'Rebel' Republican congressman from North Dakota ran for president as a third-party candidate Monday, January 20, 2020
G.F. Herald
Many North Dakotans may know that Theodore Roosevelt was the presidential candidate on the Bull Moose, or Progressive Party, ticket, in 1912. There are also some who are aware that Gary Johnson, who was born in Minot, N.D., was the presidential candidate in 2012 and 2016 for the Libertarian Party.
However, did you know that, in 1936, there was another third party candidate for president of the United States from North Dakota?
William Lemke, from Fargo, ran for president on the Union Party ticket. Although Lemke was a Republican, he often championed issues and causes proposed by the Democrats and occasionally supported candidates from the Democratic Party for governor and president. Because he refused to “toe the party line,” historian Edward Blackorby referred to Lemke as “The Prairie Rebel."