Daniel Lee White, May 1981 (Chicago, Ill.) -
VP candidate for Independent (aka Non Affiliated aka Unaffiliated) (2016)
Running mate with nominee: Michael Lynn Smith
Popular vote: 9,335 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Just to spice things up for us researchers, there were two gentlemen named Michael Smith who filed with the FEC as Independent candidates for the 2016 election. The first was Michael Smith of Plymouth Meeting, Penn. who filed with the FEC on Oct. 8, 2015. The second, and the one being covered in this profile, was Michael Lynn Smith of Colorado Springs, Colo. who filed on Mar. 31, 2016. His running-mate was Daniel L. White of Plano, Tex.
Smith/White provided biographies on their campaign website--
About Mike Smith
Presidential Candidate
Mike Smith is a husband, father, small business owner, and independent candidate for President of the United States. He is married to his high school sweetheart Kari, a school nurse, and they have four boys: Lookens, Kensley, Caleb and Jake. Mike has founded two law firms, one in Tennessee and one in Colorado, and he has helped hundreds of clients either start their small business or plan their estate. In 2006, Mike served in the White House as an intern in the Presidential Personnel Office where he provided assistance to an office responsible for recruiting executives to serve the President in the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Mike believes that American values will not survive without the leadership of wise and principled patriots. He wholeheartedly agrees with Ronald Reagan who said that, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” The desire to hand down such freedom to his four sons and the realization that the remaining presidential candidates are ill-prepared for that task, compelled Mike to enter the 2016 race as a citizen statesman. Mike believes that America has reached a tipping point and its only hope is ordinary Americans, who believe in the ideals of one Nation under God, getting involved in the political process from the White House to the state house to the schoolhouse.
When he is not running for President or hiking one of Colorado’s 14ers, Mike can be found at one of his kids sporting or school events, fly-fishing, playing pick up basketball at the YMCA, or camping with his family in the Rocky Mountains.
About Daniel White
Vice Presidential Candidate
Daniel White is a small business and immigration attorney who is the principal of Legacy Law Firm in Dallas, Texas. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Mr. White spent most of his youth in Dallas where he was first introduced to legal practice and government service while working as an administrative intern at the United States Attorney’s Office as a high school and college student.
Mr. White attended Texas Tech University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a concentration in Technical Communication and a minor in Communication Studies. As a college student, Mr. White was actively involved in numerous organizations and philanthropic activities, most of which he held positions of leadership. Mr. White served in the following capacities:
▪ President of the Texas Tech University Black Student Association
▪ President, Vice President, and Treasurer of the Eta Upsilon Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
▪ President of the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Texas Tech University
▪ Director of Cultural Diversity for the Texas Tech University Student Government Association
▪ Director of Diversity Initiatives for the Chancellor’s StudentFirst Committee
▪ Associate Justice of the Texas Tech University Supreme Court
▪ Columnist for the University Daily Newspaper – Texas Tech University’s official newspaper publication
▪ Pianist for the Texas Tech University Jazz Band
▪ Mr. White attended law school at Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he had the opportunity to be the law school’s first African American graduate. Additionally, he had the opportunity to serve in the following leadership roles:
▪ President and Senator of the Liberty University School of Law Student Bar Association
▪ Director of Business Affairs, Liberty University Moot Court Board
▪ Dean’s Founder’s Scholar
▪ Inspiration for The Daniel L. White Scholarship – awarded by Liberty University School of law to the incoming minority student that best exemplifies the example set by Daniel L. White, specifically as “leader, servant, diligent student, and inspiration to others.”
Daniel White began his legal career as an Assistant State’s Attorney with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. As a prosecutor handling criminal, traffic, and DUI cases, Mr. White tried well over one hundred bench and jury trials in the branch courts of the First Municipal District, as well as in the Fifth Municipal District in Bridgeview, Illinois. In 2010, Mr. White went into private practice, serving clients with matters related to criminal/traffic/DUI law, immigration law, small business law, and minority business certification law. Mr. White also serves as an adjunct professor for the Liberty University Online Graduate School of Business, where he teaches a course titled “Legal Issues in Business,” as part of the MBA curriculum.
Daniel and his wife Equasta, a project manager for a national healthcare company, have two children.
Their platform was an interesting combination of Protestant Right of center views sprinkled with some social justice concerns normally claimed as the exclusive property of the Left. Their foreign policy was very much in the philosophy of Neocon Republicans. Smith's campaign website included the following--
I am a strong advocate of the constitutional right to free exercise of religion. I also know that there are many Americans who follow the religion of Islam. For those who exercise their religion through peaceful worship, the American dream and the protection of American law should not be diminished one iota. However, whether we like it or not, whether we want to admit it or not, we are at war with Radical Islamic Terrorism. More specifically, we are at war with Apocalyptic Islam. Apocalyptic Islam adheres to a genocidal eschatology, or end times theology, which desires to hasten the arrival of the Mahdi, the messianic figure who will establish a global Islamic Kingdom and impose Sharia law. This evil theology is metastasizing like a cancer in the Middle East, threatening our national security and the security of our allies in the region. It cannot be defeated by sporadic bombings. It must be eradicated.
ISIS, also known as IS or ISIL, has declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria in order to create chaos and carnage, preparing the way for the Mahdi’s return. These radical jihadists have been raping, enslaving, torturing, and beheading Christians and Muslims throughout the region. In the U.S., The FBI is currently investigating ISIS cells in all 50 states, and FBI Director James Comey describes the terror group’s presence on our homeland as a “chaotic spider web.” ISIS inspired attacks have occurred in San Bernardino, Dallas, Philadelphia, and New York. Since 2014, ISIS has conducted or inspired over 70 terrorist attacks in 20 countries, including the recent attacks in Paris, Brussels, and Turkey. Their ultimate goal is to destroy civilization as we know it.
Apocalyptic Islam poses an imminent threat to our individual safety and national security. As Commander in Chief of the greatest military in the history of the planet, I will make it my top priority to destroy Apocalyptic Islamic Terrorists and keep the American people safe.
Smith/White were on the ballot in Colorado and Tennessee and were registered write-ins in 16 additional states.
Election history: none
Other occupations: attorney, teacher
Notes:
The bulk of their votes came from Tennessee, which is possibly Smith's home state.
