What if James B. Weaver lost the election of 1892? It was a very close run affair, with most agreeing that his delicate handling of the south won him the day, capturing with a great oratorical talent the hearts of poor white farmers through ideology while distancing himself from the racial issue, while black voters who could flocked to his banner with unexpected gusto through precisely the same empowerment rhetoric. His carrying of the deep south states and most of the plains states while the democrats foundered and the republicans failed to pick up the slack. His other achievement was the attraction of northern voters with his alliance with the trade unions and the resultant victories in the illinois and pennsylvania polls. Had he performed poorer in the south and failed to capitalize on leftist sentiment in the north his base in the plains would certainly not have been enough, and the election lost. With this the People's Party might not have become the force that they grew into, and the fourth party system might have been strangled in its cradle.
Furthermore, his presidency's success in the implementation of soft money and bimetallism might have resulted in a shakier economy leading into the 20th century and a continuation of bad labor policy, with class warfare and a powerful radical left following much earlier than OTL. How might this have affected things later on? Perhaps the US might not have remained neutral come 1916, leading to war opposition and further early strengthening of the left domestically, not even including potential ramifications in Europe and Asia. Would the USSR still have risen in the East without a German victory? How might the US have dealt with the rise of Communism ITTL?
How might this affect the future of race relations in the US? Without the shakeup the Grand Young Party caused in '92, the republicans might have filled the vacuum and a different Fourth Party System might have ensued, while the democrats might have continued to dominate the south and black voters continued to be disenfranchised without the rise of a powerful new benefactor the People's Party eventually became with the Civil Rights Movement in the 40's.