Vermin Supreme | |
---|---|
Member of the Libertarian Party Judicial Committee | |
In office July 12, 2020 [1] –May 29, 2022 | |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1960–1961 (age 62–64) Rockport, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic (2004–2008, 2012–2016, 2023–present) |
Other political affiliations |
|
Education | Gloucester High School |
Occupation |
|
Nickname | Time Traveler |
Vermin Love Supreme [2] (born 1960 or 1961) is an American performance artist and activist who has run as a candidate in various local, state, and national elections in the United States. He served as a member of the Libertarian Party's judicial committee. [3] [4] [5] [6] Supreme is known for wearing a boot as a hat and carrying a comically large toothbrush, [7] and has said that if elected President of the United States, he will pass a law requiring people to brush their teeth. [4] [8] [9] [10] He has campaigned on a platform of zombie apocalypse awareness and time travel research, [11] and promised a free pony for every American. [12]
In 2011, he participated in the Occupy Boston protests. [13] He is the subject of the 2014 documentary Who Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey, which follows his 2012 campaign and explores his life as an activist and political prankster. [14]
Supreme campaigned for the Libertarian Party's 2020 presidential nomination. At the 2020 Libertarian National Convention he came in third place, receiving 206 delegate votes.
Supreme generally runs for office as a satirical candidate, making proposals that are considered outlandish or unrealistic and communicating in an unorthodox way in order to mock politicians and the political system. His eccentric attire includes multiple ties and a boot on his head, and he sometimes carries a giant toothbrush. He has created attention by giving interviews to reporters and crashing campaign events for major candidates. Some of the main themes of Supreme's campaigns are instituting a mandatory tooth brushing law, giving every American a free pony, using zombies for renewable energy, zombie apocalypse awareness, and time travel research. He largely avoided discussing major political issues until his 2020 presidential campaign, which was more serious. Supreme has run variously as a Republican, a Democrat, and a Libertarian. [15] [16] [17] [18]
Supreme discussed his political views in a 2008 promotional video. He said he was registered as a Republican at that time, but that he leaned toward anarchism and was influenced by the Situationist International, dadaism, and discordianism. [19] He asserted that libertarians "are just about abolishing the government and letting shit fall where it may", [20] which he called a mistake, though he later said that assertion was based on a "prejudice" for "lack of knowing." [21] He asserted that Republicans want to nullify the government, but "offer no alternative to helping people other than charity." [20] Supreme's vision of anarchism holds no need for government and depends on citizens to take responsibility for themselves and for others, citing "mutual aid and support and care to our fellow citizens" as key elements. To that end, Supreme has called for a gradual dismantling of the government, while citizens take up the slack. He asserted that Americans no longer know how to be citizens, placing some of the blame on schools that teach in a "very twisted and jingoistic fashion". [20]
Discussing his presidential campaign in the video, Supreme describes his "joke humor" campaign as a response to the lies people are fed by the media and by the government. [20]
In an interview with New Hampshire magazine in 2018, Supreme labeled his political beliefs as "social anarchist" and opined that Peter Kropotkin "was a great anarchist thinker and writer". [22]
In 1986, Supreme joined the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament in protest of nuclear weapons. [2] Supreme's first political campaign was for Mayor of Baltimore in 1987. At the time, Supreme was without income, and later said that he ran "mainly to give myself a project...something to do." The election was won by Kurt Schmoke. [23]
Supreme has run in every presidential election since 1992. [17]
Supreme campaigned in the Washington, D.C. presidential primary in 2004, [24] where he received 149 votes. [25]
Supreme campaigned in the New Hampshire Republican primary in 2008. He received 41 votes (0.02%) in the New Hampshire primary. According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), he also received 43 votes nationally in the general election. [26]
Supreme campaigned as a Democrat in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. [27] [28] [29] His candidacy was supported by the Good Humor Party.
