Rocky De La Fuente

Rocky De La Fuente
De La Fuente in 2016
Personal details
Born	Roque De La Fuente Guerra (1954-10-10) October 10, 1954 San Diego, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican (since 2017)
Other political affiliations	Democratic (until 2017) Reform (2016) American Delta (2016)
Spouse(s)	Katayoun Yazdani (divorced)
Children	3
Website	www.rocky2016.com

Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente (born October 10, 1954)^[1] is an American businessman, political activist, and politician. He was the unsuccessful nominee of the Reform Party and that of his self-created American Delta Party for President of the United States in the 2016 election. De La Fuente was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination in Florida's 2016 election for United States Senator and for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 primaries.

Early life

De La Fuente was born on October 10, 1954^[2] at Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California, the son of Roque Antonio De La Fuente Alexander and Bertha Guerra Yzaguirre. His parents raised him in Mexico (Mexico City, Tijuana, Baja California), and in the United States (San Diego, and Anaheim, California). He was educated by his parents and the Legionaries of Christ, the Marist Brothers, the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart, Daughters of the Holy Spirit and the Jesuits. As a youth, De La Fuente attended Saint Catherine's Military Academy in Anaheim, California and then earned a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the Instituto Patria National Autonomous University of Mexico, and studied Accounting & Business Administration at Anahuac University near Mexico City.^[3][4]

Career

Between 1976 and 1990, De La Fuente acquired automobile dealerships from Alfa Romeo, American Motors Corporation, Audi, Cadillac, Chrysler, Daihatsu, Dodge, GMC, Honda, and others.^[3] He also opened eleven currency exchange locations in the United States and Mexico.^[5]

In 2004, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued an order barring De La Fuente from participating in an FDIC-insured institution. De La Fuente appealed and the 9th Circuit reversed half the order and advised the FDIC to reconsider its sentence, stating that "De La Fuente's use of FIB as his personal piggy bank was in shocking disregard of sound banking practices and the law to the detriment of depositors, shareholders, and the public.  Nevertheless, we remand this matter to the Board for it to consider, in light of this disposition, whether this extraordinary sanction remains deserved."^[4][6]

In November 2015, De La Fuente and the city of San Diego reached settlement in a decades-long legal dispute over land-use issues regarding a 312-acre area that De La Fuente is developing in Otay Mesa.^[7]

He owns businesses and properties in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, United States, and Uruguay.^[3]

Political campaigns

2016 presidential campaign

De La Fuente at the Lesser-Known Candidates Presidential Forum during his campaign for the Democratic Party nomination, January 2016

De La Fuente ran a presidential campaign in the 2016 election. De La Fuente sought the Democratic Party's nomination during their presidential primaries. De La Fuente's campaign did not win a single primary or a single delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

De La Fuente founded the American Delta Party and ran as that party's nominee with his running mate Michael Steinberg and was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Reform Party which had ballot access in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota and Mississippi.^[8] De La Fuente ultimately received over 33,000 votes in the general election, earning him 0.02% of the total popular vote. He failed to win any electoral votes. In the popular vote De La Fuente placed eighth overall, behind the Democratic Party's Hillary Clinton, Republican Party's Donald Trump, Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson, Green Party's Jill Stein, independent Evan McMullin, Constitution Party's Darrell Castle, and Party for Socialism and Liberation's Gloria LaRiva.^[9]

2016 Senate campaign

On June 20, 2016, De La Fuente paid the $10,440 qualifying fee to run for the Democratic nomination of the 2016 Senate election in Florida to decide the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat occupied by Republican Marco Rubio. He competed with Patrick Murphy, Alan Grayson, Pam Keith, and Reginald Luster for the nomination.^[10][11] Murphy won the nomination; De La Fuente came in fourth-place out of five candidates, receiving 60,606 votes (5.38% of the overall vote).

2017 New York City mayoral campaign

De La Fuente has explored running for Mayor of New York City in the 2017 mayoral election, but has run into problems with his lack of residency.^[13] De La Fuente, if cleared by the courts, would run as a Republican.^[13] De La Fuente has claimed that private polling data shows him defeating Republican candidates Paul Massey and Michel Faulkner.^[14]

On March 28, De La Fuente participated in a debate hosted by the Reform Party of New York State (which is not affiliated with the national Reform Party) alongside five other mayoral contenders (Kevin Coenen, Mike Tolkin, independent Bo Dietl, Democratic challenger Sal Albanese, Republican Michel Faulkner).^[15]

2020 presidential campaign

De La Fuente has confirmed he intends to again seek the Democratic Party nomination in the 2020 presidential election.^[16]

References

External links

• Rocky 2016 campaign website
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Columnist Dave Barry on meeting De La Fuente
• "De La Fuente: The man challenging Clinton, Sanders". WOOD-TV. 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-03-05.