Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. was an American author, muckraker, and political activist, and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California. He wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America who had split from the main organization in 1899.
The Socialist Party of the United States of America is a socialist political party in the United States. SPUSA formed in 1973, one year after the Socialist Party of America splintered into three: Social Democrats, USA ; the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (split); and SPUSA.
End Poverty in California (EPIC) was a political campaign started in 1934 by socialist writer Upton Sinclair. The movement formed the basis for Sinclair's campaign for governor of California in 1934. The plan called for a massive public works program, sweeping tax reform, and guaranteed pensions. It gained major popular support, with thousands joining End Poverty Leagues across the state. EPIC never came to fruition due to Sinclair's defeat in the 1934 election, but is seen as an influence on New Deal programs enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Culbert Levy Olson was an American lawyer and politician. A Democratic Party member, Olson was involved in Utah and California politics. He was elected to both the Utah State Senate and California State Senate serving one term in each. As a result of the 1938 California gubernatorial election he was elected as the 29th governor of California, where he served from 1939 to 1943. During his time as governor, Olson struggled to pass New Deal legislation due to hostility from the California legislature. He also supported the internment and removal of Japanese Americans from California after the United States entered World War Two. He was the first atheist governor of an American state.
William Dennison Stephens was an American federal and state politician. A three-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1916, Stephens was the 24th governor of California from 1917 to 1923. Prior to becoming Governor, Stephens served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of California from 1916 to 1917, due to the death of John Morton Eshleman, and served a brief time as Mayor of Los Angeles in 1909 due to the resignation of Arthur C. Harper. He served as the 27th Mayor of Los Angeles in 1909.
Frank Finley Merriam was an American Republican politician who served as the 28th governor of California from June 2, 1934, until January 2, 1939. Assuming the governorship at the height of the Great Depression following the death of Governor James Rolph, Merriam defeated Democratic nominee Upton Sinclair in the 1934 election. Merriam also served as the State Auditor of Iowa from 1900 to 1903, and served in both the Iowa and California state legislatures.
The Progressive Party was a political party created as a vehicle for Robert M. La Follette, Sr. to run for president in the 1924 election. It did not run candidates for other offices, and it disappeared after the election. The party advocated progressive positions such as government ownership of railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, the outlawing of child labor, stronger laws to help labor unions, more protection of civil liberties, an end to American imperialism in Latin America, and a referendum before any president could lead the nation into war.
Parley Parker Christensen was an American attorney and politician who was a Utah state representative, a Los Angeles City Council member, and the Farmer–Labor Party's presidential nominee during the 1920 presidential election. He was a member of several third parties and chairman of the Illinois Progressive party.
The Socialist Party of Michigan(SPMI) is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA in the U.S. state of Michigan. A party by the same name was the affiliate of the Socialist Party of America from 1901 until the national party renamed itself in a 1973 split.
Stewart Alexis Alexander is an American democratic socialist politician, presidential nominee for the Socialist Party USA in the 2012 election, and former SPUSA nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election.
The 1934 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1934. Held in the midst of the Great Depression, the 1934 election was amongst the most controversial in the state's political history, pitting conservative Republican Frank Merriam against former Socialist Party member turned Democratic politician Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle. A strong third party challenge came from Progressive Raymond L. Haight, a Los Angeles lawyer campaigning for the political center. Much of the campaign's emphasis was directed at Sinclair's EPIC movement, proposing interventionist reforms to cure the state's ailing economy. Merriam, who had recently assumed the governorship following the death of James Rolph, characterized Sinclair's proposal as a step towards communism.
Benjamin Hanford was an American socialist politician during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A printer by trade, Hanford is best remembered for his 1904 and 1908 runs for Vice President of the United States on the ticket of the Socialist Party of America, running next to Presidential nominee Eugene V. Debs. Hanford was also the creator of the fictional character "Jimmie Higgins," a prototypical Socialist rank-and-filer whose silent work on the unglamorous tasks needed by any political organization made the group's achievements possible — a character later reprised in a novel by Upton Sinclair.
Carl D. Thompson was an American preacher, Christian Socialist, and Social Democratic politician. A Congregationalist minister early in his life, Thompson is best remembered as a lecturer and political organizer for the Socialist Party of America.
The Socialist Party of New York is the name of two distinct, but historically related state affiliates of the American socialist movement located in New York state. Emerging from a July 1899 split in the Socialist Labor Party of America, the organization existed first as the Social Democratic Party of New York, retaining that name even after the founding of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) in the summer of 1901. A presence was maintained in the state as the Socialist Party of New York for the next seven decades.
The California Progressive Party, also named California Bull Moose, was a political party that flourished from 1912 to 1944 and lasted through the 1960s.
Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik was an American socialist political activist for the Socialist Party USA. He was the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election alongside Angela Nicole Walker, who was the party's vice-presidential nominee.
Angela Nicole Walker is an American activist, professional driver, and labor organizer. Walker was the vice-presidential nominee of the Green Party of the United States and Socialist Party USA for the 2020 election alongside presidential nominee Howie Hawkins. She was previously the vice-presidential nominee of the Socialist Party USA for the 2016 election alongside presidential nominee Mimi Soltysik.
The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in California were held on November 3, 2020, to elect the 53 U.S. representatives from the state of California, one from each of the state's 53 congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections.
