Dawn Neptune Adams

 

Dawn Neptune Adams, 1974 -

VP candidate for Progressive Party (aka Independent aka Progressive Party of Oregon aka Green Party of the United States and Independent Green Party) (2020)

Running mate with nominee: Dario David Hunter (b. 1983)
Popular vote: 5,408 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Dario Hunter of Youngstown, Ohio initially filed with the FEC for US President on Feb. 18, 2019 as a member of the Green Party.

On Mar. 8, 2020 Hunter changed his FEC filing to reflect his campaign HQ had relocated to Walnut, Calif. and his running-mate was Darlene Elias of Massachusetts. In his quest for the nomination he placed second in the primaries with 20.5% behind Howie Hawkins (35.06%) and also finished as a formidable runner-up at the Green convention, July 9-11, 2020.

On July 16, 2020, having been unsuccessful in obtaining the nomination of the Green Party, Hunter changed his party designation to Independent in his FEC filing and continued his campaign. In the process he and Elias had been highly critical of the Green Party's leadership and what he contended was an unfair selection method biased in favor of eventual nominee Howie Hawkins.

On Aug. 15, 2020 his filing was amended yet again to reflect his VP was now Dawn Neptune Adams and they were running under the Progressive Party label. The reasons for the switch in running-mates was not given.

Hunter's autobiography from the campaign website--

Born April 21, 1983 in Livingston, New Jersey USA.

Raised in Jersey City and in Newark, New Jersey.

I was born in New Jersey to an African-American mother and a Persian father. We were a working poor family and for us life was a constant struggle to make ends meet. I held on to my goals, getting into Princeton and through three law degrees. I know what it’s like to come from a hard life, but I also know what it’s like to make good on little more than faith and hard work.

I've previously taught as a high school English teacher, served as a K-8 school administrator and as a community college instructor. I enjoy giving back through education and I believe that it is the key to our advancement as a country, just as it has been key to my own personal upliftment. I formerly practiced law in Canada and more recently as an international environmental lawyer at a firm in Haifa.

In Youngstown, OH, I served as a member of the Youngstown Board of Education (2016-2020), fighting the predatory effort of the State of Ohio to take over our district and trap our children in a CEO-run corporate failure. I fought to ban fracking and successfully took on local and state governments in court to uphold the public's right to public records.

Raised at the intersection of multiple cultural experiences, I have taken a very liberal and open-minded approach to spiritual leadership - converting to Judaism and becoming the first born-Muslim ordained as a rabbi. I was previously the campus rabbi for the College of Wooster (Wooster, OH) as well as a pulpit rabbi to a local congregation in Youngstown, Ohio.

Adams also had a biography on the campaign website--

Dawn Neptune Adams is a member of the Penobscot Nation and a journalist with Sunlight Media Collective. Her grassroots environmental activism began with protecting Indigenous Sacred sites in Huntington Beach, CA in 1998 and continues into the present with Indigenous advocacy at Penobscot Tribal, local, state, and national levels.

An activist for Indigenous rights, Dawn’s personal childhood story of Indigenous child removal was featured in the Emmy-winning documentary Dawnland.

Dawn is a Racial Justice Consultant to the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, an active member of Racial Equity & Justice of Bangor, and a former Indigenous Peoples' Policy Advisor for the Hunter/Elias 2020 Presidential campaign. Dawn is directly involved in politics for change, serving as the Wabanaki Liason to the Maine Independent Green Party as well as the current Vice Presidential Candidate to the Dario Hunter 2020 Presidential campaign.

When not battling polluters, plutocrats, and patriarchy, Dawn spends her time raising a pre-teen and building fine furniture. She dreams of a day when we can all eat Salmon from the Penobscot River and live together in peace.

Their platform in summarized form--

Employment

Together we will fight for the human right to food, water, housing and essential utilities.

We will fight for the right to a living wage job with wages indexed to cost of living and inflation (but never less than $15/hr).

Under the REAL Green New Deal there will be full employment – with public works jobs and green jobs.

We will protect workers rights and protect unions - ending firings without just cause.

We will achieve equal pay and equal rights for women, finally passing the Equal Rights Amendment.

Education

There will be tuition free education from grade school through to college.

