After the party saw its best performance in decades in 2016 with 5,617 votes, an unusually high number of people are running for the party’s 2020 nomination

As Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and others jockey to run against Donald Trump, they may also want to be wary of a dark, sober horse competing for the White House: a Prohibition party candidate.

Members of the Prohibition party, which opposes the consumption of alcohol, are currently in the midst of nominating who it will run as their presidential candidate in 2020.

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And after the party saw its best performance in decades in 2016 – it won 5,617 votes – an unusually high number of people have thrown their hat in the ring for the party’s nomination.

“With three different candidates running for the nomination, this is perhaps the most competitive race for the party’s nomination in decades,” the Prohibition party said in a statement.

“[It] gives Prohibition party members a number of options as to how to approach the 2020 election.”

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The presidential candidate will be chosen during the Prohibition party’s national convention – held over the phone – on 13 November. No polling has been conducted on the hopefuls, but the favorite appears to be Bill Bayes, who ran as vice-president in 2016.

“I think there’s a good chance that I will win,” a bullish Bayes told the Guardian.

“I put out my interest in doing it right after the 2016 election.”

The tight nomination race follows what was a largely theoretical run in 2016 that saw the selection of a Pennsylvania-based former US marine band member, Jim Hedges. The Prohibition party is the oldest third party in the US, but like other small parties it faces difficulties getting on the ballot in many states.

Despite voters only being able to vote Prohibition in three states in 2016, Hedges pulled in the party’s best total since 1988 – but those 5,000-plus votes were a far cry from the Prohibition party’s heyday.

Its best performance came in 1892, when 270,000 people voted for John Bidwell, a gold prospector, farmer and former soldier. In the 19th century the Prohibition party was progressive on at least some issues – as early as 1872 it supported women getting the vote, something which was only introduced nationally in 1920.

But the party’s current platform is distinctly rightwing. The Prohibitionists are anti-abortion – the platform describes abortion as “morally repugnant” – and considers same-sex marriage “an abomination to God”. Those evangelical-esque beliefs are tied in with Trumpian views on trade tariffs and an “America First” message, alongside, of course, the curbing of alcohol use.

The Prohibition party got its wish of preventing the sale and production of alcohol in 1919, but prohibition was repealed in 1933, and there seems little hope of it returning. In 2016 neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump adopted the banning of alcohol as part of their platform, though Trump is famously teetotal.

Hedges’ performance has galvanized the party, however.

“We really were excited,” Bayes, who lives in Mississippi, said of the 2016 result.

“We were real pleased with that. We were surprised.”

When you’re not a major party you operate at a disadvantage Rick Knox, Prohibition party chairman

Hedges’ performance represented a vast improvement on 2012, when the Prohibition nominee, Jack Fellure, garnered just 518 votes, partly due to only being on the ballot in one state, partly due to his lack of tech-savvy making it difficult to coordinate a more successful campaign.

“He didn’t have a cellphone, he didn’t have a computer,” said Rick Knox, the chairman of the Prohibition party.

That year, bad weather thwarted the party’s bid to make the ballot in Arkansas – the application was delayed because of rain – while the Prohibition party was unable to register for the ballot in New Jersey after losing track of two party members when they moved house.

In 2020, though, Knox is determined that the party will come roaring back. He is in charge of ballot access this time, and will use his experience from working on Pat Buchanan’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1990s.

Knox hopes to get the Prohibition party on the ballot in seven states – including Wisconsin and Ohio, which were key to Trump’s victory in 2016. Some states in the US require a substantial fee to get a candidate on the ballot, while others require thousands of signatures – a process which requires organization, and more funding.

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Given those obstacles, it is difficult for any third party to make a breakthrough in the presidential race, let alone one with the Prohibition party’s tiny budget. Because of that, Knox is realistic about his party’s chances.

“When you’re not a major party you operate at a disadvantage,” Knox said.

“When you’re trying to run a presidential campaign with under six figures in the bank you’re not gonna fare too well.”

Knox said he hopes to win 25,000 to 30,000 votes, which would be the biggest tally since 1960, but is likely to be far less than the number of people who vote for Trump or his Democratic opponent.

For now, at least, the Democratic party, the Republican party, and any sort of party involving alcohol are safe.