Mark Gerald Elworth Jr.

 

Mark Gerald Elworth Jr., August 6, 1976 (Omaha, Neb.) -

VP candidate for Legal Marijuana Now Party (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Daniel Robert Vacek (b. 1961)
Popular vote: 13,538 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

A bit of history-- The Independent Grassroots Party split from the Grassroots Party in 1995/1996. According to newspaper accounts at the time the division seemed to be the old single-issue vs. multi-issue platforms, a struggle over purity that is rather common in the history of third parties.

The Grassroots Party had been formed in 1986 to promote the legalization of marijuana and had already run candidates for President in two election cycles. In 1996 they decided to broaden their platform to include, according to the St. Cloud Times, "legalized prostitution, removal of all gun restrictions and a lower legal age for consensual sex." So a number of members who felt the original focus was being obscured walked out and formed the Independent Grassroots Party, making an effort to stay with the original focus.

In 1996 the IGP ran a Presidential ticket of John Birrenbach/George Lee McMahon. Two years later the Party changed their name to the Legal Marijuana Now Party. Although active in campaign politics at more local levels in the intervening years, LMNP would not wage another Presidential effort until 2016.

The Party campaign issues included erasing past and present court convictions as well as ending drug testing in the workplace. A side controversy, not so much in evidence in 2016 but surfaced later, was the charge that Republicans were secretly doing what they could to promote LMNP in order to siphon votes away from Democrats.

Also in 2016 Elworth was seeking a seat in the Nebraska State Legislature. He was officially nonpartisan but apparently ran under the auspices of the Green Party.

On the ballot in two states, the Vacek/Elworth ticket finished with 0.38% in Minnesota (6th out of 9) and 0.14% in Iowa (8th out of 10). Nationally they finished in 10th place, ahead of the Socialist Workers Pary.

Howie Hawkins/Angela Walker won the nomination of the Socialist Party USA in Oct. 2019. On July 11, 2020, Hawkins/Walker received the Green Party nomination in their Age of COVID online convention. In Aug. 2020 Hawkins/Walker were nominated (some sources say "endorsed") by the Legal Marijuana Now Party. In the case of the Legal Marijuana Now Party, Rudy Reyes became the Presidential nominee of the Legal Marijuana Now Party ca. Mar. 2020 when Presidential nominee Mark Elworth Jr stepped down to run for US Congress as a Democrat in Nebraska. After winning the primary Elworth switched back to the LMNP and resumed his top spot on the ticket while Reyes once again became the VP. In August 2020 the LMNP dropped their ticket entirely and backed Hawkins.

In Feb. 2021 Elworth attempted to form a new entity called the MAGA Patriots Party of Nebraska [!!!] while at the same time being successful in gaining official Cornhusker recognition for the Legal Marijuana Now Party.

Election history:
2014 - Governor of Nebraska (Libertarian Party) - defeated
2016 - Nebraska State Legislature (Nonpartisan) - primary - defeated
2017 - Omaha, Neb. City Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated
2018 - US Senate (Neb.) (Libertarian Party) - primary - withdrew/disqualified
2018 - US House of Representatives (Iowa) (Legal Medical [Marijuana] Now Party) - defeated
2020 - US House of Representatives (Neb.) (Democratic) - defeated
2020 - US President (Legal Marijuana Now Party) - withdrew, reinstated, withdrew

Other occupations: state party chairperson of Nebraska Legal Marijuana Now Party, activist

Notes:
Rudy Reyes was interviewed on this blog in that window of time shortly after he first became the 2020 LMNP VP nominee
https://thirdpartysecondbananas.blogspot.com/2019/07/rudy-reyes-2020-vp-legal-marijuana-now_23.html

Angela Nicole Walker

 

Angela Nicole Walker, January 19, 1974 (Milwaukee, Wis.) -

VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Socialist Party USA aka Natural Law Party) (2016)
VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Socialist Party USA aka Green Party of the United States aka Legal Marijuana Now Party aka DC Statehood/Green Party aka Green Rainbow Party aka Pacific Green Party aka Independent aka Mountain Party) (2020)

Running mate with nominee (2016): Emidio Soltysik (1974-2020)
Running mate with nominee (2020): Howard Gresham Hawkins (b. 1952)
Popular vote (2016): 2,689 (0.00%)
Popular vote (2020): 405,622 (0.26%)
Electoral vote (2016, 2020): 0/538

The campaign (2016):

The Socialist Party USA nominated Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik of Los Angeles and Angela Nicole Walker of Milwaukee in Oct. 2015 as their Presidential ticket for the 2016 election.