And we will overcome the educational racism that plagues our schools, subjecting children of color to lessened educational opportunities and the racism of lowered expectations.

We will fight to keep local voice and choice in education – and keep privatization out of our educational system. Our children are not to be used as pawns for corporate profit.

Environment

We will secure clean air, water and soil for future generations and end the environmental racism that plagues minority communities with pollution. We will transition away from fossil fuels, ending their harmful extraction.

And we will set clear achievable goals to transition to 100% renewable energy.

Economy

Bought and paid for Republican and Democratic leaders will tell you that some banks are ‘too big to fail.’ There is no such thing. Break them up. And make corporations and rich pay their fair share. Corporations are not people - and we will no longer allow their interests to outrank the public good.

We shall give grants to green businesses and support community coops in minority communities.

We will democratize monetary policy, giving the public control of the money supply and the creation of credit.

Healthcare

There will be single payer health care for all Americans (i.e. Medicare for All), with no copays, deductibles or restrictions against pre-existing illness.

We will end racism in healthcare that causes a lack of resources and access for minority communities.

Immigration

We will halt the unwarranted deportations and detentions, night raids and the abusive separation of undocumented immigrant families.

We will create a path to citizenship for immigrants that is reasonable, achievable and appreciates the value immigrants bring to our country.

Democracy

Through ranked choice voting, proportional representation and open debates we will seek to perfect the revolution this country's founders started by bringing real democracy and real choice to America’s voters. We will remove the ballot access barriers put in place by the Republicans and Democrats (and their corporate masters).

Equal Rights

We will bring an end to the senseless killing of people of color by law enforcement – supporting the efforts of Black Lives Matter.

We will affirm tribal sovereignty, affirm all treaties, and restore tribal lands to our indigenous peoples – protecting their sacred sites and fighting racism.

Through targeted legislation, we will protect the rights and the lives of LGBTQIA+ persons.

We will stand up against colonialism in Puerto Rico, supporting Puerto Rico's self determination and independence.

We will fight for reparations for Americans of African descent who have been subjected to centuries of slavery and discrimination.

Policing/Prisons/Justice

We will end the war on drugs that feeds into our shameful system of mass incarceration – the new plantation system for African-Americans and people of color.

In response to the ongoing genocide by police, we will demilitarize, defund, disestablish and devolve power to local communities in law enforcement.

We will establish community oversight of public safety and end the quotas for enforcement actions that create a for profit law enforcement model.

We will end the abusive surveillance, spying and violation of our free speech that has occurred under Republican and Democratic administrations alike.

We will protect whistleblowers and publishers like Julian Assange from malicious prosecution with federal level legal protections.

Military/Wars

We will end the war budget and stop funding interventionist activities and wars, closing over 700 military bases abroad. And we will stop aiding and abetting human rights abusers around the world – such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.

We will fund instead a Department of Peace. Our best defense is the pursuit of diplomacy, a strong educational system (i.e. a well educated public) and a strong infrastructure.

And yet we will ensure the quality of veterans' health programs, and honor our military by dealing with the ongoing impact of the military sexual crime crisis outside of the broken military judicial system.

Hunter/Adams could be found on the ballots in Oregon (0.21%) and Colorado (0.01%). They were also registered as write-ins in at least half a dozen states, some of them under the Green Party designation. Nationally they finished in 15th place. Oregon gave them the lion's share of their popular vote.

Election history: none

Other occupations: activist, filmmaker, journalist

Notes:
aka Donna May Adams.

Luis Javier Rodriguez

 

Luis Javier Rodriguez, July 9, 1954 (El Paso, Tex.) -

VP candidate for Justice Party (aka Independent aka Independent Party of Connecticut aka Natural Law Party aka Oregon Progressive Party aka New Mexico Independent Party aka Nonaffiliated) (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Ross Carl Anderson (b. 1951)
Popular vote: 43,123 (0.03%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Ross Carl "Rocky" Anderson served as the Mayor of Salt Lake City 2000-2008 and was perhaps one of the most politically liberal politicians to come out of Utah in recent history. A Democrat, he operated to the Left of his party and had the distinction of being one of the few major city mayors to call for the impeachment of President George W. Bush. By 2011 he was disappointed with the Democratic Party and was key in forming the Justice Party, using it as a springboard for his run for the Presidency.  

