Joaquin Castro

 

Joaquin Castro, September 16, 1974 (San Antonio, Tex.) -

VP candidate for Independent (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Cynthia Torres Cavazos (b. 1971)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Cynthia T. Cavazos, a San Antonio, Tex. hotel housekeeper and "social services coordinator for A Mission of God's Love," filed with the FEC on Oct. 26, 2015 as an Independent for President. Most of her campaign was conducted on social media, mainly Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

Cavazos provided a bit of autobiography on a Oct. 4, 2016 Facebook post--

Religious Beliefs: From both parent's being catholic, to my father converting to Jehovah Witness- I was into all that church stuff when I was young. My grandma...well, she was a Catholic and I was able to see all them saints and candles of Jesus, with those palm crosses hung over the door. I grew up with that in my grandma's home.
 My dad gave me my first bible- I from that after reading...I began to look inot other religions, I used to love when Mormons would come knocking on my door to speak- I allowed a whole group of kids to learn about John Smith.
I was baptized in The Baptist Church after the baptism in the Catholic Church at the age of 12- My children witnessed the dunking of a pool baptism. I was pregnant and finally after many years, I became confirmed, and, the neat thing...my lifestyle was as the poor in other countries living in a tent.  Having to go door step to door step until I came to a church where I stayed in my tent for about two months.- weird Huh? 9:32p.m.

Her stand on the issues came across as slightly cryptic, and the same applied to her philosophy behind the choice of a Vice-President. For reasons never really spelled out, she wanted the names of 13 men as running-mates. Although not officially designated as her VP, I am going to profile the eclectic four names out of the 13 she identified as desirable for her ticket: Newt Gingrich, (probably) Danny Google Aguilar, Rick Perry, and Joaquin Castro.

Tracing Cavazos' Facebook entries regarding the VP saga presents a murky story--

Mar. 31, 2016:
Email your Vice Presidential Resume to: meetcynthia@outlook.com

June 7, 2016:
Still looking for a Vice President. [Accompanied with a short video where Cavazos makes a direct appeal for a VP]

July 14, 2016:
Searching for  a Vice President....To make sure y'all understand, If elected, I will choose one for now...and once I have my Vice President running Mate...I will search for six more....this is the first time if I am elected we will have Seven Vice Presidents (all men) if Cynthia T.Cavazos is elected the next President of the U.S.

July 16, 2016:
I have several people in mind to choose from...but, based on what I am looking for, I will choose 13 Vice Presidential Elects ....The Electoral College will choose from the 13 nominated to be the next Vice President.

July 18, 2016:
Having to look for a Vice President with Immigration Standards is not too hard...based on the quality and communication these candidates have, I am thinking about choosing...
(Round 1) Without Immigration as to where they stand.... Newt Gingrich, Aguilar from Nevada, Rick Perry, Joaquin Castro,
 California not sure of who and other states I have not searched, but I am keen when it regard Human Resources. "A few I have seen to be an asset".
Understand this, because I have not yet chosen a Vice President...I am not saying the names listed will be my choice....but, they may be the list of 13 *I will submit as my chosen for legislature to choose from..after the people have chosen.

Joaquin Castro in 2016 was a rising star in the Democratic Party, having been elected to Congress in 2013 from the San Antonio region. The identical twin brother of Julian Castro, Joaquin later grew a beard to help the public identify him. He was one of the managers of the second impeachment of Trump. Cavazos expressing a desire for Castro as a running-mate combined with Gingrich and Perry is interesting, to say the least.

In 2016 Castro was unopposed in the Democratic primary for re-election. In the general election he did not have a Republican opponent and easily won with almost 80% of the vote over his Libertarian and Green challengers.

Cavazos was registered as a write-in, with no running-mate, in Washington and West Virginia. If the Cavazos/Castro ticket had emerged the winners on Election Day the fact they were both residents of the same state would have posed a potential problem with the Constitution.

In 2017 Cavazos finished 4th out of 6 candidates for the San Antonio City Council.

Election history:
2003-2013 - Texas House of Representatives (Democratic)
2013- - US House of Representatives (Democratic)

Other occupations: attorney, teacher

Notes:
Super obscuro third party trivia: Castro was named in honor of Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales' poem, "I am Joaquin." Gonzales was the VP in 1968 with Eldridge Cleaver for the Peace and Freedom Party in Iowa and Utah.

Adelicio Moya

Adelicio Moya, March 20, 1914 (New Chilili, NM) - April 1, 1985 (Albuquerque, NM)

VP candidate for People's Constitutional Party (1968)

Running mate with nominee: Ventura Chavez (1926-2013)
Popular vote: 1519 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The People's Constitutional Party was a short-lived political organization limited to the State of New Mexico. It was linked with Reies Lopez Tijerina's activism over land grants being restored to the familes of the original Mexican and/or Spanish owners. The Party also advocated bilingual/bicultural education, investigation of land speculators, civilian police review boards, 18-year old voting age, and an increase in welfare payments.

