Do you know what a political party is? It has nothing to do with birthdays. A political party is a group of people who have similar ideas about what the government should do. They work together to elect people of their party into government office.

​

The United States has two big political parties. One is the Democratic Party. The other is the Republican Party. Many other, smaller parties also exist.

 

Political parties in the United States nominate, or choose, the people they want to elect. Once those people are chosen, party members work to win votes for their candidates. Party members want their candidates to be the ones making laws and the ones carrying out those laws.