen is at 3.64, and L.P. Senate candidate from Kentucky David Patterson is at 3.07 (neither are beating the major party spread).