Rocky De La Fuente ran a third-party campaign for the presidency of the United States in the 2016 election. De La Fuente had sought the Democratic Party's nomination during their presidential primaries. De La Fuente did not win any delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, but he came in fourth by total votes received. De La Fuente founded the American Delta Party and ran as its presidential nominee with running mate Michael Steinberg. He was also the presidential nominee of the Reform Party, which had ballot access in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.[2] He received 33,136 votes in the general election, placing him eighth in the popular vote.
Wikinews interviews Rocky De La Fuente, U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate
De La Fuente filed his candidacy for President of the United States with the Federal Election Commission as a Democrat. He identified himself as a progressive Democrat. He said that he was inspired to run after becoming dissatisfied with the slate of candidates, especially Donald Trump, whom he accused of alienating large segments of the population. On immigration, De La Fuente supported a path to citizenship and was against the wall proposed by Donald Trump.[3][4]
De La Fuente subsequently has said that the reason he opted to seek the Democratic nomination, rather than the Republican nomination, is that he hoped that the Democratic primary's smaller field of candidates would make it easier for him to stand out.[5] The Republican party had 17 candidates, more than three times the number of major candidates who sought the Democratic nomination.
Below is a table of the results of primaries in which De La Fuente competed during the Democratic primaries. The total number of votes De La Fuente received can be found in the Votes column. The rank in which De La Fuente came among candidates/ballot options can be found in the Place column.
De La Fuente founded the American Delta Party leaving United out of its name as a vehicle to continue his campaign into the general election as a third-party candidate.[70][71][72] He was nominated as the party's presidential nominee. His running mate was Michael Steinberg of Florida.[73] On August 8, 2016, De La Fuente was named as the presidential nominee of the Reform Party.[74]
American Delta Party held its national convention on September 1, 2016, in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, and nominated Rocky De La Fuente to run in the United States presidential election representing his party. De La Fuente chose Michael Steinberg as his running mate.
Qualificationsedit
De La Fuente gained ballot access to 147 electoral votes in 20 states (Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming).[75] He qualified as a write-in candidate in Arizona, California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Washington, and West Virginia.[76][77][78][79]
On November 30 (in response to Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein's efforts to request recounts in Wisconsin and several other states which Donald Trump won) De La Fuente requested a partial-recount in Nevada (a state which Hillary Clinton won). He considered this effort to be a "counterbalance" at Stein's efforts. De La Fuente paid the $14,000 that was required for him to request for a recount to be held in a sample from 5% of state-precincts. Nevada's partial-recount was completed December 8, finding no significant discrepancies.[87][88][89][90]
Campaign financesedit
Detailed below are the financial statements filled with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) of Rocky 2016 LLC as of November 28, 2016.[91]
^Posted on (2016-08-09). "Reform Party Nominates Rocky De La Fuente for President | Ballot Access News". Ballot-access.org. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
^Peters, Xander. "This guy plans to take on Rick Scott in Florida's GOP primary for Senate". Orlando Weekly. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
^Bauer, Shane (2020-07-02). "What Is the Status of Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Wall'?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
^Bittle, Matt (June 6, 2018). "Californian runs for Delaware's U.S. Senate seat — and Florida's, Hawaii's and Vermont's, too". www.delawarestatenews.net. Delaware State News. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
^Berg-Andersson, Richard E. (2016). Tony Roza (ed.). "California Democratic Delegation 2016". thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
^"District of Columbia Primary Election Results 2016: President". politico.com. POLITICO LLC. 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
^Berg-Andersson, Richard E. (2016). Tony Roza (ed.). "District of Columbia Democratic Delegation 2016". thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
^Berg-Andersson, Richard E. (2016). Tony Roza (ed.). "Democratic Delegation 2016". thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
^ abcd"Rocky De La Fuente Polls". politico.com. Politico. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
^"Rocky De La Fuente Creates American Delta Party as Vehicle for his Presidential General Election Candidacy | Ballot Access News". ballot-access.org. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
^"2016 Presidential Hopefuls Grouped By Party". The Green Papers. Retrieved June 18, 2016. Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente Guerra of California • FEC P60016342; 31 May 16; Tot $6,063,661; Dsb $6,060,216 • Declaration of Intent of Candidacy: Thursday 1 October 2015 • Campaign website: http://www.rocky2016.com/ • Address: SAN DIEGO, CA 92121. circa 10 June 2016: Created the American Delta Party.{{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
^Peinado, Fernando (June 3, 2016). "La campaña ignorada del tenaz 'Rocky' de la Fuente, el único hispano en la carrera por la Casa Blanca". Univision (in Spanish). Univision. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
^"Connecticut Invalidates Rocky De La Fuente Petition on the Mistaken Belief that the U.S. Constitution Does Not Permit Presidential Electors to Vote for Someone from the Same State for Both President and Vice-President | Ballot Access News". ballot-access.org. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
^"Interview: Reform Party Secretary explains why Rocky De La Fuente was chosen as the party's nominee | American Third Party Report". Amthirdpartyreport.com. 2016-08-09. Archived from the original on 2016-08-27. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
^Chris Powell (2016-08-03). "Who is on the presidential ballot where?". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
^"2016 General Election Information". apps.azsos.gov. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
^"State of Delaware Department of Elections" (PDF). elections.delaware.gov. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
^"Indiana Secretary of State" (PDF). www.in.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
^"Secretary of State of West Virginia". sos.wv.gov. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
^"2016 Free and Equal Elections Presidential Debate Moderated by Ed Asner". YouTube.
^"Rocky De La Fuente - Latest Polls and Approval Ratings". Election Hub.
^"Nevada General Election August 18, 2016 Poll Documents". www.suffolk.edu. Suffolk University. August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
^"Suffolk University Nevada Likely Voters August 2016" (PDF). www.suffolk.edu. Suffolk University. August 18, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 27, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
^"8_18_2016_x_tabs.pdf" (PDF). www.suffolk.edu. Suffolk University. August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
^"Here's the Latest in the Presidential Vote Recounts in 4 States". Fortune.com. December 5, 2016.
^"Recount underway of some Nevada presidential ballots cast Nov. 8". Las Vegas Review-Journal. December 5, 2016.
^"Partial recount of Nevadans' presidential ballots confirms Nov. 8 results". Las Vegas Review-Journal. December 8, 2016.
^"Nevada ballot recount changes just 15 Trump, Clinton votes". Fox 5 KVVU-TV. December 8, 2016. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
^"Details for Candidate ID: P60016342". fec.gov. Federal Election Commission. 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016.