Steve Beren (born September 9, 1951) is an American political activist fromSeattle, Washington.
Born inNew York City, Beren says that he was raised in a nominalJewish home, later became an atheist and, in 1995, a Christian.[1]
Until 1990 Beren was a member of theSocialist Workers Party (SWP),[2][3]
While living inDetroit in the 1970s, Beren was questioned by theFBI who were investigating his roommate at the time, aYoung Socialist Alliance partisan suspected ofsubversive activities. According to a congressional report of that incident, the roommate had previously been harassed by a "person claiming to be a congressman on theHouse Internal Security committee" who had insinuated knowledge of an "undisclosed purpose" behind the roommate and Beren's relocation from New York; the purported congressman claimed the move was done at the behest of the SWP for purposes of infiltration andagitprop.[4]
Beren left the SWP in 1990 due to, what he described as, "exhaustion with it."[2]
After leaving the SWP, Beren became a member of theDemocratic Party, where he remained for the next fourteen years.[3]
Beren quit the Democratic Party to become a Republican. He is a self-identified "Tea Party activist" and was an early confederate ofTea Party founderKeli Carender. The success of Carender's first event, a 2009 rally in Seattle against theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, has been partly attributed to promotion it received on Beren'sblog.[5] Beren went on to organize and speak at other Tea Party rallies.[6]
Beren has said that Republicans should "have bold colors, wave the Republican flag boldly; wave fiscal conservatism,social conservatism, immigration conservatism — boldly."[7] During the 2012 GOP presidential primaries, Beren endorsedNewt Gingrich.[8][9] He has called for fortifying the U.S.' southern border with Mexico[10] and was a supporter of the2003 Iraq War.[11]
In 2006, and again in 2008, Beren ran forU.S. House of Representatives fromWashington's 7th congressional district, advancing to the general election on the Republican ticket in the heavily Democratic-leaning district. In both races he was soundly defeated by incumbentJim McDermott, scoring roughly 16-percent of the vote each time[12][13] while being thoroughly outspent by his rival (McDermott spent $1 million during the 2008 election, compared to $32,850 invested by Beren's campaign[14]). In 2010 he again ran for congress from Washington's 7th congressional district, that time as a declared write-in candidate.[15]
As of 2014, Beren is the New Media and Technology Director for theWashington State Republican Party.[16]
Beren has lived in Seattle since 1987, and is married.[1]
Beren was very active in the Strat-o-Matic Baseball community in the late 1990s and 2000s. From 1993 to 2009, he was a member of ESSOM, including a long stint as ESSOM Spring League commissioner. He won the ESSOM Spring League championship in 1995 with the Oregon Outlaws, and the 2001-02 ESSOM Fall League championship with the Nashville Wildcats. He was a member of the Great American Baseball League from 1998 to 2007, compiling a 664-956 (.410) record with the Florida Rockets.[17]