Brian Thomas Carroll (born December 15, 1949) is an American teacher who was the

American Solidarity Party The American Solidarity Party (ASP) is a Christian-democratic political party in the United States. It was founded in 2011 and officially incorporated in 2016. The party has a Solidarity National Committee (SNC) and has numerous active state ...

's presidential nominee in the 2020 United States presidential election. He is a proponent of Christian democracy.

Life and career

Carroll received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in history from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and earned a teaching credential at

California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...

. He taught

junior high A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

history and other subjects in

Farmersville, California Farmersville is a city in the San Joaquin Valley in Tulare County, California, United States, just to the east of Visalia, California. The population was 10,588 at the 2010 census, up from 8,737 at the 2000 census. The current population of Far ...

from 1977 to 1983. During that time, he also wrote for the '' Valley Voice'' newspaper, focusing primarily on the local need for public transportation. Carroll has taught students in Colombia and China and traveled extensively throughout Europe and Brazil. As an amateur naturalist, his work has been cited in studies on spiders and insects. In 2008, he returned to teaching in Farmersville.

2018 California congressional campaign

Carroll ran for California's twenty-second congressional district in 2018, campaigning against Republican incumbent

Devin Nunes Devin Gerald Nunes (; born October 1, 1973) is an American businessman and politician who is chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). Before resigning from the House of Representatives and joining TMTG, Nunes was ...

and Democrat Andrew Janz. This was a contentious election due to Nunes' role in the 2018 Trump–Russia investigation. Carroll received 1,591 votes in the

top-two primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party ...

, placing fifth in a field of six candidates. During the general election (after Carroll's elimination), Janz claimed that Carroll had endorsed him; Carroll publicly denied this claim.

2020 presidential campaign

Brian Carroll and Joe Schriner at the 2019 ASP Midwestern Regional Meeting

On April 5, 2019, Carroll declared his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election, seeking the nomination of the

. He won the nomination at the online party convention, and chose ASP chair Amar Patel as his running mate. Carroll notably spoke at the Rehumanize Conference in New Orleans, a speaking engagement at the Presidential Politics Conference of Iowa at Dordt University that was also attended by Republican candidate

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr ...

and Democratic candidate

Tulsi Gabbard Tulsi Gabbard (; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician, United States Army Reserve officer and political commentator who served as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Gabbard was the fi ...

. He participated in a Free & Equal Elections Foundation presidential debate, alongside minor candidates of various parties. Carroll and his running mate Patel were on the ballot in eight states and certified as write-in candidates in 31 states. They received over 42,000 votes nationwide.

Endorsements

Political positions

Carroll ran on a platform that espouses the political ideology of Christian democracy, which emphasizes G. K. Chesterton-style

distributism Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching pri ...

as an alternative to

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

which he opposes, a

consistent life ethic The consistent life ethic, also known as the consistent ethic of life or whole life ethic, is an ideology that opposes abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Adherents oppose war, or at the very least, unjust war; some adh ...

universal healthcare Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

, climate and environmental stewardship,

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

and reconciliation, and a more peaceful world. His positions are similar to those espoused by other Christian Democratic parties in many European and Latin American countries. Carroll subscribes to a

which opposes abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty, while advocating for progressive and social justice issues. He supports

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, colloquially referred to as DACA, is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive ...

, ranked choice voting, the breakup of companies such as

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

and Google, amnesty for David Daleiden, diverting some police and military funding to community resources, ending

private prison A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people are imprisoned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit ...

s, rehabilitation rather than incarceration for drug possession, and

red flag law In the United States, a red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who they believe may present a danger to others or themselves. A judge makes the determina ...

s. He is anti-abortion, and has said that being

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respon ...

"obviously, is more than abortion" in reference to elderly people endangered by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Personal life

Carroll has been married for 46 years, and has five children and 14 grandchildren. An elder in the

Evangelical Covenant Church The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is a Radical Pietistic denomination with Lutheran roots in the evangelical Christian tradition. The denomination has 129,015 members in 878 congregations and an average worship attendance of 219,000 people ...

, a

Pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

denomination, Carroll considers himself an

Evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

Notes

References

External links

2020 campaign website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Brian T. 1949 births Living people American evangelicals American Solidarity Party politicians California State University, Fresno alumni Candidates in the 2018 United States elections Candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election People from Visalia, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni