Third party presidential candidate guide

Libertarian Party — Gary Johnson

Party’s 2012 vote total: 1,275,971

(AP Photo)

Johnson, formerly a Republican, was governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003. In 1995, Johnson set a state and national record by vetoing 200 bills, 48 percent of the bills passed by the legislature that year. Johnson had no political experience before becoming governor. He owned one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico. In his personal life, Johnson spends a lot of time on personal fitness. He’s run several Ironman Triathlons and climbed Mount Everest. Johnson was also the Libertarian Party nominee in 2012, earning just less than 1 percent of the popular vote.

Policy Positions:

• Wants to eliminate individual income, corporate income and payroll taxes, to be replaced with a simple consumption tax.

• On immigration, wants to have a system of work visas in which potential immigrants have to go through a background check, pay taxes and provide proof of employment.

• Supports a ban on late-term abortions and taxpayer funding of abortion, but believes women have a legal right to abortion and shouldn’t be subject to persecution.

Age on Election Day: 63

Education: University of New Mexico

Family: Married to Dee Simms from 1977 until they divorced in 2005 (one son, one daughter). Now engaged to Kate Prusack.

Birthplace: Minot, N.D.

Current Residence: Taos, N.M.

Religion: Lutheran

Vice Presidential Nominee: Bill Weld, former Republican governor of Massachusetts

Green Party — Jill Stein

Party’s 2012 vote total: 469,627

The Green Party’s national convention is August 4-7, when the party will select an official nominee. That said, the heavy favorite is the party’s 2012 nominee, Jill Stein.

Stein was a member of the Lexington, Mass., local government from 2005 to 2011. Stein is a doctor, which she says inspired her environmental activism. She became disillusioned with the Democratic Party in 2003, when Democrats in the Massachusetts legislature repealed a campaign finance law that provided taxpayer funds for campaigns that agreed to only accept donations under $100 per person. Stein was a principal organizer of the Global Climate Convergence for People, Planet and Peace over Profit, a major September 2014 environmental protest. Stein was the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2012, where she came in fourth.

Policy Positions:

• Believes jobs, healthcare, unions, food, water, housing, utilities and voting are human rights.

• Wants to end fracking, offshore drilling, oil trains, mountaintop removal and uranium mines. Wants to spend federal money on public transit, sustainable agriculture, conservation and renewable energy to put the country on a path to having all energy come from renewable sources by 2030.

• Wants a moratorium on GMOs and pesticides until they are proven to be safe.

Age on Election Day: 66

Education: Harvard University (undergraduate and medical degrees)

Family: Married to Richard Rohrer, with two sons (Noah, Ben)

Birthplace: Chicago

Current Residence: Lexington, Mass.

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Ajamu Baraka, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network.

Constitution Party — Darrell Castle

(Wikipedia)

Party’s 2012 vote total: 122,389

Castle served as a Marine during the Vietnam War. He has been a lawyer for more than 25 years, working on consumer bankruptcy, personal injury and social security/disability and workers’ compensation. Darrell Castle and Associates is based in Memphis, Tenn., with four other firms across the midwest. Castle and his wife founded Mia’s Children Foundation in 1998, a Christian mission project in Romania focused on homeless gypsy children. Castle spent two terms as chair of the Constitution Party of Tennessee and was the party’s vice presidential candidate in 2008. That year, the Constitution Party earned 200,000 votes and came in fifth.

Policy Positions:

• Claims to be 100 percent pro-life, and promises to veto any bill that would give federal funding to Planned Parenthood or other abortion providers.

• Would repeal the Federal Reserve Act, allowing lenders and borrowers to set their own interest rates. Castle says this would end bailouts: “I would remind the banks that there would no longer be a Federal Reserve to lend to them in an emergency so if a bank gets in trouble, it’s on its own.”

• Wants the United States to end its membership in the United Nations. “The very existence of the U.N. is an affront to liberty and human dignity,” Castle says.

Age on Election Day: 67 or 68

Education: East Tennessee State University (Political Science and History), Memphis State University (Juris Doctorate)

Family: Married to Joan Castle (one daughter)

Birthplace: Kingsport, Tenn.

Current Residence: Germantown, Tenn.

Religion: Christian

Vice Presidential Nominee: Scott Bradley, an independent business owner from Utah.

Independent American Party — Farley Anderson

Party’s 2012 votes total: 122,389 (Virgil Goode ran as both the Constitution Party nominee and the Independent American Party nominee)

Anderson ran as an independent for governor of Utah in 2010, coming third with 2 percent of the vote. He was formerly a Republican, serving as a precinct chair in 1991. Anderson owned a publishing company for five years until 2010.

