As Ballot Access News reports, the newly- christened presidential nominee of the socialist Peace and Freedom Party and presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Gloria La Riva, received the presidential nomination of Vermont’s ballot qualified Liberty Union Party.
La Riva’s running mate Leonard Peltier was nominated for vice president. The La Riva-Peltier ticket now has access to the ballots in California and Vermont.
The Liberty Union Party was founded in 1970. Current Senator Bernie Sanders was associated with it early on and ran as its nominee for US Senate in 1972 and for governor in 1976. By 1977, he had become party chairman but resigned and left the party that year.
La Riva was the Liberty Union Party’s presidential nominee in 2016. She ran as the PSL nominee for president in 2008 and 2016. In 2012 she was the stand-in for the party’s underage presidential nominee Peta Lindsay in certain states.
In addition, La Riva was the presidential nominee of the PSL’s forerunner, the Workers World Party (from which it split in 2004), in 1992 and was the party’s vice presidential nominee in 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2000.
In 2016 Gloria La Riva won the nomination of the Liberty Union Party in Vermont as well as the Peace & Freedom Party in California. She won more 74,000 votes in November, marking the third highest vote for a Marxist-Leninist candidate for President, putting her ahead of Roque de la Fuente, and behind Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, Evan McMullen, Darrel Castle and write-ins for Bernie Sanders.
This year she beat Howie Hawkins in the Peace & Freedom Party primary and again won the Liberty Union nomination. She has put a stop to Howie Hawkins plan for a left unity coalition. Still Howie should come in ahead of her.