Lowell Jackson Fellure (October 3, 1931 – July 31, 2022) was an American perennial political candidate and engineer. He was the presidential nominee of the Prohibition Party for the

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Early life and career

Fellure was born in

Midkiff, West Virginia Midkiff is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in western Lincoln County, West Virginia, Lincoln County, West Virginia, United States. It lies along West Virginia Route 10 southwest of the town of Hamlin, West Virginia, Hamlin, the c ...

, in 1931, to Ellis Elwin and Bessie Jean Fellure. He attended grade school in nearby

Salt Rock Salt rock or Salt Rock may refer to: *Rock salt Halite (), commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride ( Na Cl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, ...

, graduating from Barboursville High School in 1949. Fellure then enrolled at Marshall College (now Marshall University), and upon graduation became a teacher. In his professional life, Fellure worked a variety of jobs, culminating in a position as a field engineer for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

, from which he retired in 1991. He served as a minister to a wide range of churches.

Campaigns

Fellure formally campaigned for

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in every

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since

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

as a member of the Republican Party. He asserts on his campaign web site that his platform based on the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

of the Bible never changed. As a candidate, he called for the elimination of the liquor industry,

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

, and pornography, and advocates

prayer in public schools School prayer, in the context of religious liberty, is state-sanctioned or mandatory prayer by students in public schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, state-sponsored prayer may be required, permitted, or prohibited. Countries ...

and criminalization of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

. He blamed the ills of society on those he characterized as " atheists, Marxists,

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

s, queers, liars,

draft dodger Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...

s, flag burners, dope addicts, sex perverts and anti-Christians." In 1992, Fellure filed to run in the

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

and

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

Republican primaries. By November 1991, he had spent $40,000 of his own money on the campaign, and he sent a King James Bible to the

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as a copy of his platform. Regarding the 1611 English version of the Bible, he said:

God wrote it as the supreme document and final authority in the affairs of all men, nations and civilizations, for time and eternity ... It shall never be necessary to change it.

Fellure received 36 votes in the New Hampshire primary and complained that President George H. W. Bush and commentator Pat Buchanan were receiving all the media attention. During the 1996 presidential election while running for the Republican Party presidential nomination, he criticized former President George H. W. Bush as a man "responsible for inestimable damage toward the destruction of this sovereign democratic constitutional republic hocontinued to water the seeds of international, Satanic Marxism to the exclusion of our national sovereignty". He added that President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

"merely shifted into overdrive the socialistic, Marxist New World Order agenda." He appeared on the primary ballot in

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and received 34 votes (0.01%). In the general election, Fellure received one write-in vote in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. Fellure again filed to run for president in

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, but did not appear on any primary ballots. In 2004, he challenged incumbent President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

for the Republican Party nomination. Fellure was the only candidate to appear alongside Bush in the

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

caucus, as he met the

requirement of $5,000 in receipts. He received 14 of the 2,020 votes cast (about 0.7%), and lost all 26 delegates to Bush.

2012 campaign

After another run in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Fellure initially ran for the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination. After failing to gain attention for his 2012 presidential campaign as a Republican, Fellure decided to seek the nomination of the Prohibition Party at the party's national convention in

Cullman, Alabama Cullman is the largest city and county seat of Cullman County, Alabama, United States. It is located along Interstate 65, about north of Birmingham and about south of Huntsville. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 14,775, with an ...

. Fellure was nominated for president on the second ballot, beating out former Thompson Township tax assessor and longtime Prohibition Party activist James Hedges of

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, ...

. Party chairman Toby Davis was named as his

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a pr ...

. The ticket appeared on the ballot only in Louisiana and received 518 votes on Election Day.

Return to Republican Party

In November 2012, Fellure filed with the FEC to run for the Republican Party's 2016 presidential nomination. He was unsuccessful. In November 2016, Fellure filed to run for the party's

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 ...

presidential nomination, but failed to make the ballot in any state. In a 2021 interview, Fellure reflected on his many campaigns, and remarked, "I found that people either readily accept or totally reject the Word of God. There seems to be no middle ground."

Personal life

Fellure resided in

Hurricane, West Virginia Hurricane is a city in Putnam County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 6,977 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area. History Hurricane was named after Hurricane Creek, which was, in turn, ...

, with his wife Jean, and was the father of seven children. They attended an Independent Fundamental Baptist church in Hurricane. On July 31, 2022, Fellure died at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia, at the age of 90.

References

External links