major party
nounDefinition of major party
: a political party having electoral strength sufficient to permit it to win control of a government usually with comparative regularity and when defeated to constitute the principal opposition to the party in power
Examples of major party in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
So do so many cradle-to-grave politicos — in both major parties. — Ken Fisher, USA TODAY, "Why Senator Marco Rubio, other politicians need to study their economics," 13 May 2018 With every major party implicated in corruption, López Obrador’s supporters seem to care less about the practicality of his ideas than about his promises to fix a broken government. — Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, "A New Revolution in Mexico," 25 June 2012 Voters in the coastal district are seeing a barrage of ads backed by millions of dollars from candidates in both major parties, as well as outside groups. — Washington Post, "Republicans turn on each other in California US House fight," 29 May 2018 There is approximately zero interest, among Californian elected officials from either major party, in breaking their state in two. — Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "The Case for New California," 17 Jan. 2018 Single-party general elections tend to happen only in districts where one major party or the other is all but nonexistent. — John Wildermuth, SFChronicle.com, "California’s ‘jungle primary’: For Dems and GOP, it’s a pretty tame jungle," 26 June 2018 Mercado touched on what has been a major issue with the Hispanic voting population in Florida, the tendency to register as unaffiliated and not with a major party. — Steven Lemongello, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Hispanic group kicks off voter registration campaign in Florida," 15 May 2018 Only voters registered with major parties can vote for candidates in party primaries. — John Baer, Philly.com, "Can Laura Ellsworth pull off a miracle in Pa.? | John Baer," 10 May 2018 In most states, candidates from each major party square off in a primary, with the top vote-getter from each party advancing to the general election. — Jeffrey Mervis, Science | AAAS, "A house too far: Two scientists abandon their bids for Congress," 27 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'major party.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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