The Party's efforts to gain ballot status in New Mexico was a hard-fought battle. Their legal challenges to be included alongside the major parties gained more media attention than their actual platform. Eventually they prevailed but after the 1968-1970 elections the state government made it even more difficult for third parties to present themselves as a choice in the voting booth.

Adelicio Moya, the PCP choice for VP, had been arrested at least twice in civil disobedience events along with others (including Reies Lopez Tijerina) just prior to the election, in June 1967 and January 1968. This included a raid on a courthhouse.

Only on the ballot in New Mexico, the Chavez/Moya ticket earned 1519 popular votes (0.46% of the state total) placing 4th. After running a slate of candidates in the New Mexico 1970 election the Party disbanded.

Election history:
1970 - New Mexico State Corporation Commissioner (People's Constitutional Party) - defeated

Other occupations: laborer, farmer, activist

Buried: Chilili New Cemetery (Chilili, NM)

Notes:
Some sources list his birthday as April 20, 1914.
At one point during the 1967-1968 protests, the activists were visited by Corky Gonzales and other
 supporters.
His wife Cruzita ran for New Mexico Lt. Governor as part of the PCP in 1968 as well.

Rodolfo Gonzales

 Cesar Chavez, Corky Gonzalez

 Ralph Abernathy, Corky Gonzalez, Peggy Terry

 Angela Davis, Corky Gonzalez

Rodolfo Gonzales, June 18, 1928 (Denver, Colo.) – April 12, 2005 (Denver. Colo.)

VP candidate for Peace and Freedom Party (1968)

Running mate with nominee: Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998)
Popular vote: 1512 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Driven chiefly by Californians, the Peace and Freedom Party was organized in the mid-1960s and went national in an attempt to link together various contingents of the Left. At their Presidential nominating convention Aug. 17-18, 1968 in Ann Arbor, Mich. where Eldridge Cleaver was selected over Dick Gregory, a schism had already become obvious. Gregory would go on to outpoll Cleaver on Election Day.

Cleaver, the author of Soul on Ice and the Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party, had little patience for the serious bickering that took place at the convention. When it came time to nominate a Vice-Presidential candidate, Cleaver suggested Youth International Party activist Jerry Rubin-- an idea that went nowhere as many considered Rubin to be too erratic, uncontrollable, and part of the Far Right of the Far Left. As the convention wrestled over this and other issues, Cleaver walked out in frustration and the matter was eventually left up to each state to select his running mate.

A member of the Socialist Workers Party took notes at this event and concluded:

Some Generalizations 1) The P&F movement is in a state of serious disarray. 2) The "coalition" with the Panthers had been badly shaken. 3) If Cleaver doesn't extricate himself from this mess soon he will rapidly and thoroughly discredit himself in the eyes of black militants inside and outside the BPP.

In April 1968, prior to being nominated, Cleaver was involved in a police shootout. Shortly after the election he felt obliged to jump bail and flee to Cuba.

The Iowa and Utah Peace and Freedom Party conventions selected Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales as the VP nominee. A former boxer of some note, author of the epic poem I Am Joaquin (1967), and a leader in Mexican-American civil rights, Gonzalez had been an active Democrat starting in the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, but felt frustrated working within the major party system.

There are conflicting newspaper accounts concerning the blank spot on the Utah ballot for the Peace and Freedom Party option for President. One story has it that because Cleaver was too young to serve, he was stricken from the ballot while Gonzales (and the Electors) remained. The second story, according to the Aug. 25, 1968 Salt Lake Tribune, is that the Utah PFP majority opinion was to leave the position blank in spite of vigorous lobbying by supporters of both Eugene McCarthy and Eldridge Cleaver. Gonzales, from neighboring Colorado, was nominated as VP with an almost favorite son admiration. The convention also nominated the singer Bruce "Utah" Phillips for the US Senate.

The final vote: Iowa 1,332 (5th place, 0.11%) and Utah 180 (a very distant 4th place, 0.04%)

Election history:
1962 - Colorado House of Representatives (Democratic) - defeated
1964 - Colorado House of Representatives (Democratic) - ruled ineligible due to residency requirements

Other occupations: boxer, poet, agricultural worker, author, tavern owner, bail bondsman, one of the founders of Cruzada para la Justicia

Buried: ?

Notes:
Testifying to his fiery personality as a youth, an uncle said of Gonzales, "He was always popping off
 like a cork. So, we called him Corky."
"It is important for us to realize that Chicanos did not immigrate to the United States, the United
 States came to us."--Corky Gonzales.
Inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.
Retired from boxing in 1955 with 63 wins, 11 losses, and 1 draw.
His father came to the US from Mexico.
Active in La Raza Unida Party
"I am Joaquin,
Lost in a world of confusion,
Caught up in a whirl of a gringo society,
Confused by the rules, Scorned by attitudes,
Suppressed by manipulations, And destroyed by modern society.
My fathers have lost the economic battle and won the struggle of
cultural survival."