The Independent American Party of Nevada is the former Nevada affiliate of the Constitution Party of the United States. It is not to be confused with the national party of the same name. It was founded in 1967. It was one of four Constitution state parties that had not changed its name to "Constitution Party" since the national party adopted that name until it was later discontinued. As the Nevada party's name predated the national Constitution Party by decades and also for personal reasons, the Nevada membership did not desire to change the name. In addition to the party's successes in the 2006 and the 2010 elections, the Nevada IAP sent five unpaid lobbyists to every Nevada state legislative session, which convened every two years in February.
The Nevada IAPN achieved electoral success in the 1990s with the election of a County Commissioner in Nye County and the election of Chuck Horne as the Mayor of Mesquite. However the Party elected several candidates to office in 2006 with the elections of Jackie Berg as Eureka County Clerk and Cel Ocha as Constable of Searchlight. Another Party member, Bruce Wilkerson, was elected to the ElkoSchool Board in 2004.
2010 election victories
In the 2010 elections, three Independent American Party candidates were elected to local offices and one was re-elected. Several IAPN candidates also performed well in various state and legislative elections, including the election for Nevada State Assembly, District 33, where won 30.81% of the vote and placed second in a three-way race. The IAP candidate for State Attorney General, Joel Hansen, also secured 7.81% of the vote.
As of the Close of Registration, October 2010, the Independent American Party had a total number of 62,724 registered voters in the Party. Party growth had surged since 2004 due to the rough political climate in Nevada and the constant publicity that the party and its members get from the state media.
, the party faces steeper decline on voter registration numbers and as a political party itself and has not recovered ever since former 2014 gubernatorial candidate David Lory VanDerBeek complained on a hidden YouTube video about the corruption within the Independent American Party of Nevada. On October 25, 2013, it nearly led to the breakup of a political party by completely distancing the Independent American Party of Nevada itself called the Constitution Party of Nevada, which was established in Reno, Nevada and supported by the national party itself.
