Vermin Love Supreme | |
|---|---|
 Supreme in New Hampshire in 2019 during the2020 United States presidential election wearing his characteristicWellington boot | |
| Member of theLibertarian Party Judicial Committee | |
| In office July 12, 2020[1] – May 29, 2022 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1961-06-01)June 1, 1961 (age 64) Rockport, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic (2004–2008, 2012–2016, 2023–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
|
| Education | Gloucester High School |
| Occupation |
|
Vermin Love Supreme[2] (born June 1, 1961) is an Americanperformance artist andactivist who has run as anovelty candidate in various local, state, and national elections in the United States. He served as a member of theLibertarian Party's judicial committee.[3][4] Supreme is known for wearing a boot as a hat and carrying a large toothbrush,[5] and has said that if electedPresident of the United States, he will pass a law requiring people tobrush their teeth.[6][7] He has campaigned on a platform ofzombie apocalypse awareness andtime travel research,[8] and promised a freepony for every American.[9]
In 2011, he participated in theOccupy Boston protests.[10] He is the subject of the 2014 documentaryWho Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey, which follows his 2012 campaign and explores his life as an activist and political prankster.[11]
Supremecampaigned for theLibertarian Party's 2020 presidential nomination. At the2020 Libertarian National Convention he came in third place, receiving 206 delegate votes out of 1,026.
Supreme generally runs for office as a satirical candidate, making proposals that are considered outlandish or unrealistic and communicating in an unorthodox way in order to mock politicians and the political system.[citation needed] His eccentric attire includes multiple ties and a boot on his head, and he sometimes carries a giant toothbrush. He has created attention by giving interviews to reporters and crashing campaign events for major candidates. Some of the main themes of Supreme's campaigns are instituting a mandatorytooth brushing law, giving every American a freepony, using zombies for renewable energy,zombie apocalypse awareness, andtime travel research. He largely avoided discussing major political issues until his 2020 presidential campaign, which was more serious. Supreme has run variously as aRepublican, aDemocrat, and aLibertarian.[12][13][14][15]
Supreme discussed his political views in a 2008 promotional video. He said he was registered as a Republican at that time, but that he leaned towardanarchism and was influenced by theSituationist International,dadaism, anddiscordianism.[16] He asserted thatlibertarians "are just about abolishing the government and letting shit fall where it may",[17] which he called a mistake, though he later said that assertion was based on a "prejudice" for "lack of knowing."[18] He asserted that Republicans want to nullify the government, but "offer no alternative to helping people other than charity."[17] Supreme's vision of anarchism holds no need for government and depends on citizens to take responsibility for themselves and for others, citing "mutual aid and support and care to our fellow citizens" as key elements. To that end, Supreme has called for a gradual dismantling of the government, while citizens take up the slack. He asserted that Americans no longer know how to be citizens, placing some of the blame on schools that teach in a "very twisted andjingoistic fashion".[17]
Discussing his presidential campaign in the video, Supreme describes his "joke humor" campaign as a response to the lies people are fed by the media and by the government.[17]
In an interview withNew Hampshire magazine in 2018, Supreme labeled his political beliefs as "social anarchist" and opined thatPeter Kropotkin "was a great anarchist thinker and writer".[19]
In 1986, Supreme joined theGreat Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament in protest ofnuclear weapons.[2] Supreme's first political campaign was forMayor of Baltimore in 1987. At the time, Supreme was without income, and later said that he ran "mainly to give myself a project...something to do." The election was won byKurt Schmoke.[20]
Supreme has run in every presidential election since1992.[14]
Supreme campaigned in theWashington, D.C.presidential primary in2004,[21] where he received 149 votes.[22]
Supreme campaigned in theNew Hampshire Republican primary in2008. He received 41 votes (0.02%) in the New Hampshire primary. According to theFederal Election Commission (FEC), he also received 43 votes nationally in the general election.[23]
Supreme campaigned as aDemocrat in the2012 U.S. presidential election.[24][25][26] His candidacy was supported by theGood Humor Party.
