FARMERLABOR PARTY

in U.S. history (191844), a minor political party of Minnesotan small farmers and urban workers, which supported Robert M. La Follette in the 1924 presidential election and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936. An outgrowth of the Nonpartisan League (q.v.), the FarmerLabor Party began nominating candidates for the Minnesota legislature in 1918. Several state senators and representatives were elected from the party, which became a federation in 1923. Its candidate, Floyd B. Olson, was elected governor in 1930, reelected in 1932 and 1934. The party merged with the Democrats to form the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in 1944. An offshoot, the National FarmerLabor Party, nominated P.P. Christensen in the 1920 presidential election. Lacking adequate finances and organization, the party won few votes and expired in 1923.