The SPUSA found itself, at least early in the election season, campaigning against Bernie Sanders more than the status quo candidates. Soltysik told the press, "He has had a long history of support for war and he has also had a healthy support for Israel, which we tend to see as an apartheid state. Some things he has done and advocated for are completely incompatible with a responsible socialist program."

The quite lengthy SPUSA 2016 platform had this preamble--

The Socialist Party USA stands for the abolition of every form of domination and exploitation, whether based on social class, gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, sexual orientation, or other characteristics.

We are committed to the transformation of capitalism through the creation of a democratic socialist society based on compassion, empathy, and respect as well as the development of new social structures.  Socialism will establish a new social and economic order in which workers and community members will take responsibility for and control of their interpersonal relationships, their neighborhoods, their local government, and the production and distribution of all goods and services.

For these reasons we call for social ownership and democratic control of productive resources, for a guarantee to all of the right to participate in societal production, and to a fair share of society’s product, in accordance with individual needs.

As we pursue a socialist transformation of society, we join with others in making radical demands on the existing system: demands that challenge the basic assumptions of a capitalist market economy while pointing the way to a new society. Although reforms will not in themselves bring about socialism, the fight for them will advance the cause by demonstrating the inherent limitations and injustice of the capitalist system. As we build the socialist movement, we organize around a platform committed to our common and interdependent struggles and aspirations.

When the Los Angeles Times asked Soltysik what he would do if elected he responded, "We would have to fire ourselves on the first day. You can't do that job without becoming a war criminal."

Soltysik/Walker were on the ballot in Colorado (0.01%) and Michigan (0.05%), the latter under the Natural Law Party banner. The were registered as write-ins in 8 additional states. In the event of their victory Walker would have assumed the Presidency upon the death of Soltysik June 28, 2020.

The campaign (2020):

If you followed the activities of national third political parties during the 2020 election, you could not avoid Howie Hawkins. Although his history was with the Green Party, he launched an aggressive effort to unite several progressive organizations and was partially successful. His running-mate in all cases was Angela Walker.

Hawkins, of Syracuse, N.Y., filed with the FEC as a Green Party candidate on May 14, 2019.

Hawkins/Walker won the nomination of the Socialist Party USA in Oct. 2019. On July 11, 2020, Hawkins/Walker received the Green Party nomination in their Age of COVID online convention. In Aug. 2020 Hawkins/Walker were nominated (some sources say "endorsed") by the Legal Marijuana Now Party. In the case of the Legal Marijuana Now Party, Rudy Reyes became the Presidential nominee of the Legal Marijuana Now Party ca. Mar. 2020 when Presidential nominee Mark Elworth Jr stepped down to run for US Congress as a Democrat in Nebraska. After winning the primary Elworth switched back to the LMNP and resumed his top spot on the ticket while Reyes once again became the VP. In August 2020 the LMNP dropped their ticket entirely and backed Hawkins. Socialist Alternative endorsed the Hawkins/Walker campaign later in the season.

Solidarity initially supported Hawkins/Walker, but then rescinded their backing after a poll of their members.

The Green Party nomination process was not without controversy. Dario Hunter, who was a rival for the nomination, decided to continue campaigning to the general election. The Alaska Green Party broke ranks with the national party and nominated a ticket of Jesse Ventura/Cynthia McKinney who were also registered write-ins in California.

The Rhode Island Green Party refused to name a candidate for fear of throwing the election to Trump. Democrats were successful in preventing ballot access for Hawkins/Walker in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Hawkins also attempted, and failed, to gain the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party creating some political bad blood between himself and winner Gloria La Riva in the process.

Unlike 2016, when the Trump administration was simply a dystopian concept, by 2020 it was a reality that had polarized the country. Many progressive voters felt that Trump's incompetence and impotence in the face of a national emergency, coupled with his authoritarian white nationalist style, made even the most centrist Democrat seem acceptable by comparison. With Sen. Sanders himself putting some energy into the Biden electioneering, Hawkins would find it a difficult task to recruit new voters.

Even so, Hawkins/Walker finished an impressive 4th place nationally. On the ballot in 29 states + DC and registered as write-ins in a dozen more they were within the potential of receiving enough votes from the Electoral College to win. On the printed ballots they were chiefly identified as Green Party candidates. Their strongest results: Maine (1%), Hawaii (0.67%), Maryland (0.52%), Massachusetts and Illinois (0.51% each), Oregon and District of Columbia (0.50% each). The three close states where they could have been potential spoilers-- Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin-- were all carried by Biden. In all three Hawkins/Walker were not on the ballot but were registered as write-ins.  