On April 14, 2011, Supreme participated in the First Debate of the New Election Cycle at the IGLO Dissidents' Convention which also includedJimmy McMillan,Jill Stein, and others.[27][28] He qualified to be listed on the2012 Democratic Party primary ballot in New Hampshire.[29] On October 29, 2011, Supreme participated in a satirical debate against a representative of the campaign of deceased British occultistAleister Crowley.[30] On December 19, he participated in the "Lesser-Known Democratic Candidates Presidential Forum", at theNew Hampshire Institute of Politics atSaint Anselm College and "glitterbombed" fellow candidateRandall Terry.[31]
He was a candidate in theIowa Democratic caucuses, and received 1.4% of the votes on January 3, 2012.[32] On January 10, 2012, in theDemocratic Primary in New Hampshire, Supreme received 833 votes. (Barack Obama won the primary with 49,080 votes.)[33]
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Supreme participated in the Anti-NATO protests at the May 20–21Chicago NATO Summit.[34][35] In May 2012, he visited the second largest regional high school in Maine to give a speech about his campaign style to a government class.[36] In June 2012, he participated in theRainbow Gathering in Tennessee.[35]
On August 25, Supreme announced his new political party, the Free Pony Party, where he will give all citizens "a free pony" and that he has chosen fellow fringe opponent Jimmy McMillan as his running mate. Conversely, McMillan stated he was still running for president on his ownRent Is Too Damn High Party platform, and that Supreme would be McMillan's running mate.[37] In October, Supreme participated in a debate hosted byPeter Schiff in the Peter Schiff Radio Show, which featured a panel of overlooked presidential candidates including McMillan, independent write-in candidate Santa Claus, and write-in Republican presidential candidate Edgar Lawson.[38]
Supreme attempted another presidential run in2016.[39] He embarked on a tour of 20 cities to build support for his campaign and sought to qualify for matching funds from theFederal Election Commission (FEC).[39][40] He filed as a candidate in theNew Hampshire Democratic presidential primary on November 21, 2015.[41] He was not invited to return to the Lesser-Known Democratic Candidates Presidential Forum, due in part to him glitter bombing Randall Terry at the event in 2011.[42] Shortly before the primary, he was observed questioning Republican candidatesChris Christie andTed Cruz through a bullhorn. Supreme engaged Christie in an informal debate over his free pony platform, during which he accused Christie of hating ponies, and asked Cruz whether he thought that water being used duringwaterboarding should includefluoride.[15][43][44]
Supreme received 256 votes in the primary on February 9, 2016, coming in fourth after former Maryland GovernorMartin O'Malley, who had dropped out after the Iowa caucuses.[45]
On March 4, Supreme switched his affiliation to theLibertarian Party.[46] He received the vote of a single delegate in the first round of presidential nomination voting at the2016 Libertarian National Convention.
Supreme ran again for president in2020, this time as a Libertarian. This marked the first time that Supreme ran a "legitimate" campaign, focusing on real rather than satirical issues and using the slogan "In On The Joke".[47] While Supreme continued to use satirical humor, he focused more on legitimate political issues. He called for ending foreign wars and voiced support for pardoning non-violent drug offenders, ending thewar on drugs, and reducing incarceration, which he called his top priority. On theCOVID-19 pandemic, Supreme criticized PresidentDonald Trump, arguing that he should have paid better attention to the virus and have made testing more widely available. He satirically promised to make COVID-19 illegal and, in a play on his campaign promise to go back in time and "kill baby Hitler," vowed to go back in time and "kill baby COVID." He facetiously pledged to create "COVID-19 free zones" because "they work so well for things like guns and drugs."[48]
He won the Libertarian Presidential Preference Primary in New Hampshire on February 11, 2020.[49][50] On March 3, 2020, Supreme was declared the winner of the Massachusetts primary.[51] He dropped out on May 23, 2020, afterJo Jorgensen received the Libertarian Party's nomination for president. Incidentally, Supreme's running mateSpike Cohen was chosen to be the Libertarian vice presidential nominee.