On April 14, 2011, Supreme participated in the First Debate of the New Election Cycle at the IGLO Dissidents' Convention which also included Jimmy McMillan, Jill Stein, and others. [30] [31] He qualified to be listed on the 2012 Democratic Party primary ballot in New Hampshire. [32] On October 29, 2011, Supreme participated in a satirical debate against a representative of the campaign of deceased British occultist Aleister Crowley. [33] On December 19, he participated in the "Lesser-Known Democratic Candidates Presidential Forum", at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College and "glitterbombed" fellow candidate Randall Terry. [34]
He was a candidate in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, and received 1.4% of the votes on January 3, 2012. [35] On January 10, 2012, in the Democratic Primary in New Hampshire, Supreme received 833 votes. (Barack Obama won the primary with 49,080 votes.) [36]
Supreme participated in the Anti-NATO protests at the May 20–21 Chicago NATO Summit. [37] [38] In May 2012, he visited the second largest regional high school in Maine to give a speech about his campaign style to a government class. [39] In June 2012, he participated in the Rainbow Gathering in Tennessee. [38]
On August 25, Supreme announced his new political party, the Free Pony Party, and that he has chosen fellow fringe opponent Jimmy McMillan as his running mate. Conversely, McMillan stated he was still running for president on his own Rent Is Too Damn High Party platform, and that Supreme would be McMillan's running mate. [40] In October, Supreme participated in a debate hosted by Peter Schiff in the Peter Schiff Radio Show, which featured a panel of overlooked presidential candidates including McMillan, independent write-in candidate Santa Claus, and write-in Republican presidential candidate Edgar Lawson. [41]
Supreme attempted another presidential run in 2016. [42] He embarked on a tour of 20 cities to build support for his campaign and sought to qualify for matching funds from the Federal Election Commission (FEC). [42] [43] He filed as a candidate in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary on November 21, 2015. [44] He was not invited to return to the Lesser-Known Democratic Candidates Presidential Forum, due in part to him glitter bombing Randall Terry at the event in 2011. [45] Shortly before the primary, he was observed questioning Republican candidates Chris Christie and Ted Cruz through a bullhorn. Supreme engaged Christie in an informal debate over his free pony platform, during which he accused Christie of hating ponies, and asked Cruz whether he thought that water being used during waterboarding should include fluoride. [18] [46] [47]
Supreme received 256 votes in the primary on February 9, 2016, coming in fourth after former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who had dropped out after the Iowa caucuses. [48]
On March 4, Supreme switched his affiliation to the Libertarian Party. [49] He received the vote of a single delegate in the first round of presidential nomination voting at the 2016 Libertarian National Convention.
Supreme ran again for president in 2020, this time as a Libertarian. This marked the first time that Supreme ran a "legitimate" campaign, focusing on real rather than satirical issues and using the slogan "In On The Joke". [50] While Supreme continued to use satirical humor, he focused more on legitimate political issues. He called for ending foreign wars and voiced support for pardoning non-violent drug offenders, ending the war on drugs, and reducing incarceration, which he called his top priority. On the COVID-19 pandemic, Supreme criticized President Donald Trump, arguing that he should have paid better attention to the virus and have made testing more widely available. He satirically promised to make COVID-19 illegal and, in a play on his campaign promise to go back in time and "kill baby Hitler," vowed to go back in time and "kill baby COVID." He facetiously pledged to create "COVID-19 free zones" because "they work so well for things like guns and drugs." [51]
He won the Libertarian Presidential Preference Primary in New Hampshire on February 11, 2020. [52] [53] On March 3, 2020, Supreme was declared the winner of the Massachusetts primary. [54] He dropped out on May 23, 2020, after Jo Jorgensen received the Libertarian Party's nomination for president. Incidentally, Supreme's running mate Spike Cohen was chosen to be the Libertarian vice presidential nominee.
