FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Kevin Zeese, Press Secretary, 301-996-6582, kevin@howiehawkins.us
Robert Smith, Media Coordinator, 304-707-2824, robert@howiehawkins.us
Howie Hawkins Wins Green Party Nomination, Angela Walker His Running Mate
‘Put Two Workers In The White House’ General Election Campaign Begins
(Syracuse, NY – July 11, 2020) Today, Howie Hawkins was nominated by the Green Party of the United States for president of the United States. Hawkins has selected Angela Walker as his running mate as the vice presidential nominee.
Hawkins thanked the Green Party for its support and said “Our campaign will reach out to the tens of millions of voters who are not represented by the two parties of the millionaires and billionaires, to the independent voters who have rejected both parties and to the ‘hold your nose’ voters who reluctantly vote for candidates they do not like, from political parties they do not trust.”
Hawkins is a retired Teamster from Syracuse, NY with long experience in popular movements on civil rights, environmentalism and opposition to war and imperialism. He is joined by Vice Presidential candidate Angela Walker, a veteran working-class activist with decades of experience, starting from her youth, working for racial and economic justice in social movements, unions, and as an independent socialist candidate. Howie and Angela are running to put two workers in the White House at a time when workers are underpaid, mistreated and not provided the essentials needed for economic security.
“The US is a bi-partisan failed state. We need real solutions to the life-or-death problems we face: Covid-19, racism, economic inequality, climate change and the new nuclear arms race,” said Hawkins. “The mishandling of the COVID pandemic has resulted in more than 135,000 deaths. The collapse of the economy has 47.2 percent of working-age people without work while the bi-partisans are bailing out their wealthy friends and families. The people are rising up against racism and police violence but Trump and Biden respond with violence. Neither party will confront the climate crisis but instead continue building fossil fuel infrastructure that heighten the crisis. And, the nuclear arms race is escalating while never-ending wars continue.”
Hawkins/Walker are running on a platform that includes
- To address systemic racism, we call for democratic community control of the police, legal adult use of marijuana and ending the war on drugs, and reparations for African Americans. As a down-payment on reparations, we call for a Marshall Plan for the cities – sustained federal investment in jobs, schools, homes and healthcare to rebuild the racially oppressed communities who suffer from generations of discrimination and exploitation.
- For Covid-19, our campaign demands a federal test, trace, and isolate program and emergency protection of people’s incomes, employment, homes, and healthcare during the crisis. Pandemic policy should be based on science-based public health measures.
- The Ecosocialist Green New Deal will create 30 million good-paying jobs so a federal jobs guarantee becomes the engine for getting out of the economic collapse. And, it puts in place policies consistent with climate science to transition to a clean, sustainable energy economy by 2030.
- An Economic Bill of Rights that ends poverty and economic despair through a living wage job, an income above the poverty level, lifelong public education, comprehensive healthcare,affordable housing and a secure retirement.
- Improved Medicare for all with a community-based national health service is the path to providing high quality healthcare to everyone in the United States. This transforms healthcare from an approach designed to create profits for a few into one that guarantees healthcare to everyone.
Angela Walker, who ran for vice president with the Socialist Party in 2016, said “Voters are confronted with a choice of two unpopular candidates backed by capitalist parties who put the 1% first. We must break this cycle because most of us are not in a position of privilege to afford the so-called lesser evil.”
Howie and Angela immediately challenged Trump and Biden to debates. Hawkins said “I am ready to debate Trump and Biden on these issues, but are they ready to debate me? Trump likes to attack socialists but does he have the courage to debate a real socialist? The Democratic and Republican owned Commission on Presidential Debates sounds like a government agency but is in fact a private corporation designed to keep their competition out.”
The Green Party presently has ballot access in 25 states including D.C., and is in the process of seeking ballot access in all 50 states. The party is already qualified in states with over 300 Electoral College votes, enough to win the election.
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