Alyson Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1950-06-11)June 11, 1950 (age 75) Indianapolis,Indiana, U.S. |
| Political party | Socialist Workers |
Alyson Kennedy (born June 11, 1950) is an American activist and member of theSocialist Workers Party (SWP). Aperennial candidate, she was a candidate in the2019 Dallas mayoral election. She was the SWP's nominee forVice President in the2008 United States presidential election,President in the2016 United States presidential election as well as their nominee for president in2020.
Originally fromIndianapolis, Kennedy joined the socialist movement in 1973 inLouisville, Kentucky. She has worked incoal mines in Alabama, Colorado, Utah, and West Virginia. Today she works at aWalmart inDallas.[1]
In 1977 she ran as the SWP candidate for mayor ofCleveland,Ohio against incumbent RepublicanRalph Perk, garnering 1,225 votes and losing by a wide margin toDennis Kucinich.[2] She first joined theUnited Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in 1981, and was one of the leaders of a strike inUtah 2004,[3] also being involved in litigation.[4] In2000, she ran for the United States Senate from Missouri as a certifiedwrite-in candidate. She and one other certified write-in candidate combined for 13 votes (out of nearly 2.4 million votes cast).[5]
In 1984, she was chosen by the Socialist Workers' Party to be a presidential elector fromWest Virginia.[6]
As the vice-presidential nominee of two parties, Kennedy ran a campaign focused on the youth.[7] There were two different candidates at the head of the ticket,Roger Calero andJames Harris; Harris was an alternate in some states because Calero was constitutionally ineligible because he is alawful permanent resident of the United States (holding agreen card), and not a US citizen. They were the first pair to qualify for the ballot inLouisiana[8] Calero/Kennedy won 5,127 votes and Harris/Kennedy 2,424.[9]
On February 12, 2016, Kennedy was announced as thenominee for president on the Socialist Workers Party ticket alongsideOsborne Hart.[10] Kennedy is the second woman to be the presidential nominee of the SWP, followingLinda Jenness.[11] She was on the ballot in eight states: Utah, Louisiana, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Tennessee, Washington and New Jersey.[12] The ticket received 11,743 out of almost 137 million votes cast.
In January 2019, Kennedy declared her candidacy in the2019 Dallas mayoral election,[13] advocating for the improvement of thepublic transit system, a public jobs program to provide "union-scale wages", and for theDallas Police Department to address claims of police brutality, pointing to themurder of Botham Jean as an example of such claims.[13] She received 469 votes (0.58% of the vote) which placed her last among the candidates running.
In February 2020, Kennedy was announced as her party's nominee for president. Her vice-presidential nominee isMalcolm Jarrett, an African-American activist and cook fromPittsburgh,Pennsylvania.[14] The two kicked off their campaign with speeches at campaign headquarters inDallas on February 8. The ticket received 6,791 votes, out of 158 million votes cast.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Socialist Workers Party nominee for Vice Presidential 2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Socialist Workers Party nominee for President of the United States 2016/2020 | Succeeded by TBD |