Supreme is running again for president in 2024, this time for the Democratic nomination. Supreme has thus far obtained ballot access in one state for the Democratic primaries, New Hampshire. [55] On December 8, 2023, Supreme appeared at the Lesser-Known Candidates Forum hosted by Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. [56] Supreme placed fifth in the New Hampshire Democratic primary with 0.7% of the vote. [57] Supreme also appeared on the ballot for the Legal Marijuana Now Party's presidential nomination in Minnesota on March 5, 2024. [58] He placed fourth among five candidates with 15.08% of the vote. [59]
In 2018, Supreme expressed interest in running for Governor of Kansas. Although he did not live in the state, Kansas had very few strict requirements for running for office. Several teenagers taking advantage of the lack of requirements had filed to run for governor, and in order not to take any votes away from them, Supreme decided to run for Attorney General instead, becoming a challenger to incumbent Republican Derek Schmidt. The lack of requirements in order to run for office, as outlined in the state's Constitution, has been heralded by Supreme: "This is indeed a very interesting and attractive loophole," he said. "I think that’s a very good thing for democracy." Desarae Lindsay of Texas was named his campaign treasurer and would accompany him to his 2020 presidential campaign. Supreme was eventually disqualified from running on the basis of his non-residency in the state, his home address being in Massachusetts. [60] [61]
On August 24, 2020, Supreme announced that he would be launching a write-in campaign for the Libertarian nomination for the 2020 Massachusetts senatorial election. [62]
In December 2017 Hillary Clinton planned to visit Concord, New Hampshire, for a book tour promoting her new book What Happened . In advance of her presentation, Supreme planned a demonstration in front of the bookstore during the event. [63] The demonstration was to be a "pony protest" and include at least one pony. [64] Supreme has a history of making the election promise of ponies to constituents and has asserted that Clinton does not like ponies enough. [65] When Supreme sought a protest permit for his demonstration the police ordered the city to deny his request. [65]
In response, Supreme asserted his "right to pony" and retained Marc Randazza, an attorney with a reputation for advocacy of First Amendment rights, to represent him in suing the city of Concord for the permit. [64] The court found in favor of Supreme, issuing an injunction that the city give him a permit, allow him to protest the event, and allow him to bring ponies. [64] A stipulation was that Supreme had to pay for parking for ponies at the rate for cars. [66]
When Supreme presented the pony protest, there was a parade. [67] More than 1,000 people attended the book signing and protest. [68]
Title | Year | Role | Genre |
---|---|---|---|
Winning New Hampshire | 2004 | Himself | Documentary |
2008 Uncut | 2008 | Himself | TV series |
Vote Jesus: The Chronicles of Ken Stevenson (documentary) | 2009 | Ken Stevenson | Film |
Learnin' with Vermin | 2012 | Himself | Educational |
Who Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey | 2014 | Himself | Documentary |
Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match | 2016 | Himself | Documentary |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
John McCain | 88,571 | 37.7% | |
Mitt Romney | 75,546 | 32.2% | |
Mike Huckabee | 26,859 | 11.4% | |
Rudy Giuliani | 20,439 | 8.7% | |
Ron Paul | 18,308 | 7.8% | |
Fred Thompson | 2,890 | 1.2% | |
Duncan Hunter | 1,217 | 0.51% | |
Alan Keyes | 203 | 0.086% | |
Stephen Marchuk | 123 | 0.058% | |
Tom Tancredo | 80 | 0.034% | |
Hugh Cort | 53 | 0.023% | |
Cornelius Edward O'Connor | 45 | 0.019% | |
Albert Howard | 44 | 0.0187% | |