On Nov. 9, 2020, Hawkins filed with the FEC for the 2024 Presidential election under the category of "Other."

Election history:
2014 - Milwaukee County Sheriff (Wis.) (Independent) - defeated

Other occupations: bus driver, dump truck driver, union organizer

Notes:
During the 2020 election cycle I had been in contact with Walker and the campaign's PR man, Kevin Zeese. We reached the point where Walker agreed to an interview and she was sent a list of questions. But then Zeese suddenly died and that apparently stopped everything.

George Lee McMahon

Below: Jim Carlson

George Lee McMahon, July 22, 1950 (Algona, Iowa) - November 30, 2019 (Humboldt, Iowa)

VP candidate for Independent Grassroots Party (1996)
VP candidate for Grassroots Party (2012)

Running mate with nominee (1996): John Birrenbach (b. 1961)
Running mate with nominee (2012): James Robert Carlson (b. 1957)
Popular vote (1996): 787 (0.00%)
Popular vote (2012): 3,149 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1996, 2012): 0/538

The campaign (1996):

The Independent Grassroots Party split from the Grassroots Party in 1995/1996. According to newspaper accounts at the time the division seemed to be the old single-issue vs. multi-issue platforms, a struggle over purity that is rather common in the history of third parties.

The Grassroots Party had been formed in 1986 to promote the legalization of marijuana and had already run candidates for President in two election cycles. In 1996 they decided to broaden their platform to include, according to the St. Cloud Times, "legalized prostitution, removal of all gun restrictions and a lower legal age for consensual sex." So a number of members who felt the original focus was being obscured walked out and formed the Independent Grassroots Party, making an effort to stay with the original focus.

For President the new party nominated John "Sparky" Birrenbach (sometimes called Birrenback in a few sources), the founder of the Institute for Hemp. Based in St. Paul, Minn., Birrenbach's priorities appeared to be the use of hemp in agriculture and medicine.

The running-mate was George McMahon, who was the fifth patient out of 13 who had been approved to be treated and received medical marijuana under the federal Compassionate Investigational New Drug program. Diagnosed with nail-patella syndrome, he had been allowed into the experiment in 1990 and was issued 300 joints a month. In 1992 the program was shut down but the six remaining patients were grandfathered in. Actually over 50 patients had been approved but President Bush stopped the process before it hit full steam.

The Birrenbach/McMahon ticket placed 9th out of 11 on the Minnesota ballot with 0.04% of the popular vote in the only state where they were listed as a choice for voters. In 1998 the Independent Grassroots Party changed their name to the Legal Marijuana Now Party.

The campaign (2012):

2012 was a difficult year for the Grassroots Party national ticket. According to Jim Carlson, proprietor of a headshop in Duluth, Minn. called The Last Place on Earth, he was drafted into the position since his establishment had become something of a regional cause célèbre. He was nominated as the Grassroots Party candidate for President in the midst of raids and investigations by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

George McMahon jumped parties and was chosen as the running-mate. He was also running for a City Council position in Livermore, Iowa at the same time.

If the press covered the Grassroots Party Presidential ticket at all, it was in connection to Carlson's legal woes. Only on the ballot in Minnesota they placed sixth with 0.11% of the vote. In the local Livermore election, McMahon was defeated 98-61.

In 2013 Carlson was found guilty in a US District Court on 51 felony counts centered around selling and distributing illegal and banned synthetic substances. The last I could find, he was serving a 17.5 year sentence in a federal prison in the Milan, Mich. area.

Election history:
2006 - Livermore (Iowa) City Council - defeated
2012 - Livermore (Iowa) City Council - defeated
2015 - Mayor of Livermore, Iowa - defeated

Other occupations: auto body technician, author, lecturer, co-founder of Iowans for Medical Marijuana, board member for Patients out of Time

Buried: ?

Notes:
Defeated in the 2015 election by a write-in candidate.

Rudy Reyes, 2020 VP Legal Marijuana Now Party

Rudy Reyes, 2020 VP nominee Legal Marijuana Now Party

Rudy Reyes is the Vice-Presidential running mate with Mark Elworth Jr. on the Legal Marijuana Now Party ticket for 2020.

https://www.facebook.com/LMN.USA/

Mr. Reyes' life was turned upside down when the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego County, California ravaged his home area. In the course of helping others he was lucky to escape but was severely burned in the process. His political journey since that day of heroism is included in this interview.


================================================================


Q: Mr. Reyes, you have an inspirational and well known backstory that begins with the 2003 Cedar Fire. My first question regards the time in your life before the fire. What sort of upbringing did you have? Were you at all political before 2003?

A: Life before the fire, honestly was very non-political. I was working on my degrees in archaeology, I was a nerd. I was raised in the mountains of San Diego California next to a Native American reservation. My mind is orientated around archaeology at that time.

Q: In the Cedar Fire aftermath how did you come to discover the medical aspects of marijuana? Did you experience any conflict with conventional medical practitioners or law enforcement in the process of your healing?

A. After the Cedar Fires, I was left a 75% burn survivor. I have lost an ear and my left pointer digit finger. With 75% of my skin needing to be regrafted, I was left in the hospital in much pain. Complications with medications begin immediately as doctors noticed that I was starting to overdose; literally turning me a green color, on the amount of morphine that they were giving me. The doctors opted to take a chance with medical marijuana, as a method to get me off of the opiates completely. Surprisingly they found that the results were very positive, my blood pressure had dropped, my nerves were being allowed to relax and my muscles were no longer contracting at the same level they were before. Oddly enough the medical marijuana didn't work as a pain suppressant but what it did do was allowing my mind not to dwell in just the pain of my burns, which in itself was a relief.

Once released from the hospital I figured that I would begin to take care of my own medication as California law allows. After about a year of growing and taking care of my own medical cannabis, I was raided by the local police. The raid was a legitimized robbery as they never charged me nor even arrested me on the scene. The police just came in destroyed my medication and took anything of value that I had, leaving me in my apartment with just a card to call the district attorney. I immediately had a choice to make, either be quiet about it and allow the courts to deal with my medical cannabis or call the media and make a big deal over it. I chose the latter figuring that the very least I was a local hero and my use of medical cannabis was justifiable. That night my story was all over the local media and I made the police force look horrendous.

The District Attorney immediately called me in the next week and all charges were dropped. The local FBI was ordered by courts to return all my goods and medication. I then realized that as medical cannabis patients we have legitimate rights which needed to be fought over. Fortunately being a local hero saved me and my situation, not everybody has that defense factor yet they possess the same right I do.

Q: You have run for some local political offices. How did you get to that point and how did that finally lead to you being the Vice-Presidential Candidate for the Legal Marijuana Now Party?

A. Because of the raid that I was forced to experience, I learned that medical cannabis patients are a legitimate group and our voice has merit. I decided that it was wrong that the County of San Diego refuse to recognize the California medical marijuana ID card. Without that card I as a medical marijuana patient could not be recognized by the local police officers as a legitimate cannabis patient. The County of San Diego in short was depriving me of my state rights. I went to the County Supervisors office and ask them to redress their medical marijuana ID card regulations. They in turn decided to sue me in federal court for the medical marijuana ID card, we took that case into federal court and the federal courts decided it was not worth hearing granting me a de facto win over the County of San Diego. I didn't realize that as a medical marijuana activist we needed to be the one in the seats to make political decisions. So I decided that my next route would be to run politically as a medical cannabis patient.

I challenged my local county supervisor Dianne Jacob in 2008 to her seat as the 2nd dist County Supervisor. Although I didn't win for my first election I received over 18000 votes in a majority- conservative/Republican county. I was given the congratulations by many other activists saying I had done very well and I should try again, so I did. I ran for County Supervisor again in 2012 receiving over 25,000 votes and again in 2016 receiving over 36,000 votes. My lesson is persistence, never quit we have to make sure that our voice is heard. I had to become a squeaky wheel for not only my fires but also medical marijuana; to make sure that another person would never be treated as I was.

Well I guess my story got out there and eventually High Times magazine started to publish and tell people about my political adventure. I was recently contacted by the Legalize Marijuana Now Party and asked if I would be the Vice President for their campaign trying to bring more light to our battle as medical marijuana patients. I can proudly say that I am honored to have taken on this role, I understand the need for a squeaky wheel and vowed to be that for our community.

Q: It seems to me the two main uses of marijuana being discussed, and being implemented in stages, are the medicinal and followed by the recreational modes. Are there other beneficial aspects of marijuana we need to consider?

