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Syracuse, N.Y. — A Syracuse activist and campaign season mainstay has secured enough support to run for president as the Green Party’s candidate.
Howie Hawkins locked up enough Green Party delegates over the weekend to represent the party in November’s election.
His running mate is Angela Walker, an activist from Wisconsin who previously ran for vice president with the Socialist Party USA.
“Mounting unnecessary deaths from Covid-19 and the uprising against racism have revealed how the two governing parties are presiding over a failed state,” Hawkins said in a press release. “The Green Party is the alternative: Medicare for All, the full-strength Green New Deal, an Economic Bill of Rights, and ending militarized policing at home and abroad.”
Hawkins will appear on presidential ballots in at least 25 states in November. He’ll be on the ballot in New York, where the Green Party has established a ballot line thanks to Hawkins’ 2018 gubernatorial turnout.
The Green Party is seeking ballot access in every state.
Hawkins, 67, has run for office 24 times before this race. He’s sought office at every level of government, including bids for New York governor, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and campaigns for Syracuse mayor, common councilor and auditor. He has never won.
In previous races, Hawkins has said he’s run to bring awareness to issues by forcing his opponents to debate and consider them. He’s been an outspoken advocate for the Green New Deal in his bid for the presidency. He is also advocating for a more progressive tax system and cuts to military spending.
Hawkins was born in California. He has lived Vermont and New Hampshire where he worked in logging and construction.
He moved to Syracuse in 1991 and lives on the South Side. He worked the overnight shift at UPS before retiring several years ago. He was a member of the Teamsters local 317 union.
Hawkins was a founding member of the Green Party.
syracuse.com
