Alaska’s Aurora Party Nominates Independent Presidential Candidate Cornel West

Independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West will appear on Alaska’s general election ballot next year, thanks to the nomination of the Aurora Party.

In a press release issued Thursday afternoon, the Cornel West campaign announced that the Aurora Party, a new statewide group in Alaska, has nominated West, giving him a ballot line in the state. According to the release, Alaska is the first state where West has formally qualified for the ballot. As part of his nomination, West has also endorsed a proposal to raise the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend to $10,000 per resident.

“We’re honored to be the first state in the nation to place Dr. West on the ballot,” the Aurora Party stated, “He will be a President with the moral clarity and strength to institute a new national government with working and poor people as its priority.”

The Aurora Party is categorized as a “limited political party” under Alaska state law, meaning it is a group organizing “for the purpose of selecting candidates for electors for President and Vice President of the United States.” According to a presidential filing packet by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, supporters of the party were required to submit a minimum of 3,614 qualified signatures, representing at least one percent of the 361,400 ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election, in order to place West’s name on the ballot.

Additional research by Independent Political Report reveals that it is a relatively new organization. As recently as November 27, 2023, the Aurora Party was classified as a “political group” by the Alaska Division of Elections before being reclassified as a limited political party. This classification indicates that it was seen as a group of voters actively seeking status as a recognized political party just several weeks ago.

Meanwhile, there is no record of the Aurora Party’s website on the Wayback Machine, a digital archive, prior to August 19, 2023, and all available screenshots from that time only display references to the West campaign.