The 2016 presidential election has its most unconventional candidate yet, now that Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig has officially announced his intent to run.
The campaign finance reform activist made his formal announcement to run in the Democratic primary at an event in Claremont, New Hampshire on Wednesday.
Lessig’s announcement comes a month after he announced an exploratory phase and started crowdfunding his campaign. He reached his goal of raising $1 million by Labor Day, which he said determined whether or not he would enter the race.
Lessig is running as a “referendum candidate,” meaning he would work to pass one piece of legislation titled the “Citizen Equality Act,” and then resign and let the elected vice president take over.
On his website, Lessig has an option for supporters to vote for his veep. The poll has 11 candidates “some brilliant, some fun, some just to see whether you’re paying attention,” and includes Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, environmental activist Van Jones, and comedian Jon Stewart.
Lessig’s reform bill is not yet finalized, but his plan is to overhaul the way representatives are elected by putting an end to gerrymandering rules and instituting a system of citizen-funded elections.
“What we need is a focus that can cut across partisan lines, and say this is the mandate,” Lessig said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“If you have seven other issues that you’re running on, then of course you get into Washington and everyone thinks your mandate is one of this, or one of that,” he continued. “That’s not going to make it possible to take this on.”
