Lawrence Lessig presidential campaign, 2016
| Lawrence Lessig for President | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Campaign | U.S. presidential election, 2016 |
| Candidate |
Lawrence Lessig Harvard Professor of Law (2009–present) Founder and CEO, Creative Commons (2001–2007) Founder and Co-director, Stanford Center for Internet and Society (2000–2009) Co-director, Center for the Study of Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe (1991–1997) |
| Affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Status | Announced: September 6, 2015 Suspended/Withdrew: November 2, 2015 |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Key people |
Steve Jarding (general consultant) Bill Hillsman (media consultant) Richard Dickerson (manager) Drew Westen (message consultant) Adam Bonin (legal counsel) Szelena Gray (media contact) |
| Receipts | US$1,016,189 |
| Slogan | Fixing Democracy Can't Wait |
| Chant | Fix Democracy First |
| Website | |
| Lessig2016.us | |
The 2016 presidential campaign of Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Harvard University and founder of Creative Commons, was formally announced on September 6, 2015, as Lessig confirmed his intentions to run for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States in 2016. Lessig had promised to run if his exploratory committee raised $1 million by Labor Day, which it accomplished one day early. He described his candidacy as a referendum on campaign finance reform and electoral reform legislation.
Lessig dropped out of the Democratic primary on November 2, 2015, shortly after the rules for participation in the next debate were changed such that he would no longer qualify. He then considered other strategies to advance his reform agenda, including the possibility of an independent run.
His campaign platform was unique for its clear priority on passing one thing first: The Citizen Equality Act, a proposal that coupled campaign finance reform with other laws aimed at curbing gerrymandering and ensuring voting access.
Until his leave of absence to launch his campaign, Lessig was the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. His full-time work on corruption began in 2007, when Lessig announced that he would stop focusing his attention on copyright and related matters and work on political corruption instead. In February 2008, a Facebook group formed by law professor John Palfrey encouraged him to run for Congress from California's 12th congressional district, the seat vacated by the death of U.S. Representative Tom Lantos. Later that month, after forming an "exploratory project", he decided not to run for the vacant seat.
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