Jesse Johnson (politician)

Last updated
Jesse Johnson
Born
Jesse C. Johnson Jr.

(1959-03-02) March 2, 1959 (age 59)
Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.
Alma mater Marshall University
North Carolina School of the Arts
University of Charleston
West Liberty University
Political party Mountain

Jesse C. Johnson Jr. (born March 2, 1959) has been an Executive Committee member and former Chair and Vice Chair of the Mountain Party, the West Virginia affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. He has three times been his party's nominee for Governor of West Virginia, and twice for West Virginia's Class 1 U.S. Senate seat, running in 2006 and again in the special election in 2010. Johnson lost both times to the Democratic Party nominee. He has also been a filmmaker, actor, and theatrical producer. [1]

Mountain Party West Virginia political party

The Mountain Party is a state-level political party in West Virginia. It is the West Virginia affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. The party was headed by Jesse Johnson, State Chairman.

West Virginia State of the United States of America

West Virginia is a state located in the Appalachian region in the Southern United States and is also considered to be a part of the Middle Atlantic States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, Maryland to the east and northeast, Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. West Virginia is the 41st largest state by area, and is ranked 38th in population. The capital and largest city is Charleston.

Green Party of the United States American political party

The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a green federation of political parties in the United States. The party promotes green politics, specifically environmentalism; nonviolence; social justice; participatory, grassroots democracy; gender equality; LGBT rights; anti-war and anti-racism. On the political spectrum, the party is generally seen as left-wing.

Contents

Life and career

Born in Charleston, West Virginia, Johnson attended, at various times, Marshall University, North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of Charleston, and West Liberty University. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Actor's Equity, AFTRA, and SAG's Native American Registry and has worked with both the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America.

Charleston, West Virginia Capital of West Virginia

Charleston is the most populous city in, and the capital of, the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers, the population during the 2017 Census Estimate was 47,929. The Charleston metropolitan area as a whole had 214,406 residents. Charleston is the center of government, commerce, and industry for Kanawha County, of which it is the county seat.

Marshall University university

Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States.

University of Charleston university

The University of Charleston (UC), formerly Morris Harvey College, is a private accredited university based in Charleston, West Virginia, United States. The university also has locations in Beckley, West Virginia, and Martinsburg, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley and UC-Martinsburg, respectively.

In 2004, Johnson ran as the Mountain Party Nominee for governor in order to maintain the newly-won ballot line and to bring the issue of mountain top removal to statewide attention. Despite having no corporate financial support, he received 18,430 votes (2.48%). In 2006, he ran a campaign fighting corporate influence in the electoral process. Johnson neither took nor spent money, focusing on the need for campaign finance reform as the party's nominee for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Johnson received 1.9% of the vote, running against favored Senator Byrd.

Campaign finance reform is the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns.

In 2007, seeking to bring national attention to mountain top removal, Johnson presided as State Chair over the Mountain Party's affiliation with the national Green Party [2] Johnson was solicited by members of the Greens to run for the party's nomination for President. He received the endorsement of former United States Senator and former 2008 presidential candidate Mike Gravel, among others. [3] At the 2008 Green National Convention, on July 10–14, 2008, the nomination was won by former Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. [4] While Johnson failed to secure the nomination, he succeeded in focusing attention on the environmental concerns of mountain top removal and the preservation of Blair Mountain occurring in his state.

Mountaintop removal mining form of surface mining that involves the mining of the summit or summit ridge of a mountain

Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. This method of coal mining is conducted in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. Explosives are used to remove up to 400 vertical feet of mountain to expose underlying coal seams. Excess rock and soil is dumped into nearby valleys, in what are called "holler fills" or "valley fills". Less expensive to execute and requiring fewer employees, mountaintop removal mining began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. It is primarily occurring in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee.

President of the United States Head of state and of government of the United States

The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

Mike Gravel Democratic U.S. Senator from Alaska

Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is an American politician who was a Democratic United States Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981 and a candidate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election and the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

In 2008, he once again ran for governor. His campaign was endorsed by the Sierra Club and the Citizens Action Committee. [5] He received 21,472 votes (3.99% of the vote). [6]

Sierra Club environmental organization

The Sierra Club is an environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who became its first president. The Sierra Club primarily operates in the United States; an affiliated organization, Sierra Club Canada, operates in Canada and deals exclusively with Canadian issues.

In the 2010 special election for the late Robert Byrd's Senate seat in West Virginia, his opponents were Joe Manchin, the Democratic Party nominee, who won the seat, John Raese, the Republican Party nominee, and Jeff Becker, the Constitution Party nominee. Johnson was endorsed by former Democratic Congressman Ken Hechler to fill the seat. [7]

Robert Byrd U.S. Senator from West Virginia (1959–2010)

Robert Carlyle Byrd was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd previously served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959. He is the longest-serving U.S. Senator in history. In addition, he was, at the time of his death, the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress, a record later surpassed by Representative John Dingell of Michigan. Byrd was the last remaining member of the U.S. Senate to have served during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, and the last remaining member of Congress to have served during the presidency of Harry S. Truman. Byrd is also the only West Virginian to have served in both chambers of the state legislature and both chambers of Congress.

Joe Manchin United States Senator from West Virginia

Joseph Manchin III is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010 and the 27th secretary of state of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005.

John Raese American businessman

John Reeves Raese is an American businessman and perennial Republican Party candidate for political office. He has lost campaigns to represent West Virginia in the U.S. Senate in 1984, 2006, 2010 and 2012 and was defeated in the Republican primary in the election for Governor of West Virginia in 1988.

Johnson was again a nominee for the West Virginia Governor's race in 2012, facing three other ballot-qualified challengers. Again spending no money and focused on the party, he finished third in a field of four. [8]

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References

  1. ↑ Jesse Johnson - WV Mountain Party
  2. ↑ "Jesse Johnson, Green Party US Candidate for President ", Polidoc Productions, YouTube.
  3. ↑ Committee to Elect Jesse Johnson Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine .
  4. ↑ 2008 presidential ballots, Green Party, archived at the Wayback Machine, November 26, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Sierra Club endorses Jesse Johnson for WV Governor", Green Party Watch, October 6, 2008.
  6. ↑ Statewide Results, West Virginia Secretary of State Election Results Center, archived at the Wayback Machine, November 26, 2008.
  7. ↑ Associated Press, "Hechler endorses Johnson in W.Va. senate race", Marietta Times, September 9, 2010, at Green Senatorial Campaign Committee, archived at the Wayback Machine, July 26, 2011.
  8. ↑ WV Governor, Our Campaigns, retrieved July 11, 2016.
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