The novice city council was not very effective in implementing its goals and damaged the party's reputation in the short-term. The RUP, however, ran candidates for governor of Texas, Ramsey Muniz in 1972 and 1974 and Mario Compean of San Antonio in 1978. They petitioned the conservative Dr. Hector P. Garcia to run on the RUP ticket, but he declined. In 1972, they ran a candidate, Secundion Salazar, in a competitive U. S. Senate race in Colorado. Salazar received 1.4 percent of the vote, as victory went to the Democrat Floyd Haskell.