Vice Presidential Nominee: [unknown]

Policy Positions:

• Wants to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, limit taxation to the methods allowed for in the original Constitution and eliminate the national debt with a balanced budget.

• Wants a “strong defense establishment” and says American military shouldn’t be committed to international organizations (such as NATO or the U.N.).

• Believes in Judeo-Christian heritage, and that “it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor.”

Age on Election Day: 60

Education: Weber State University (Oral Communications)

Family: Married (Helen), 11 children (Tamsyn, James, Adam, Dawna, Levi, Heather, Joshua, Sarah, Sam, Ben, Emily)

Birthplace: Ogden, Utah

Current Residence: Paradise, Utah

Religion: Latter-day Saints

Party for Socialism and Liberation — Gloria La Riva

(AP Photo)

Party’s 2012 vote total: 9,399

La Riva is the executive vice president of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Communications Workers of America, Local 39521. She ran for governor of California twice, mayor of San Francisco once and president once, all unsuccessfully. She has also produced videos like “Heroes Not Looters” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. La Riva calls the U.S. embargo against Cuba a “blockade” and won Cuba’s Friendship Medal for her support of Cuba.

Policy Positions:

• Wants a “decent-paying job” to be a legal right, with a $20 an hour minimum wage and a “living income” guaranteed for those who can’t work.

• Would shut down all U.S. military bases around the world, bringing all “troops, planes and ships home” and using the military budget for other needs.

• Believes in “free, safe, legal abortion on demand.”

Age on Election Day: 62

Education: Brandeis University

Family: [Unknown]

Birthplace: Albuquerque, N.M.

Current Residence: San Francisco

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Eugene Puryear, an activist from Washington D.C.

Socialist Workers Party — Alyson Kennedy

Party’s 2012 vote total: 4,117

Kennedy works at Walmart in Chicago. She has been a socialist since the 1970s and has fought for union rights for decades. Kennedy, formerly a coal miner herself, has been particularly active fighting for union rights for coal miners. She also ran as the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2008 and for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 2010.

Policy Positions:

• Wants a minimum wage of $15 an hour, guaranteed full-time work and union rights.

• Opposes U.S. wars, like the former war in Vietnam and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Wants a “government-funded public works program to create jobs and build schools, medical, child care and recreation centers, replace crumbling infrastructure and other things working people need.”

Age on Election Day: 65 or 66

Education: [Unknown]

Family: [Unknown]

Birthplace: Indianapolis

Current Residence: Chicago

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Osborne Hart, a Walmart worker from Philadelphia.

Prohibition Party — James Hedges

Party’s 2012 vote total: 518

Hedges is a former member of the United States Marine Band who now volunteers in various ways in his community, including by running a recycling program and curating the print shop at a living history museum.

Policy Positions:

• Opposes the production, transportation and sale of all drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine and heroin (except for medicinal use, as regulated by the Food and Drug Administration), but supports programs that would help tobacco farm and vineyard owners to switch to alternative crops.

• Opposes free trade: “We will impose balancing tariffs on all goods imported from countries whose wage scales, labor benefits, and environmental protections are not similar to our own.”

• Favors a balanced budget amendment to the federal constitution.

Age on Election Day: 78

Education: University of Iowa (Musical Performance), University of Maryland (Master’s in Geography)

Family: Married (Carolyn)

Birthplace: Iowa City, Iowa

Current Residence: Fulton County, Pa.

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Bill Bayes, owner of a manufacturing business.

Veterans Party of America — Chris Keniston

Party’s 2012 vote total: [wasn’t formed until 2014]

Keniston served in various roles in the Air Force from 1996 to 2010. He’s now a small business owner, having founded FOD Gear, which specializes in veteran-centric and patriotic apparel. Keniston has also worked in manufacturing. Keniston is the third generation of veterans in his family, dating back to his grandfather’s service in World War II.

Policy Positions:

• Wants to secure the southern border by working with state governors and legislatures, and also feels that security along the Canadian border is a serious concern.

• On education, wants to “terminate all federal endorsement or preferential funding of the existing Common Core curriculum with extreme prejudice.”

• Believes in “non-interference in global affairs.” Says the U.S. has been viewed as a bully, which is a disservice to our “global identity.”

Age on Election Day: 45

Education: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Professional Aeronautics)

Family: Single (was married in 1995 until a 2001 divorce, then married from 2004 until his wife passed away in 2016)

Birthplace: Washington, D.C.

Current Residence: [Unknown]

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Deacon Taylor, an Army veteran and currently a construction consultant.

Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.