Vern Wuensche | 44 | 0.0187% | |
Vermin Supreme | 41 | 0.0175% | |
John H. Cox | 39 | 0.017% | |
Daniel Gilbert | 33 | 0.014% | |
James Creighton Mitchell Jr. | 30 | 0.013% | |
Jack Shepard | 27 | 0.011% | |
Mark Klein | 19 | < 0.01% | |
H. Neal Fendig Jr. | 13 | < 0.01% | |
Hudson Starnes | 5 | < 0.01% | |
Other | 227 | 0.097% | |
Total votes | 234,851 | 100.00% |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Hillary Clinton | 16,917,853 | 55.2% | |
Bernie Sanders | 13,210,550 | 43.1% | |
Martin O'Malley | 110,423 | 0.4% | |
Uncommitted | 101,481 | 0.3% | |
Rocky De La Fuente | 67,468 | 0.2% | |
No Preference | 50,990 | 0.2% | |
Scattering | 48,576 | 0.2% | |
Willie Wilson | 25,796 | 0.2% | |
Paul T. Farrell Jr. | 21,694 | 0.1% | |
Keith Russell Judd | 20,305 | 0.1% | |
Michael Steinberg | 20,126 | 0.1% | |
Henry Hewes | 11,062 | 0.065% | |
John Wolfe Jr. | 7,369 | 0.044% | |
Star Locke | 5,202 | 0.031% | |
Steve Burke | 4,893 | 0.029% | |
Lawrence "Larry Joe" Cohen | 2,407 | 0.014% | |
Calvis L. Hawes | 2,017 | 0.012% | |
James Valentine | 1,726 | 0.01% | |
Uninstructed Delegation | 1,488 | 0.0089% | |
Jon Adams | 486 | 0.0029% | |
Vermin Supreme | 268 | 0.0016% | |
Mark Stewart | 236 | 0.0014% | |
David John Thistle | 226 | 0.0013% | |
Graham Schwass | 143 | < 0.001% | |
Lloyd Thomas Kelso | 46 | < 0.001% | |
Mark Stewart Greenstein | 41 | < 0.001% | |
Eric Elbot | 36 | < 0.001% | |
William D. French | 29 | < 0.001% | |
Edward T. O'Donnell Jr. | 26 | < 0.001% | |
Robert Lovitt | 22 | < 0.001% | |
William H. McGaughey Jr. | 19 | < 0.001% | |
Edward Sonnino | 17 | < 0.001% | |
Steven Roy Lipscomb | 15 | < 0.001% | |
Sam Sloan | 15 | < 0.001% | |
Brock C. Hutton | 14 | < 0.001% | |
Raymond Michael Moroz | 8 | < 0.001% | |
Write-in | 60 | < 0.001% | |
Total votes | 30,633,131 | 100.00% |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Jacob Hornberger | 9,177 | 20.3% | |
Jo Jorgensen | 5,110 | 11.2% | |
Vermin Supreme | 4,277 | 9.4% | |
Ken Armstrong | 3,507 | 7.7% | |
Kim Ruff | 3,030 | 7.7% | |
Adam Kokesh | 2,865 | 6.3% | |
Dan Behrman | 2,392 | 5.3% | |
Max Abramson | 2,039 | 4.5% | |
Sam Robb | 1,951 | 4.3% | |
Other | 7,193 | 15.9% | |
Total votes | 45,306 | 100.00% |
Supreme grew up near Boston, Massachusetts, [70] [71] and is the oldest of three children. [2] He graduated from Gloucester High School in 1979, then moved to Baltimore to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art. [72] He eventually dropped out of college and began booking bands for underground music clubs. [2] In a Youtube Live on 30 March 2024, Supreme revealed that he does not identify with Christianity, and he considers himself to be a rationalist. [73]
He legally changed his name to Vermin Supreme in the 1990s while still in Baltimore. [2]
In 2006, Supreme donated one of his kidneys to his mother, who was suffering from renal failure. [2]
Supreme is married and has no children. [2] He resides in New Hampshire. [74]
The 2000 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush, the eldest son of George H. W. Bush, narrowly defeated incumbent Democratic Vice President Al Gore. It was the fourth of five U.S. presidential elections, and the first since 1888, in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote, and is considered one of the closest U.S. presidential elections, with long-standing controversy about the result. Gore conceded the election on December 13.
Samuel Howard Sloan, also known as Mohammad Ismail Sloan, is an American chess player, businessman, perennial candidate and former broker-dealer. In 1978, he won a case pro se before the United States Supreme Court, becoming the last non-lawyer to argue a case in front of the court before it prohibited the practice in 2013. He is also known for running many political campaigns in the state of New York and for President of the United States.
