Alyson Kennedy (born June 11, 1950) is an American activist and member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). She was a candidate in the 2019 Dallas mayoral election. She was the SWP's nominee for

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

in the

2008 United States presidential election The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator f ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

in the

2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

as well as their nominee for president in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Biography

Early life and candidacies

Originally from Indianapolis, Kennedy joined the socialist movement in 1973 in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. She has worked in

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

s in Alabama, Colorado, Utah, and West Virginia. Today she works at a

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. In 1977 she ran as the SWP candidate for mayor of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

against incumbent Republican

Ralph Perk Ralph Joseph Perk (January 19, 1914 – April 21, 1999) was an American politician of the Republican Party who served as the 52nd mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Early life Born to an ethnic Czech American family in Cleveland, Perk dropped out o ...

, garnering 1,225 votes and losing by a wide margin to Dennis Kucinich. She first joined the

United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...

(UMWA) in 1981, and was one of the leaders of a strike in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

2004, also being involved in litigation. In 2000, she ran for the United States Senate from Missouri as a certified

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

. She and one other certified write-in candidate combined for 13 votes (out of nearly 2.4 million votes cast).

2008 presidential election

As the vice-presidential nominee of two parties, Kennedy ran a campaign focused on the youth. There were two different candidates at the head of the ticket,

Roger Calero Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

and James Harris; Harris was an alternate in some states because Calero was constitutionally ineligible because he is a

lawful permanent resident A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

of the United States (holding a

green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

), and not a US citizen. They were the first pair to qualify for the ballot in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Calero/Kennedy won 5,127 votes and Harris/Kennedy 2,424.

2016 presidential election

On February 12, 2016, Kennedy was announced as the nominee for president on the Socialist Workers Party ticket alongside

Osborne Hart Osborne Hart (born 1952) is an American socialist activist. Hart was the vice-presidential nominee of the Socialist Workers Party in the 2016 presidential election. He has run for several other offices, including for mayor of Philadelphia in 201 ...

. Kennedy is the second woman to be the presidential nominee of the SWP, following

Linda Jenness Linda Jenness (born 1941) was a Socialist Workers Party candidate for president of the United States in the 1972 election. She received 83,380 votes (vs. 47,169,911 for Richard Nixon), making her the 4th most voted for candidate.In Arizona, Pima ...

. She was on the ballot in eight states: Utah, Louisiana, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Tennessee, Washington and New Jersey. The ticket received 11,743 out of almost 137 million votes cast.

2019 Dallas mayoral election

In January 2019, Kennedy declared her candidacy in the 2019 Dallas mayoral election, advocating for the improvement of the

public transit system Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

, a public jobs program to provide "union-scale wages", and for the Dallas Police Department to address claims of police brutality, pointing to the murder of Botham Jean as an example of such claims. She received 469 votes (0.58% of the vote) which placed her last among the candidates running.

2020 presidential election

In February 2020, Kennedy was announced as her party's nominee for president. Her vice-presidential nominee is Malcolm Jarrett, an African-American activist and cook from

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The two kicked off their campaign with speeches at campaign headquarters in

on February 8. The ticket received 6,791 votes, out of 158 million votes cast.

References

External links

*
Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. vice president
, ''The Militant'', January 14, 2008 (accessed February 15, 2008). {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Alyson 1950 births Living people Female candidates for Vice President of the United States Female candidates for President of the United States American communists Candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election 2008 United States vice-presidential candidates 21st-century American politicians Socialist Workers Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Women in Missouri politics Politicians from Cleveland Politicians from Indianapolis Socialist Workers Party (United States) presidential nominees 21st-century American women politicians Trade unionists from Indiana