paper candidate

noun
/ˈpeɪpə ˈkændɪdət/UK/ˈpeɪpɚ ˈkændɪdeɪt/US

Definitions

  1. An election candidate with little chance of winning, who runs a minimal or no campaign,…

    An election candidate with little chance of winning, who runs a minimal or no campaign, and who is added to the ballot for publicity, to increase the number of candidates standing and/or try to ensure their party has a candidate in every electoral district.

    • Mr. Kent. I never knew of any actual Democratic opponent to a Republican candidate for Congress in Philadelphia for a number of years, but there may have been some "paper candidate" set up.
    • The concern is that groups, including advocacy groups, could register as parties simply by fielding a paper candidate and complying with reporting requirements.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for paper candidate. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA