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Darcy G. Richardson (born December 6, 1955) is an American author, historian and political activist. He was the national chairman of the Alliance Party and is the current vice chairman. Richardson was the vice-presidential nominee of the Alliance Party and Reform Party for the 2020 election alongside presidential nominee Rocky De La Fuente. The ticket appeared on more than 15 state ballots and finished in 5th place nationally with 88,237 votes. Prior to that, he was the Reform Party of Florida's nominee for governor in 2018. In the 2012 presidential election, Richardson challenged incumbent Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in five state primaries. Author and activist Richardson is the author of A Nation Divided: The 1968 Presidential Campaign, published in 2002. The book describes in detail the "Clean for Gene" phenomenon that led to President Lyndon B. Johnson's startling withdrawal from the race and Robert F. Kennedy's resulting candidacy, as well as the campaigns of Republican Richard M. Nixon and others. He has also authored four books of a planned seven volume series on the history of third party politics in the United States, with a heavy focus on progressive movements. The first volume, "Others: Third-Party Politics From the Nation's Founding to the Rise and Fall of the Greenback-Labor Party" earned a Choice magazine Outstanding Academic Title (OAT) Award for 2005. Richardson has contributed articles to numerous publications and is the co-founder of a blog called Uncovered Politics, which focuses on insurgent candidates and third party politics. Between 1989 and 1992, Richardson served as the National Chairman of The New Democrats, a Progressive reformist group that included Eugene McCarthy and Gary Hart. Political campaigns Although a registered Democrat and elected Montgomery County precinct committeeman at the time, Richardson was nominated to run for the position of Pennsylvania Auditor General in 1980 on the Philadelphia-based Consumer Party's ballot line. In that race he finished third with 48,783 votes. In 1988, the Consumer Party again nominated Richardson, this time to run for U.S. Senate. That same year, Richardson was the national campaign manager of former Senator Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign. McCarthy was also running on the Consumer Party ticket. Richardson was later a senior advisor to McCarthy's final presidential campaign, in which he ran as a candidate in the 1992 Democratic primaries. Richardson was a candidate for the lieutenant governor of Florida in 2010, running with independent gubernatorial candidate Farid Khavari. 2012 presidential campaign On October 21, 2011, Richardson filed as a candidate in the 2012 New Hampshire Democratic primary and became the first Democrat to file in a primary against President Barack Obama. A total of 14 Democrats, including Obama, eventually filed for the primary ballot. Richardson stated in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he decided to enter the race after failing to convince former Labor Secretary Robert Reich to mount a bid. Richardson also noted his campaign was to be national in scope, with plans to file in numerous other states where ballot access laws would allow him to either pay a qualifying fee or gather signed petitions. and accumulated 41,730 votes at the end of the primary season. In April 2012, Richardson suspended his presidential campaign, and announced plans to support Reform Party presidential candidate and former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer in the general election. After Roemer ended his campaign, Richardson backed Roseanne Barr's presidential campaign and organized a Florida chapter of the Peace and Freedom Party. 2016 presidential campaign On July 22, 2016, Richardson announced his intention to run for the Reform Party's nomination. He lost the nomination to Rocky De La Fuente. 2018 gubernatorial campaign On June 22, 2018, Richardson became the Reform Party of Florida's nominee for governor, later choosing Nancy Argenziano as his running mate. 2020 presidential campaign On July 15, 2019, Richardson filed with the FEC to run for the Reform Party Nomination in 2020. Richardson later suspended his campaign to become the running mate of Rocky De La Fuente on both the Reform Party ticket and the newly formed Alliance Party. Richardson became the Alliance Party's vice-presidential nominee on April 25, being introduced at the national convention by Brian Moore and officially nominated by Phil Fuerher. Electoral history Books by Darcy G. Richardson *A Nation Divided: The 1968 Presidential Campaign (2002) *Others: Third-Party Politics From the Nation's Founding to the Rise and Fall of the Greenback-Labor Party (2004) *Others: Third Parties During the Populist Period (2007) *Others: Third Parties from Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party to the Decline of Socialism in America (2007) *Others: "Fighting Bob" La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s (2008)
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