In 1982, Packard lost the
Republican primary for the
United States House of Representatives in a crowded field of candidates to Johnnie R. Crean by 92 votes. Crean's character came into issue, with his negative ads and false claim of endorsement by
Ronald Reagan, so Packard launched a campaign as a
write-in candidate. Packard ran a poll which found that voters would vote for him, especially if they knew how to write him in. Packard campaigned with a gigantic pencil as a prop while giving out golf pencils to district residents. An organized effort among fellow Mormons helped the campaign. Packard won the election by 11,000 votes to become the first independent write-in candidate to defeat candidates of both the
Democratic and Republican parties. NPR's
Ken Rudin described the race this way: Packard was only the third person to be elected to Congress as a write-in candidate, a victory later documented in
Campaigns and Elections and due in part to the efforts of Russell Reed Benedict. The two previously successful congressional write-in candidates were U.S. Rep. Joe Skeen (R-New Mexico 2nd District) in 1980 and Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) in 1954. Subsequently, Alaska Republican U.S. Senator
Lisa Murkowski lost her party primary in 2010, but waged a successful write-in campaign against
Joe Miller, the Republican primary winner and narrowly defeated him in the general election. Upon being sworn in, Packard joined the Republican caucus. He was reelected as a
Republican eight times with little opposition in the heavily Republican district. ==Tenure==