History Main / DorkhorseCandidate

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheOblongs'', "Disfigured Debbie." The RagtagBunchOfMisfits run one of their own against the AlphaBitch. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome She crushes Milo in a landslide]], then the whole school throws a grand celebration of her victory - during which [[spoiler: Debbie falls into a wheat thresher]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' - Fuzzy Lumpkins yelling "shut up" at the campaigning Mayor -- and then going on to win despite lazing off back at his house as he usually does. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome He then proceeds to run the town down to the ground because he's self-centered and doesn't care to rule.]]

The candidate can be most any character, but typically is not one of the Alpha Bitch's usual adversaries, such as the CoolLoser or TheSnarkKnight. However, these are usually the people who tell the Dork Horse Candidate that he has no chance of winning.

* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' - Played with in the fact that CoolLoser Ned has to be forced to run and his attempts to ''not'' get elected backfire hilariously. His reasoning for not running is because he views the entire thing as a popularity contest and thus, not worth it. However, he's surprised to discover that at least one unpopular kid won the election... the ''woodshop teacher.'' His main act as student president was using the car wash funds to get a new woodshop piece of equipment and was apparently well-received, still functioning to this day. After some motivation, he proceeds to go and get a good percentage of the votes. And yet, somehow, the weasel which is nominated every year as a joke [[CaligulasHorse ends up winning]]. [[LoopholeAbuse Probably due to the odd writing of the rules, as the weasel ended up with most of the votes (as in the literal pile of votes).]]
* ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'': Larry Tudgeman ends up winning easily against BetaBitch Claire and CoolLoser Lizzie due to his unbeatable campaign strategy of [[EatThat promising to eat a worm for every vote he gets]].

* ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'' - This trope gets a twist: Taiga runs for the position of student council president against Yuusaku in an attempt to motivate him to run for president himself. She almost would have won too, being the only candidate, despite threatening the student body with lots of misery when she'd hold the office.

* An early mission in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'' involves Earnest, de-facto leader of the Nerd clique, running for class president, and hiring Jimmy (the protagonist) to protect him from being harassed while he gives a speech.

The Dork Horse Candidate almost always wins, usually [[DecidedByOneVote by one vote]]. Either he gives a RousingSpeech, the expected winner squanders his initial advantage, or some DeusExMachina comes along to derail the supposedly inevitable outcome. Contrast with NominatedAsAPrank, where this candidate's support is purely malicious. See also DarkHorseVictory.

* A ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' story arc from October 1964 has Linus running for class president, with Charlie Brown as his vice-president. At first Linus is reluctant to run, then he discovers a talent for public speaking, then he [[spoiler: blows it by giving a speech about the Great Pumpkin]]. [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1964/10/05 Read it here.]] The storyline was re-hashed for a TV special, ''You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown''.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' - Fuzzy Lumpkins yelling "shut up" at the campaigning Mayor -- and then going on to win despite lazing off back at his house as he usually does. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome He then proceeds to run the town down to the ground because he's self-centered and doesn't care to rule.]]

** It should be noted that Earl's joining the running was decided by Richfield. Richfield wanted to improve his chances by having his opponent be so stupid that everyone would vote for Richfield. Earl was actually willing to lose on purpose... until he thought about a world run by Richfield.

* In ''Film/WelcomeToMooseport'', a feckless handyman (Creator/RayRomano) campaigns against a retired U.S. president (Creator/GeneHackman) to be mayor of a small town.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheOblongs'', "Disfigured Debbie." The RagtagBunchOfMisfits run one of their own against the AlphaBitch. [[RealityEnsues She crushes Milo in a landslide]], then the whole school throws a grand celebration of her victory - during which [[spoiler: Debbie falls into a wheat thresher]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' - Fuzzy Lumpkins yelling "shut up" at the campaigning Mayor -- and then going on to win despite lazing off back at his house as he usually does. [[RealityEnsues He then proceeds to run the town down to the ground because he's self-centered and doesn't care to rule.]]

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' - Claire Bennet, despite being a pretty, popular cheerleader, still manages to win Homecoming Queen by presenting an underdog image to the school's geeks.

* In an episode of ''California Dreams'', Jake, the resident semi-loner bad-boy ends up in the running and after almost dropping out wins the thing by singing a song called 'Leather and loose'.

* In ''Welcome To Mooseport'', a feckless handyman (Ray Romano) campaigns against a retired U.S. president (Gene Hackman) to be mayor of a small town.

The Dork Horse Candidate almost always wins, usually [[DecidedByOneVote by one vote]]. Either he gives a RousingSpeech, the expected winner squanders his initial advantage, or some DeusExMachina comes along to derail the supposedly inevitable outcome. See also DarkHorseVictory.

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* An early mission in ''Bully'' involves Earnest, de-facto leader of the Nerd clique, running for class president, and hiring Jimmy (the protagonist) to protect him from being harassed while he gives a speech.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheOblongs'', "Disfigured Debbie." The RagtagBunchOfMisfits run one of their own against the AlphaBitch. [[RealityEnsues She crushes Milo in a landslide]], then the whole school throws a grand celebration of her victory.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy Turner runs for class president against popular kids Tad and Chad. He lampshades his status of being this when giving his speech to the students in a surprising MomentOfAwesome. One to where Tad and Chad had to bribe the rest of the student body with cake to try and win. This was their downfall as they all got sick and Timmy was the only person at school (besides the Principal, who is frosting-intolerant.) Cue President Timmy Turner.

* ''Film/NapoleonDynamite'' - A definitive Dork Horse Candidate is Pedro.

* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' - Played with in the fact that Ned has to be forced to run and his attempts to ''not'' get elected backfire hilariously. His reasoning for not running is because he views the entire thing as a popularity contest and thus, not worth it. However, he's surprised to discover that at least one unpopular kid won the election... the ''woodshop teacher.'' His mainact was using car wash funds to get a new woodshop piece of equipment and was apparently well-received. After some motivation, he proceeds to go and get a good percentage of the votes. And yet, somehow, the weasel which is nominated every year as a joke [[CaligulasHorse ends up winning]]. [[LoopholeAbuse Probably due to the odd writing of the rules.]] Though the thing is that Ned is a pretty nice and liked guy.