1987
Martin S. Wishnatsky, 2004
Andrew Joseph Vanyo, June 26, 1933 (Tabor, MN) - August 15, 2013 (Fargo, ND)
VP candidate for Nonpartisan (aka Independent) (2004)
Running mate with nominee: Martin Saul Wishnatsky (1944-2020)
Popular vote: 11 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Martin Wishnatsky of Fargo, ND was a self-described Christian activist who opposed abortion and Gay rights. Prior to arriving in North Dakota he converted to Christianity in 1977 and performed acts of civil disobedience that landed him in jail and cost him his computer programming job on Wall Street.
Arriving as an out-of-state agitator to Fargo with a group, he was sentenced to nearly a year in jail for continuing to protest in an illegal form. By the time he was released his original crew had already gone home, so he decided to remain in Fargo.
When Wishnatsky ran for President as a write-in in 2004 his running mate was Andrew "Andy" Vanyo, a fellow activist from right across the border in Moorhead, Minn.
Vanyo who had also experienced arrest and incarceration for protest actions in the 1990s, had deep roots in the Catholic Church. Initially he underwent seminary training but decided to become active with his faith in other ways. He obtained a masters in social work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Campus and went into the adoption and foster care occupation.
Registered as write-ins in two states, their popular vote was 2 votes in Minnesota, 9 in North Dakota.
Election history: none
Other occupations: Catholic Social Services, adoption and foster care
Buried: Saint Joseph's Cemetery (Moorhead, Minn.)
Notes:
Vanyo's mother was born in the Czech Republic. His paternal grandparents were born in Austria.
After the election Wishnatsky obtained a law degree at Liberty University. He later worked for Judge
Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican. Wishnatsky became briefly famous when, in an effort not to
appear anti-Semitic, Moore's wife Kayla announced at a rally in 2017 that "one of our attorneys is a
Jew."
