My name is Sean Bates, and I am running for US house of reps in the 5th congressional district. I am fiscally conservative, and tend to be socially liberal. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me.

The Independent Party of Oregon has not yet nominated any candidates. When we do, we will list them here. Nominations for the 2008 general election cannot be made before June 6, 2008, or after August 26, 2008. For more information, go to the Candidates page.

Minor parties, nonaffiliated voters to play larger role in future elections nonaffiliated and minor party voters may determine who wins in Oregon

By Mark Brown
March 28, 2008

Although Oregon’s political leanings haven’t made a major shift in the past four years, a small gust of party-affiliation change has blown across the state.

A decline in the overall percentage of voters registered as Republicans in the state over a four-year span has been nearly equaled by an increase in the percentage of Oregonians registered as nonaffiliated and minor party voters.

We are pleased to welcome James H. (Jim) Weaver, six-term Congressman from Oregon (D), as a senior advisor. He has a family tradition of independent politics and is three generations removed from his namesake, James Baird Weaver of Iowa.

James B. Weaver was an independent thinker and third party activist who has the distinction of being the only third party presidential candidate to receive enough Oregon votes to gain Electoral College votes from Oregon.

At the Independent Party we reject the conventional wisdom of the pundits that politics is always a battle for those voters in the “middle.” The very idea that there is a "center" marginalizes independent thinkers as outside the “mainstream,” when they are stating fundamental Constitutional guarantees or applying critical thinking to incessant corporate and special interest spin.

Independent thinkers are distrustful and cynical of the spin. We are tired of attempts to define issues in a partisan way. We can see through the efforts to cloak bad laws as "moderate" and "centrist" compromises between extremes. We are looking for answers outside the terms dictated by focus groups, traditional interest groups, and big money contributors. We are looking for citizens willing to support independently thinking leaders.