In July 2012, Anderson found an "Always Running"-mate in Luis J. Rodriguez.

A resident of California in 2012, Rodriguez had an early history of running with gangs and brief periods of incarceration but also desiring to get pursue an academic education where he developed both political and literary interests. By the time Anderson selected him as his VP, Rodriguez had become a well known poet and activist. I first became aware of him through his book Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. (1993) which was quite popular with the students I worked with in that era. Although not exactly a household name, Rodriguez enjoyed name recognition among the voter base Anderson was trying to reach.

Anderson's platform was encapsulated in his Washington State Voters Pamphlet statement--

Statement: My campaign is about deeply shared values, focused on achieving greater economic, social, and environmental justice for all. Instead of falling in line with the dominant parties that have created a militarist and corporatist government for sale to the highest bidders, we are calling for people to aspire to a government that is genuinely of, by, and for the people.

Peace and prosperity require (1) proven pre-school and secondary educational opportunities so that everyone has a chance to excel; (2) the chance for everyone to obtain a college or technical education without crushing debt, just as our forebears committed to secondary education for all; (3) returning outsourced jobs to the U.S and putting millions of people to work in a WPA-like initiative; (4) equal rights under the law, regardless of race, religion, and sexual orientation; (5) a restorative criminal justice system that focuses on problem-solving, rather than on punishment and retribution (including an end to the disastrous "war on drugs"); (6) a Medicare-for-all system that will provide essential healthcare for everyone, be less expensive, and provide better medical outcomes; and (7) responsible environmental stewardship, including protection of the climate through utilization of clean energy sources.

My foreign policy will promote peace and respect for human rights, not the empire-building wars of aggression supported by both major parties. I will promote long-term U.S. security and build better relationships with other nations by ending the immoral drone killings that have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, the assassinations of U.S. citizens without any semblance of due process, and the claim of authority to indefinitely detain even U.S. citizens without charges, trial, legal assistance, or right of habeas corpus. I will dismantle the imperial presidency and restore a government in harmony with fundamental U.S. values and our Constitution.

Anderson occupied a place on the political spectrum that was too liberal for mainstream Democrats, but too central for some other progressive groups and he found himself frequently competing with the Green Party for voters. In some cases it appeared his experience as an elected executive robbed him of the "outsider" status that often can be an advantage with disaffected voters, plus the Justice Party was not exactly created as the result of a massive grassroots movement.

Anderson was able to partner with some existing political parties and gain ballot access through them such as the Oregon Progressive Party, the Independent Party of Connecticut, the Natural Law Party in Michigan, and the New Mexico Independent Party. In some ways Anderson was able to rely on groups that had supported and organized for Ralph Nader's 2008 campaign. Nader himself fell short of an endorsement, but he "supported" Anderson. Anderson had actually won the Peace and Freedom Party primary in California, but removed himself from consideration before their convention.

Anderson/Rodriguez were on the ballot in 15 states and write-ins in 16 others, placing 7th nationally. Their strongest results were in Utah (0.52%), Idaho and Vermont (0.38% each), Connecticut (0.35%), Oregon (0.19%), Washington (0.16%), New Mexico (0.15%), Michigan and Tennessee (0.11% each), Rhode Island (0.09%), Louisiana and Minnesota (0.07% each), Colorado and New Jersey (0.05% each).

In 2016 the Justice Party endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries.

Election history:
1977 - Los Angeles Unified School Board (Nonpartisan) - defeated
2014 - Governor of California (Green Party of the United States) - defeated

Other occupations: bus driver, truck driver, construction worker, factory worker, welder, poet, novelist, journalist, 2014-2016 Los Angeles Poet Laureate, editor, typesetter, publisher, lecturer, National Committee of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, teacher, steering committee of the National Poor Peoples Campaign, co-founder of the Network for Revolutionary Change

Notes:
2014 opponents included Jerry Brown (winner) and Cindy Sheehan.
Both parents were Mexican born.
In his 1977 election Rodriguez was identified as being a member of the Communist Labor Party of North America.