Above: Washington State Voters Pamphlet 1984; Below, 1988
Moorehead and La Riva
La Riva confronts President Clinton, 1996
Above, 1996; Below, 2000
Gloria Estela La Riva, August 13, 1954 (Albuquerque, NM) -
VP candidate for Workers World Party (aka Independent) (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000)
Running mate with nominee (1984, 1988): Lawrence A. Holmes (b. 1952)
Running mate with nominee (1996, 2000): Monica Gail Moorehead (b. 1952)
Popular vote (1984): 15,329 (0.02%)
Popular vote (1988): 6,908 (0.01%)
Popular vote (1996): 29,083 (0.03%)
Popular vote (2000): 4,795 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign (1984):
The Workers World Party waited to see if the Rev. Jesse Jackson attained the nomination of the Democratic Party, in which case they planned to endorse him. When that failed to become reality they could not back Mondale and nominated their own ticket for the second time in WWP history. The official nominees were Larry Holmes and Gloria LaRiva.
The WWP openly admired countries like the Soviet Union, Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua and Mozambique. They were suspicious of the Solidarity Movement in Poland, seeing it as a possible US-backed capitalist plot.
Other Leftist parties ridiculed the WWP for being willing to back Jackson, and continued to regard the Party as a neo-Stalinist cult.
Both of the candidates were under the age of Constitutionally mandated of 35 for holding the offices they were seeking. Holmes said, "If we were elected, I'm quite sure that our ages would be the least of our problems. It's not a serious issue. It's antiquated."
But their youth apparently looked like was a serious issue to some state election officials. Holmes' wife Gavrielle, age 35 and Milton Vera, age 49, were stand-in candidates in Ohio. Secondary sources say they were also on the ballot in Rhode Island and I'll just have to take it on faith that they were.
The Holmes/La Riva ticket made it to the ballot in at least 7 states and DC, with their strongest popular vote results in New Jersey 0.26% and Mississippi 0.12%.
The campaign (1988):
Same ticket as before, meaning yet again the Party nominated an under-35 VP candidate. Naomi Cohen served as the stand-in running-mate for Michigan, this time obtaining ballot status, and as the official write-in VP for Ohio.
The WWP platform included: $10 per-hour minimum wage, prohibit plant closings, require all businesses to provide day care for employees, public funding for abortions, reduce the defense budget.
As in 1984, the WWP said they would step aside and endorse Rev. Jesse Jackson in the event he won the Democratic nomination. But 1988 was the year of Dukakis.
The WWP had to go to court in a well-publicized successful effort to gain a spot on the New Mexico ballot. Eileen La Riva, Gloria's sister, was state chair of the WWP at the time.
The Holmes/La Riva ticket was listed on the ballot in four states, here in order of popular vote percentages: Washington 0.08%, New York 0.06%, New Mexico 0.05%, and New Jersey 0.03%.
The campaign (1996):
The team of Monica Moorehead and Gloria La Riva was touted as the first ticket in US history to be comprised of women of color.
By 1996 the WWP had very enthusiastically added the new dynastic regime in North Korea to their roster of admired states.
La Riva was arrested and briefly jailed Sept. 30, 1996 for trespassing when she refused to leave a grocery store parking lot in Salt Lake City while campaigning. Moorehead was also present. "This never would have happened to Clinton, Dole or Perot," La Riva said.
In October La Riva heckled President Clinton at a New Jersey campaign stop. Clinton responded and the heckling morphed into a shouting match lasting several minutes over the Cuban and Iraqi trade embargo. Some reports indicate La Riva might have been arrested.
On the ballot in a dozen states, the Moorehead/La Riva ticket finished strongest in Ohio 0.24%, Washington 0.10%, Louisiana 0.09%, Arkansas and Michigan 0.08% each.
The campaign (2000):
This was a relatively quiet campaign for the WWP. With no arrests or dramatic confrontations to report, journalists pretty much ignored the WWP. Ralph Nader's Green Party had sucked out most of the energy the major media outlets were willing to expend on any other third party coverage.
On the ballot in only four states, the Moorehead/La Riva ticket finished here in order of popular vote percentages: Washington 0.08%, Rhode Island 0.05%, Wisconsin 0.04%, Florida 0.03%.
In the subsequent splintering of the WWP, Moorehead would remain with the Party while La Riva shifted to the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Election history:
1983 - Mayor of San Francisco, Calif. (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1991 - Mayor of San Francisco, Calif. (Nonpartisan) - primary - defeated
1992 - US President (Workers World Party) - defeated
1994 - Governor of California (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
1996 - Peace and Freedom Party nomination for Vice-President - defeated
1998 - Governor of California (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
2008 - Peace and Freedom Party nomination for President - defeated
2008 - US President (Party for Socialism and Liberation) - defeated
2010 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
2012 - US President (Party for Socialism and Liberation) - defeated
2016 - US President (Party for Socialism and Liberation) - defeated
2018 - Governor of California (Peace and Freedom Party) - primary - defeated
2020 - US President (Party for Socialism and Liberation) - pending
Other occupations: author, filmmaker, artist, typesetter, union activist, civil rights activist
Notes:
Winner of the 1983 race was Diane Feinstein
Winner of the 1994 race was Pete Wilson
Winner of the 1998 race was Gray Davis
Winner of the 2010 race was Nancy Pelosi
In 2012 was a stand-in candidate for US President in several states.
First person to run as a third party VP in four elections
