Elections & terms
political party
A private organization that nominates candidates under a shared label. Parties are not government bodies, but law gives them a formal role in ballots and primaries.
In full
Parties recruit and nominate candidates, write platforms, organize legislatures into majorities and minorities, and run their own internal rules for choosing a presidential nominee. Because they are private associations, courts have protected their right to set membership and nomination rules, which limits how far a state can dictate how a party picks its candidates.
Where to go next
Keep going
Browse every term in the glossary, or see the vocabulary in motion in the How government works walkthroughs.
A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.