A parachute candidate, or carpetbagger in the United States, is a pejorative term for an election candidate who does not live in the area they are running to represent and has little connection to it. The allegation is thus that a desperate political party lacking reliable talent local to the district or region is "parachuting" the candidate in for the job or that the party (or the candidate themselves) wishes to give a candidate an easier election than would happen in their home area. The term also carries the implication that the candidacy has been imposed without regard to the existing local hierarchy.

Australia

Australian Labor Party

Due to its factions (Labor Left, Labor Right, and Independent Labor), Labor often has arrangements in place for preselections, which would often result in parachuting candidates.

Coalition

Canada

Federal

Provincial

Municipal

France

France has a long history of parachute candidates. Extreme examples have been candidates from mainland France who ran for election in overseas France. In 1963, Michel Debré was parachuted to the Indian Ocean island of Réunion nearly 6,000 miles away from the mainland, where he won a by-election and served as deputy for seventeen years. In the small North American territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, three candidates from the mainland have attempted to win its constituency seat since 2002, most recently Patricia Chagnon in 2024.

Ireland

New Zealand

In 2017, Deborah Russell won selection for the safe Labour seat of New Lynn, in West Auckland, despite being from Whangamōmona, a small town in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. She beat out Greg Presland, a New Lynn resident for 30 years who had the backing of the local members. However, Labour's Council backed Russell because of her finance expertise and a pledge to have more women in electorates. Upon winning selection, Russell moved to the electorate. She was elected in the 2017 election and re-elected in 2020 before being defeated in the electorate in 2023.

Taiwan

Han Kuo-yu was a successful parachute candidate for Mayor of Kaohsiung at 2018 Taiwanese local elections. He has served previously on the Taipei County Council and as a member of Legislative Yuan elected by Taipei County.

United Kingdom

Parachute candidates are common in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Westminster system historically emphasizes party discipline over responsiveness to constituencies. For example, Margaret Thatcher, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for over eleven years, represented Finchley during her parliamentary career despite living in Chelsea, London. As far back as the 1900s, the then-dominant Liberal Party were parachuting candidates from England into safe seats in Scotland, including Winston Churchill, elected MP for Dundee in 1908. This led to a formal protest movement, called Young Scots, arguing that objections to carpet-baggers were based on a lack of understanding of the political will of their constituents on matters like Home Rule. A 2013 YouGov survey found that support for a hypothetical candidate rose by 12 points after voters learned that his opponent had moved to the area two years earlier and by 30 points if the opponent lived 120 miles away. The percentage of local MPs rose, according to Michael Rush of the University of Exeter, from 25% in 1979 to 45% in 1997; Ralph Scott of Demos calculates that 63% are local. According to surveys, public trust in all MPs has decreased, but trust in the local MP has increased, making pre-existing connections to seats more critical. Election advertisements emphasize local connections more than they mention the candidate's party or its leader. Such a change produces MPs who are more attentive to local issues, but may be detrimental to Britain's first-past-the-post voting system designed to create broad parties that party whips stabilize.

Labour Party

Conservative Party

Minor parties

United States

U.S. Senate

U.S. House of Representatives