Veterans Party of America

Veterans Party of America
Leader Mark Wilder
Chairman Mark Wilder
Spokesperson Mark Wilder
Founded December 19, 2013 (2013-12-19) (reformation) four years ago
Headquarters Moses Lake, Washington, U.S.
Ideology Constitutionalism,
Centrism,
"Restoration of Our Representative Government"
Political position Fiscal: Center
Social: Center to Center-right
International affiliation None
Seats in the Senate
0 / 100
Seats in the House
0 / 435
Governorships
0 / 50
State Upper House Seats
0 / 1,972
State Lower House Seats
0 / 5,411
Other elected offices 2 (2016)
Website
www.veteranspartyofamerica.org

The Veterans Party of America (VPA) is a political party based in Moses Lake, Washington, USA.

Overview

The VPA fielded several candidates in 2003, including a US Senate candidate in Florida.[1][2] However, the party achieved limited electoral success, and bitter infighting caused it to split into two rival factions in 2006.[1] In August 2008, the original VPA officially ceded its membership and ideology to the Modern Whig Party due to that organization's relatively large military membership, totaling at the time about 10,000 people, roughly 6,500 of which were affiliated with the military.[3][4]

The Veterans Party of America was formed a second time by a group of veterans in December 2013 after the United States Senate approved a new budget deal which included cuts to military members' benefits. Within its first two months, the party amassed a following of almost 20,000 Facebook likes, fifty state affiliates having been formed, and then over 50,000 Facebook likes after just 2 1/2 years[5] with the party receiving Federal recognized political group status.[6]

In August 2014, the Veterans Party of America endorsed its first candidate for Montana State Legislature, by establishing the Montana Veterans Party.[7][8] In March 2015, the Veterans Party of Mississippi, the state-affiliate of the national party, obtained ballot access within that state. It was the first Veterans Party to do so nationally.[9] As of April 2015, the party holds two elected offices,[10] with the first being Michael R Hart, Mayor of Commerce in Oklahoma.[11] the group had numerous candidates for Congress and state legislature for 2016.

2016 election

Ballot access for 2016 presidential election. Lighter shade indicates write-in access.

In August 2015, The Veterans Party announced that Chris Keniston, an Air Force veteran, of Texas and Deacon Taylor, an Army veteran, of Nevada as the president and vice president candidates. The Veterans Party had full ballot access in Colorado, Louisiana, and Mississippi and has write-in access in over 10 states. The Party also has candidates running for elections across the country, from the state level with candidates for Senate such as Illinois, all the way down to the local level. The Veterans Party of America received 7,251 votes for 0.01% of the vote [12].

Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote		 Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote
Donald Trump Republican New York 62,984,825 46.09% 304 Mike Pence Indiana 304
Hillary Clinton Democratic New York 65,853,516 48.18% 227 Tim Kaine Virginia 227
Gary Johnson Libertarian New Mexico 4,489,221 3.28% 0 Bill Weld Massachusetts 0
Jill Stein Green Massachusetts 1,457,216 1.07% 0 Ajamu Baraka Illinois 0
Evan McMullin Independent Utah 731,788 0.54% 0 Mindy Finn District of Columbia 0
Darrell Castle Constitution Tennessee 203,010 0.15% 0 Scott Bradley Utah 0
Chris Keniston Veterans Texas 7,251 0.01% 0 Deacon Taylor Nevada 0
Other 762,335 0.55% — Other —
Total 131,313,820 100% 538 538
Needed to win 270 270

References

  1. 1 2 Gunzburger, Ron. "Politics1 - Director of U.S. Political Parties". Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  2. ↑ The Federal Election Commission - list of candidates' party labels in 2004
  3. ↑ "Blogger". Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Archived May 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ - VPA News Release
  6. ↑ http://www.fec.gov/press/resources/2016presidential_form2nm.shtml
  7. ↑ "Candidates". Montana.vpofa.org. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  8. ↑ "Elect Marbut to House District 94". Electmarbut.com. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  9. ↑ "Veterans Party Gains Ballot Access In Mississippi". Independent Political Report. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  10. ↑ paulie. "Veterans Party gets first Election Win". Independent Political Report. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  11. ↑ "Mayor". Commerceokla.com. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  12. ↑ "2016 Presidential Election Results".


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