The following is a timeline of major events leading up to the United States presidential election of 2012. The election was the 57th quadrennial United States presidential election and was held on November 6, 2012.
From January 3 to June 5, 2012, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2012 United States presidential election. President Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3, 2012, after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2012 Democratic National Convention on September 5, 2012, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
James McMillan III is an American political activist and Vietnam War veteran. He was a perennial candidate in New York City.
The 2012 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. New Hampshire voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.
Robert Moulton Ely is an American entrepreneur and former investment banker. He challenged President Barack Obama in several primaries for the Democratic Party's 2012 presidential nomination, and Donald Trump for the Republican Party's 2020 presidential nomination.
The 2016 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary was held on Tuesday February 9. As per tradition, it was the first primary and second nominating contest overall to take place in the cycle. Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in the primary by a margin of more than 22% in the popular vote. Sanders claimed 15 delegates to Clinton's 9.
Albert "Max" Abramson is an American politician who most recently served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, representing Rockingham District 37 from 2018 to 2022. He previously represented the same district from 2014 to 2016. He ran for the nomination of the Libertarian Party for the 2020 presidential election, but dropped out on March 3, 2020.
The 2020 Libertarian Party presidential primaries and caucuses were a series of electoral contests to indicate non-binding preferences for the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate in the 2020 United States presidential election. These differ from the Republican or Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses in that they do not appoint delegates to represent a candidate at the party's convention to select the party's presidential nominee.
The 2020 presidential campaign of Vermin Supreme began on June 26, 2019, and ended during the 2020 Libertarian National Convention; Supreme failed to win the nomination.
The 2020 United States presidential election in Massachusetts was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Massachusetts voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Massachusetts has 11 electoral votes in the Electoral College.
The 2020 United States presidential election in New Hampshire was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. New Hampshire voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominees, incumbent President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, against the Democratic Party's nominees, former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. New Hampshire has four electoral votes in the Electoral College.
The 2020 Libertarian National Convention delegates selected the Libertarian Party nominees for president and vice president in the 2020 United States presidential election. Primaries were held, but were preferential in nature and did not determine delegate allocation. The convention was originally scheduled to be held from May 21 to May 25 at the JW Marriott Austin luxury hotel in downtown Austin, Texas. On April 26, all reservations at the JW Marriott Austin were canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the convention oversight committee to seek another venue for a possible July date.
This is a timeline of major events leading up to, during, and after the 2024 United States presidential election. This will be the first presidential election to be run with population data from the 2020 census. In addition to the dates mandated by the relevant federal laws such as those in the U.S. Constitution and the Electoral Count Act, several milestones have consistently been observed since the adoption of the conclusions of the 1971 McGovern–Fraser Commission.
The 2020 presidential campaign of Jo Jorgensen was formally launched on November 2, 2019, at the South Carolina Libertarian Party convention. Jorgensen had previously been the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee in 1996, when she ran on a ticket with author Harry Browne. Currently a senior lecturer of psychology at Clemson University, Jorgensen had owned a software company at the time of her 1996 vice presidential candidacy.
Jeremy "Spike" Cohen is an American libertarian political activist, entrepreneur, and podcaster. He was the Libertarian Party's nominee for vice president of the United States in 2020, serving as Jo Jorgensen's running mate.
Presidential primaries and caucuses are being organized by the Democratic Party to select the delegates to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, to determine the party's nominee for president in the 2024 United States presidential election. The elections will take place in most U.S. states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories, and Democrats Abroad, and will be held between January and June that year. Incumbent President Joe Biden is running for re-election with Vice President Kamala Harris returning as his running mate. On March 12, Biden secured enough delegates for re-nomination and was declared the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.
The 2012 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary took place on Tuesday, January 10, 2012, as the second major contest of the primary cycle following the Iowa caucuses the previous week. New Hampshire's 28 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention were allocated based on the results of the primary.