Alejandro Mendoza

 

Alejandro Mendoza, April 25, 1977 (Riverside, Calif.) -

VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Socialist Party USA) (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Stewart Alexis Alexander (b. 1951)
Popular vote: 4,434 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Stewart Alexander, the Socialist Party USA's VP in 2008, was nominated for President in 2012 overcoming a late challenge by Jerry Levy of Vermont's Liberty Union Party on the first ballot. The Party considered selecting antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan as the running-mate but instead turned to Alex Mendoza of Texas on a fresh procedural rule that Sheehan was not actually a Party member. Mendoza was also running for the State House of Representatives in 2012 under the Green Party banner.

2012 was the first election where the SPUSA had a Presidential nominee who was a person of color.

Alexander had made an attempt for the Green Party nomination but withdrew. He also campaigned for the Peace and Freedom Party nomination in California but lost to Roseanne Barr.

The campaign website provided an abridged version of the platform--

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

The Alexander/Mendoza Campaign
stands for:

Genuine democracy for the 99%
Free speech, press, assembly, association

An end to wars and military occupations
Bring the troops and the money home
Initiate global disarmament
Deploy our troops for disaster relief

Create a democratically-controlled national bank
End Bush-Obama tax cuts to the wealthy

Productive jobs and/or a living wage for all

Single payer universal health care
Free dental, mental, optical and long term care

Decent affordable housing for all
Free or inexpensive reliable public transit

Hire more teachers – Reduce classroom size
Free education through college level

Legalize and tax marijuana – End the drug war
Restore our air, water, land – Protect the environment

Rebuild America’s infrastructure

The Alexander/Mendoza ticket could be found in the ballot in three states Ohio (0.05%), Colorado (0.01%), Florida (0.01%) and were registered write-ins in five others (California, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Texas). The popular vote was a continuation of the SPUSA election decline since 2004.

Election history:
2012 - Texas House of Representatives (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2014 - Texas House of Representatives (Democratic) - defeated
2016 - Texas House of Representatives (Democratic) - defeated

Other occupations: US Marine Corps, mobile home and RV manufacturer worker, Information Technology, lawn care business

Notes:
Parents came to US from Mexico.

Robert Andrew Moses

 Robert Andrew Moses, May 18, 1951 (Pittsylvania County, Va.) -

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (aka Independent aka Unaffiliated) (2008)

Running mate with nominee: Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 5,921 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In the middle of campaign 2004, the San Francisco branch of the Workers World Party split and helped form the Party for Socialism and Liberation. To outsiders even within the Left, the difference between the WWP and PSL seemed minuscule as both entities support repressive regimes (e.g. North Korea) and seem to mirror each other in a philosophy frequently described by observers as neo-Stalinist.

In an Aug. 1, 2004 statement from the PSL, the split from WWP reads like it was more about form rather than content--

While we are in the first stage of creating a new revolutionary party, we have a long tradition as leaders and organizers inside the Marxist movement in the United States, as well as in the anti-war and anti-racist movements, in the labor movement, and in the other mass movements inside the United States. As former leaders and members of Workers World Party, we defend that group's historical tradition and mission, particularly that of its founder Sam Marcy. Although we believe that the Workers World Party leadership is no longer capable of fulfilling that mission, we still consider it to be a progressive organization with many honest activists.

The PSL fielded their first Presidential ticket in 2008 with perennial candidate Gloria La Riva as the standard bearer and Eugene Puryear as her running-mate. In order to make a point, political parties on the Left frequently nominate candidates who would legally be unable to assume office in the event of a victory and Puryear, who was under the Constitution-mandated age of 35 to serve as Vice-President, falls into that category. In some states a stand-in was required. Robert Moses fit that bill.

The La Riva campaign posted an abstract of the platform on their webpage--

U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW
End the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. Bring all the troops home now.
Stop U.S. blockades & sanctions against Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Korea, Sudan and everywhere.
End U.S. aid to Israel—Support the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination.
Free Puerto Rico.
International friendship and solidarity, not imperialist domination.

FIGHT THE CORPORATE BOSSES
Full employment—decent jobs for all. Job training for youth & the unemployed.
Raise the minimum wage to $15/hour now.
Free, quality healthcare for all.
Expand and guarantee social security for all retired workers, disabled and unemployed people.
Stop union-busting, expand the right to organize, including card-check recognition.
Free, high quality education from pre-school through college.
Housing is a right—End foreclosures and evictions.
Stop environmental destruction—Make the polluters pay.
Rebuild New Orleans—Right of return for all survivors.

EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL
Fight racism and the racist criminal “justice” system.
Defend women’s reproductive rights, including the right to choose.
Full rights for all immigrants.
Reparations now for the African American community.
Eliminate anti-LGBT laws—Equal marriage rights for all.
Equality for disabled people.
Stop police brutality and mass incarceration.
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Cuban 5, Angola 3, S.F. 8 and all political prisoners.

SOCIALISM
End the rule of the billionaires, bankers and militarists—fight for workers’ democracy.
We need a sustainable economy based on meeting people’s needs, not making the rich richer.
We need socialism!

In submitting their paperwork for the Utah ballot, Moses indicated he had been living in Upper Marlboro, Md. for three years and was employed as an office worker.

The La Riva/Moses ticket made the ballot in Colorado and Iowa (0.01% each), apparently in Rhode Island and definitely in Utah (0.03% each), and Wisconsin (0.02%). Out of La Riva's 6,821 votes, 900 of them were with Moses.

Election history: none

Other occupations: office worker

Notes:
The Workers World Party endorsed Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney in 2008, and did not run Presidential tickets in 2012 or 2020.
Interesting coincidences with Stewart Alexander the 2008 VP for the Socialist Party. Both Alexander and Moses have surnames that could be first  names, both are African American, both were born in Virginia in 1951.

Stewart Alexis Alexander

 

Stewart Alexis Alexander, October 1, 1951 (Newport News, Va.) -

VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Liberty Union Party aka Independent aka Socialist Party USA) (2008)

Running mate with nominee: Brian Patrick Moore (b. 1943)
Popular vote: 6,582 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The top three contenders for the Presidential nomination of the Socialist Party at the 2007 convention were Brian P. Moore, Eric Chester (1996 VP nominee), and Stewart Alexander. The Florida-based Moore won the prize on the third ballot, with Alexander of California granted the running-mate position. Moore and Alexander were also competitors on the California ballot for the Peace and Freedom Party nomination (along with Gloria La Riva and Cynthia McKinney among others) but Ralph Nader emerged as the victor in that one.

Darcy Richardson served as Moore's campaign advisor.

The Moore/Alexander ticket won the coveted ballot line for the Liberty Union Party in Vermont.

The platform was long and cumbersome as per usual. There was special emphasis on ending the military adventures started by the George W. Bush administration as well as the resulting social, civic, and economic negative ripple effect throughout the country.   

In the course of his early campaign for the Presidential nomination, Alexander provided an almost too-much-information mini-biography that included among his struggles the fact he had been briefly jailed in a domestic dispute 2003-2004 in a case where the charges were eventually dropped.

The Party was largely ignored by Big Media until the McCain/Palin ticket bestowed them with a gift. Using tried and true Red-baiting tactics, the Republicans attempted to paint Obama as a "socialist." Suddenly the press wanted to know what a real Socialist thought about this and Moore had a last minute surge of unusually broad coverage for a Left wing third party. This provided him with an opportunity to clearly delineate the differences between the Socialists and the Democrats to a wider audience than usual.

In spite of the media coverage, the popular vote for the SPUSA had declined by more than 4,000 since the previous election. On the ballot in 8 states and registered write-ins in several more, the Moore/Alexander ticket had their best percentages in Ohio and Tennessee (0.05% each), Vermont (0.04%), New Jersey and Wisconsin (0.02% each), Colorado and Iowa (0.01% each).

Election history:
1989 - Mayor of Los Angeles, Calif. (Nonpartisan) - defeated
2006 - Lt. Governor of California (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
2007 - Socialist Party of the United States of America nomination for US President - defeated
2008 - Peace and Freedom Party nomination for US President - defeated
2010 - Governor of California (Peace and Freedom Party) - primary - defeated
2012 - Peace and Freedom Party nomination for US President - defeated
2012 - Green Party of the United States nomination for US President - withdrew
2012 - US President (Socialist Party of the United States of America) - defeated

Other occupations: US Air Force Reserve, grocery clerk, contractor, radio talk show host, auto sales, activist with the Florida Consumer Action Network,

Notes:
1989 opponents included Tom Bradley (winner), Maria Elizabeth Munoz.