Supreme ran for president again in 2024, this time for theDemocratic nomination. Supreme obtained ballot access in one state for the Democratic primaries,New Hampshire.[52] On December 8, 2023, Supreme appeared at theLesser-Known Candidates Forum hosted bySaint Anselm College inManchester, New Hampshire.[53] Supreme placed fifth in the New Hampshire Democratic primary with 0.7% of the vote.[54] Supreme also appeared on the ballot for theLegal Marijuana Now Party'spresidential nomination primary in Minnesota on March 5, 2024.[55] He placed third among five candidates with 15.08% of the vote.[56]
In June 2024, theUS Pirate Party officially voted to endorse Supreme's candidacy for President.[57] He was also nominated by theConservative Party of Delaware and appeared on thegeneral election ballot in that state.[58]
In2018, Supreme expressed interest in running forGovernor ofKansas. Although he did not live in the state, Kansas had very few strict requirements for running for office. Several teenagers taking advantage of the lack of requirements had filed to run for governor, and in order not to take any votes away from them, Supreme decided to run forAttorney General instead, becoming a challenger to incumbent RepublicanDerek Schmidt. The lack of requirements in order to run for office, as outlined in the state'sConstitution, has been heralded by Supreme: "This is indeed a very interesting and attractive loophole," he said. "I think that's a very good thing for democracy." Desarae Lindsay ofTexas was named his campaign treasurer and would accompany him to his 2020 presidential campaign. Supreme was eventually disqualified from running on the basis of his non-residency in the state, his home address being in Massachusetts.[59][60]
On August 24, 2020, Supreme announced that he would be launching awrite-in campaign for the Libertarian nomination for the2020 Massachusetts senatorial election.[61]
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In December 2017Hillary Clinton planned to visitConcord, New Hampshire, for abook tour promoting her new bookWhat Happened. In advance of her presentation, Supreme planned ademonstration in front of the bookstore during the event.[62] The demonstration was to be a "pony protest" and would include at least one pony.[63] Supreme has a history of making theelection promise of ponies to constituents and has asserted that Clinton does not like ponies enough.[64] When Supreme sought aprotest permit for his demonstration, the police ordered the city to deny his request.[64]
In response, Supreme asserted his "right to pony" and retainedMarc Randazza, an attorney with a reputation for advocacy ofFirst Amendment rights, to represent him in suing the city of Concord for the permit.[63] The court found in favor of Supreme, issuing aninjunction that the city give him a permit, allowing him to protest the event, along with his ponies.[63] A stipulation was that Supreme had to pay forparking for ponies at the rate for cars.[65]
When Supreme presented the pony protest, there was a parade.[66] More than 1,000 people attended the book signing and protest.[67]
| Title | Year | Role | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subdue the Universe | 1997 | Himself | Documentary |
| Winning New Hampshire | 2004 | Himself | Documentary |
| 2008 Uncut | 2008 | Himself | TV series |
| Vote Jesus: The Chronicles of Ken Stevenson (documentary) | 2009 | Ken Stevenson | Film |
| Learnin' with Vermin | 2012 | Himself | Educational |
| Who Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey | 2014 | Himself | Documentary |
| Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match | 2016 | Himself | Documentary |
| Candidate | Popular vote | |
|---|---|---|
| Count | Percentage | |
| Howard Dean | 18,132 | 42.65% |
| Al Sharpton | 14,639 | 34.43% |
| Carol Moseley Braun | 4,924 | 11.58% |
| Dennis Kucinich | 3,481 | 8.19% |
| Lyndon LaRouche | 522 | 1.23% |
| Florence Walker | 257 | 0.60% |
| Aurther Jackson | 241 | 0.57% |
| Vermin Supreme | 149 | 0.35% |
| Harry Braun | 85 | 0.20% |
| Jeanne Chebib | 46 | 0.11% |
| Lucian Wojciechowski | 40 | 0.09% |
| Total | 42,516 | 100% |
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John McCain | 88,571 | 37.7% | |
| Mitt Romney | 75,546 | 32.2% | |
| Mike Huckabee | 26,859 | 11.4% | |
| Rudy Giuliani | 20,439 | 8.7% | |
| Ron Paul | 18,308 | 7.8% | |
| Fred Thompson | 2,890 | 1.2% | |
| Duncan Hunter | 1,217 | 0.51% | |
| Alan Keyes | 203 | 0.086% | |
| Stephen Marchuk | 123 | 0.058% | |
| Tom Tancredo | 80 | 0.034% | |
| Hugh Cort | 53 | 0.023% | |
| Cornelius Edward O'Connor | 45 | 0.019% | |
