FLORENCE, S.C. — A resident of Florence is seeking the office of vice president for the second time.
Green Party presidential nominee Howie Hawkins announced in May that he would be running with Angela Walker in the 2020 election. Hawkins and Walker were nominated by the party in July.
Walker describes herself in a campaign video as a “queer, working class mother of one” and “a grandmother of five.”
“All of the inequalities of the capitalist system of this country are on brutal display,” Walker said in a YouTube video. “We need sustainable solutions that are able to be implemented now through the pandemic and beyond.”
Walker moved to Florence after 2014 and currently works as a dump truck driver. She also worked as a substitute teacher when she first moved to South Carolina’s Magic City.
Walker, who identifies as bisexual, recently spoke with LGBTQ Nation about the campaign.
She listed the party platform to include offering the Green New Deal, reparations for African Americans, nuclear disarmament, trans-rights, the LGBTQ Identity Act, and gender neutral markers for government identification documents.
In a YouTube video, she also lists a universal basic income, a living wage for all Americans, MediCare for all, and a moratorium on utility shutoffs.
The Green Party is on 29 state ballots — including South Carolina — plus Washington, D.C., in 2020.
In 2016, Green Party nominee Jill Stein received roughly 1.46 million votes nationwide. In Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Stein received an amount of votes higher than the margin between winner Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Clinton later made an as-yet-unsubstantiated claim that Stein was a Russian asset.
Walker has sought office twice before.
In 2016, she ran as the vice presidential nominee for the Socialist Party.
The Socialist Party was on the ballot in two states and a territory: Colorado, Michigan, and Guam.
Walker and Presidential nominee Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik received 2,209 votes, 0.05% of the total ballots cast, in Michigan and 271 votes, 0.015 of the total ballots cast, in Colorado.
The party also received votes in Texas, Indiana, New York, and Wisconsin.
Walker and Soltysik were not on the ballot in South Carolina.
The 2016 Socialist Party ticket received around 4% of the vote in Guam.
Guam as a territory does not have a voting member of Congress and, therefore does not participate in the Electoral College.
In 2014, Walker ran as an independent in the 2014 Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, sheriff’s race. She received 37,289 votes, or 19.96% of the ballots cast, in the race to come in second to Democrat David Clark.
The LGBTQ Nation article indicates that Walker grew up in Milwaukee.
She also describes in the article being “activated” to become a revolutionary during a summer Algebra class.
“I mean, this was supposed to be an Algebra class but she was completely radical… and I realized, ‘Yes, revolution. Yes, reparations for my people. This is it.'”
Walker said she joined the military to pay for college and wound up attending the University of North Florida.
She dropped out of college to go full time as a bus driver after falling in love with the job.
In 2000, Walker said, she was among those pushing for a recount of the votes in the Sunshine State.
She returned to Milwaukee between then and her 2014 run for sheriff. Walker was also involved with an offshoot of the Occupy movement.
Walker also served as an officer in the union of the Milwaukee County Transit company for two and half years.
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