A. Yes there are two main uses for marijuana currently being discussed simple recreational legalization and medical use. As a burn survivor, I've learned that the medical use of cannabis goes back as long as humanity itself. Our body literally has an in cannabinoid system which it uses to heal and create homeostasis within the human body. Personally I believe that all cannabis use is medical. As for recreational legalization; our society has stigmatized this plant far beyond anything of which it is guilty. To date in humanity there has yet to be even a single death from marijuana, get we have stigmatized it as being one of the most horrendous of the illegal drugs. Unjustly classifying marijuana on the same level as heroin and cocaine. The main proponent which has pushed the stigmatization is politics, Harry Anslinger himself made it a point to make marijuana looks scarier than “Frankenstein”.

I also believe that our solution to every one of our marijuana is also rooted in politics. Getting politicians to understand that the stigma on cannabis that they have been led into is unjustified, will create the needed change in our society to allow for the potential legalization of not only medical but also recreational cannabis. Our society has for too long stigmatized cannabis as non productive, harmful and even racialized this plant to segregate whole groups of our population.

Q: The Prohibition Party has had a long history of inside conflict between single-issue "Narrow Gaugers" and wider-issue "Broad Gaugers." Is this a debate that has also taken place in the Legal Marijuana Now Party? Is there a game plan for attracting centrist voters?

A. Legalize Marijuana Now Party doesn't have that generalization problem as we are working very specifically on marijuana legalization. We are able to target state by state policies for the legalization of marijuana allowing the voters to make the ultimate choice. Our game plan for attracting centrist voters is very simple…. “Allow the medicine to show the people it can heal them”... As cannabis is being seen by baby boomers as a realistic medical alternative, society will also be forced to recognize the benefits of this plant.

Q: The USA seems more receptive to legalization of cannabis now than they did back in 2012 when my home State of Washington had a public vote to decriminalize recreational use. So if marijuana becomes legal in all 50 states, what happens to your party when Legal Marijuana Now becomes Legal Marijuana Then?

A. Currently cannabis is our modern prohibition problem, and as each state slowly legalizes we at the Legal Marijuana Now Party so have realized that we need to adapt in order to stay relevant. So if marijuana becomes legal in all 50 states, I believe the Legal Marijuana Now Party will adapt and become a regular political group such as the Democratic Party.

Q: You live in California (or at least I assume you still do). Now that marijuana is legal there how smoothly has the transition been working? 

A. California is an interesting animal, California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana. The problem became is the politicians in California refuse to implement the new California cannabis laws. This created decades of problems with the transition to medical marijuana in California. Although the citizens of California; the legitimate voters, saw and supported the medical legalization of cannabis the politicians drag their feet at every step to make sure that laws were not implemented. Now that the state has complete legalization of cannabis, the same politicians are doing the exact same dragging of their feet to make sure that the transition between medical and complete legalization did not go efficiently.

Q: How do you personally plan to campaign as the VP nominee?

A. As I said before I'm a well-known medical cannabis activist, I just finished working on a documentary what the Americans for Safe Access (ASA) calling on more activism for the legalization of marijuana not only medically but for all Americans. I will be campaigning across my state with the help of the California Democratic Mary Brown Party who just endorsed our campaign in California.

Q: The Legalize Marijuana Now Party looks like it is more of a confederation of a few states mostly in the Midwest than a nationally centralized party. Is that an inaccurate impression? Are there plans to expand? How is the ballot access battle going?

A. Although it may look like a confederation of states and mostly the Midwest I will personally tell you that I am one of the arms which will pull the state of California into the Legalize Marijuana Now Party and we have also just recently included Guam as part of our ballot platform. Historically, the Legalize Marijuana Now Party has done fairly well on national polls, with the addition of these two recent states and a few other expansions which we have planned in the near future I believe we have a good chance of being a nice squeaky wheel for medical cannabis patients.

Q: Most of the states where cannabis is now legal have accomplished this via the initiative process. How does your party plan to approach the issue in states where the initiative is not an option? Does your party endorse or work with candidates from other parties?

A. In states in which there is not an initiative process option, we have been working with local politicians and bringing forward legislation for legalization. The ability to target those politicians via lobbying or simple patient advocacy is very compelling and hard for a politician to ignore. And yes our party does endorse and work with candidates from other parties.

Q: I know it is early in the campaign season but has being the VP nominee had any impact on your daily life at this point?

A. First of all it's an honor to be nominated and selected to be the Vice President candidate for the Legalize Marijuana Now Party. The nomination has had a huge impact on my life already as locally I have been campaigning non-stop via social media and in real life meetings.

Q: Thank you for contributing to this project and please feel free to add any additional comments not covered by my questions.

I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to allow my voice to be heard for our community at large