| Albert Howard | 44 | 0.0187% | |
| Vern Wuensche | 44 | 0.0187% | |
| Vermin Supreme | 41 | 0.0175% | |
| John H. Cox | 39 | 0.017% | |
| Daniel Gilbert | 33 | 0.014% | |
| James Creighton Mitchell Jr. | 30 | 0.013% | |
| Jack Shepard | 27 | 0.011% | |
| Mark Klein | 19 | < 0.01% | |
| H. Neal Fendig Jr. | 13 | < 0.01% | |
| Hudson Starnes | 5 | < 0.01% | |
| Other | 227 | 0.097% | |
| Total votes | 234,851 | 100.00% | |
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillary Clinton | 16,917,853 | 55.2% | |
| Bernie Sanders | 13,210,550 | 43.1% | |
| Martin O'Malley | 110,423 | 0.4% | |
| Uncommitted | 101,481 | 0.3% | |
| Rocky De La Fuente | 67,468 | 0.2% | |
| No Preference | 50,990 | 0.2% | |
| Scattering | 48,576 | 0.2% | |
| Willie Wilson | 25,796 | 0.2% | |
| Paul T. Farrell Jr. | 21,694 | 0.1% | |
| Keith Russell Judd | 20,305 | 0.1% | |
| Michael Steinberg | 20,126 | 0.1% | |
| Henry Hewes | 11,062 | 0.065% | |
| John Wolfe Jr. | 7,369 | 0.044% | |
| Star Locke | 5,202 | 0.031% | |
| Steve Burke | 4,893 | 0.029% | |
| Lawrence "Larry Joe" Cohen | 2,407 | 0.014% | |
| Calvis L. Hawes | 2,017 | 0.012% | |
| James Valentine | 1,726 | 0.01% | |
| Uninstructed Delegation | 1,488 | 0.0089% | |
| Jon Adams | 486 | 0.0029% | |
| Vermin Supreme | 268 | 0.0016% | |
| Mark Stewart | 236 | 0.0014% | |
| David John Thistle | 226 | 0.0013% | |
| Graham Schwass | 143 | < 0.001% | |
| Lloyd Thomas Kelso | 46 | < 0.001% | |
| Mark Stewart Greenstein | 41 | < 0.001% | |
| Eric Elbot | 36 | < 0.001% | |
| William D. French | 29 | < 0.001% | |
| Edward T. O'Donnell Jr. | 26 | < 0.001% | |
| Robert Lovitt | 22 | < 0.001% | |
| William H. McGaughey Jr. | 19 | < 0.001% | |
| Edward Sonnino | 17 | < 0.001% | |
| Steven Roy Lipscomb | 15 | < 0.001% | |
| Sam Sloan | 15 | < 0.001% | |
| Brock C. Hutton | 14 | < 0.001% | |
| Raymond Michael Moroz | 8 | < 0.001% | |
| Write-in | 60 | < 0.001% | |
| Total votes | 30,633,131 | 100.00% | |
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob Hornberger | 9,177 | 20.3% | |
| Jo Jorgensen | 5,110 | 11.2% | |
| Vermin Supreme | 4,277 | 9.4% | |
| Ken Armstrong | 3,507 | 7.7% | |
| Kim Ruff | 3,030 | 7.7% | |
| Adam Kokesh | 2,865 | 6.3% | |
| Dan Behrman | 2,392 | 5.3% | |
| Max Abramson | 2,039 | 4.5% | |
| Sam Robb | 1,951 | 4.3% | |
| Other | 7,193 | 15.9% | |
| Total votes | 45,306 | 100.00% | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Libertarian | Other Write-ins | 3,390 | 99.21% | |
| Libertarian | Vermin Supreme (write-in) | 27 | 0.79% | |
| Total votes | 3,417 | 100.00% | ||
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Joe Biden (incumbent; write-in) | 79,100 | 63.8% |
| Dean Phillips | 24,377 | 19.7% |
| Marianne Williamson | 5,016 | 4.0% |
| Nikki Haley (write-in)(Republican) | 4,760 | 3.8% |
| Donald Trump (write-in)(Republican) | 2,079 | 1.7% |
| Derek Nadeau | 1,616 | 1.3% |
| "Ceasefire" (write-in)[71] | 1,512 | 1.2% |
| Vermin Supreme | 912 | 0.7% |
| John Vail | 685 | 0.6% |
| Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (write-in)(Independent) | 439 | 0.4% |
| Donald Picard | 371 | 0.3% |
| Paperboy Prince | 326 | 0.3% |
| Paul V. LaCava | 176 | 0.1% |
| Jason Michael Palmer | 142 | 0.1% |
| President R. Boddie | 136 | 0.1% |
| Mark Stewart Greenstein | 133 | 0.1% |
| Bernie Sanders (write-in)(Independent) | 125 | 0.1% |
| Terrisa Bukovinac | 101 | <0.1% |
| Gabriel Cornejo | 86 | <0.1% |
| Stephen P. Lyons | 80 | <0.1% |
| Frankie Lozada | 73 | <0.1% |
| Tom Koos | 71 | <0.1% |
| Armando "Mando" Perez-Serrato | 68 | <0.1% |
| Star Locke | 59 | <0.1% |
| Raymond Michael Moroz | 52 | <0.1% |
| Eban Cambridge | 47 | <0.1% |
| Chris Christie (write-in)(Republican) | 41 | <0.1% |
| Richard Rist | 37 | <0.1% |
| Ron DeSantis (write-in)(Republican) | 33 | <0.1% |
| Vivek Ramaswamy (write-in)(Republican) | 2 | <0.1% |
| Other write-ins, reported as "scatter". | 1,341 | 1.1% |
| Total: | 123,996 | 100.00% |
No delegates were awarded from the January New Hampshire primary.
Supreme grew up nearBoston,Massachusetts,[72][73] and is the oldest of three children.[2] He graduated fromGloucester High School in 1979, then moved toBaltimore to attend theMaryland Institute College of Art.[74] He eventually dropped out of college and began booking bands forunderground music clubs.[2]
He legally changed his name to Vermin Supreme in the 1990s while still in Baltimore.[2]
In 2006, Supremedonated one of his kidneys to his mother, who was suffering fromrenal failure.[2]
Supreme is married and has no children.[2] He resides inRockport, Massachusetts.[75]
