Estelle Christine DeBates, February 24, 1960 (Sioux Falls, SD) -
VP candidate for Socialist Workers Party (aka Independent) (1992)
Running mate with nominee: James Warren (b ca1952)
Popular vote: 20,823 (0.02%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
It was the second Presidential run in a row for Socialist Workers Party nominee James Warren of Chicago. Warren's running mate in the now much more depleted SWP was Estelle DeBates, a Brooklyn-based staff writer for The Militant, a SWP organ. DeBates was 32 years old, younger than the minimum age mandated by the Constitution for Vice-President. On this basis there were some states that would not allow her name on the ballot, so 1976 VP Willie Mae Reid was brought back to act as a stand-in VP in those jurisdictions.
DeBates, who had grown up on a farm in South Dakota, had been an activist for the pro-choice movement, against the US involvement in Central America, and had already run twice for public office under the SWP banner.
She had no illusions about winning. Debates told a reporter, "The aims of the Communist Manifesto won't be realized overnight. But we want to reach out to the small layer of people who are receptive to our ideas and build the leadership of the working class."
Underlying her sense of internationalism, DeBates spent part of her campaign in other nations including Canada, North Korea, South Africa, Japan, and Sweden.
In Utah, where Reid was actually listed as the VP on the ballot, DeBates spoke at a rally against the death penalty in connection with a contemporary case: "History has shown it is used against working people. We'll go back to a day when union organizers are executed, fighters for women's rights. These are the people who will be on the death row in the future." However, revealing the SWP bias in favor of Castro, she would not condemn Cuba's use of executions, which she claimed were "extremely rare and are only carried out for extreme acts which endanger the revolution."
In the 1980s the SWP counted US Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as one of their own, but they basically condemned him in the 1992 election due to his endorsement of the Clinton/Gore ticket.
The 1992 election total popular vote results of 23,096 for the SWP would be the last time until 2016 (where they earned 12,467 votes) when the Party finished in the five-figure category. The Warren/DeBates portion of the campaign was on the ballot in seven states + DC and write-ins in six others. In New York they finished with an impressive 4th place out of 11 (0.23%). Other results: New Jersey and North Dakota 0.06% each, Alabama and District of Columbia 0.05% each, Minnesota 0.04%, Vermont 0.03%, Washington 0.02%.
Election history:
1986 - US House of Representatives (Ky.) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1991 - Chicago (Ill.) City Clerk (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
Other occupations: Staff writer for the Militant, worker in garment and machine tool industries
Notes:
Joined the Young Socialist Alliance in 1982
