Leader Mark Wilder Spokesperson Mark Wilder | Chairman Mark Wilder | |
Founded December 19, 2013; 3 years ago (2013-12-19) (reformation) four years ago Headquarters Moses Lake, Washington, U.S. Ideology Constitutionalists,
Centrism,
"Restoration of Our Representative Government" | ||
The Veterans Party of America (VPA) is a political party based in Moses Lake, Washington, USA.
Contents
Overview
The VPA fielded several candidates in 2003, including a US Senate candidate in Florida. However, the party achieved limited electoral success, and bitter infighting caused it to split into two rival factions in 2006. In August 2008, the original VPA officially ceded its membership and ideology to the Modern Whig Party due to that organization's relatively large military membership, totaling at the time about 10,000 people, roughly 6,500 of which were affiliated with the military.
The Veterans Party of America was formed a second time by a group of veterans in December 2013 after the United States Senate approved a new budget deal which included cuts to military members' benefits. Within its first two months, the party amassed a following of almost 20,000 Facebook likes, fifty state affiliates having been formed, and then over 50,000 Facebook likes after just 2 1/2 years with the party receiving Federal recognized political group status.
In August 2014, the Veterans Party of America endorsed its first candidate for Montana State Legislature, by establishing the Montana Veterans Party. In March 2015, the Veterans Party of Mississippi, the state-affiliate of the national party, obtained ballot access within that state. It was the first Veterans Party to do so nationally. As of April 2015, the party holds 2 elected offices, with the first being Michael R Hart, Mayor of Commerce in Oklahoma.
In August 2015, the Party announced their candidates for the 2016 Presidential election. The announcement was made at Mount Rushmore National Park. The party's Chris Keniston was named as the presidential candidate with running mate Deacon Taylor. Both men are veterans and have been associated with the party. The group also has numerous candidates for Congress and state legislature for 2016.
2016 election
In August, 2015 The Veterans Party announced that Chris Keniston, an Air Force veteran, of Texas and Deacon Taylor, an Army veteran, of Nevada as the president and vice president candidates. The Veterans Party had full ballot access in Colorado, Louisiana, and Mississippi and has write-in access in over 10 states. The Party also has candidates running for elections across the country, from the state level with candidates for Senate such as Illinois, all the way down to the local level in Owensboro, Kentucky and Wasilla, Alaska.