Unity Party of America
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Unity Party of America
|
|
|---|---|
 |
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| Founder | Bill Hammons |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Ideology | Centrism |
| Political position | Center |
| International affiliation | None |
| Colors | Red, white, and blue |
| Seats in the Senate |
0 / 100
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| Seats in the House |
0 / 435
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| Governorships |
0 / 50
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| State Upper House Seats |
0 / 1,972
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| State Lower House Seats |
0 / 5,411
|
| Other elected offices | 0 |
| Website | |
| unityparty.us | |
The Unity Party of America is a centrist political party founded on November 4, 2004 which has a membership in 38 states (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin) listed on its website.
The Unity Party began in an online discussion forum in November 2004 and grew out of the Unity Runners organization; as the Unity Party website puts it, "The Unity Party of America movement had its beginnings in the concept of running marathons to raise campaign contributions for political candidates." Unity Runners, in turn, had its origins in Runners for Clark, an antecedent organization which supported the Presidential candidacy of General Wesley Clark.
On June 16, 2016, Chairman Hammons used YouTube to disavow any affiliation with Clark, while outlining the transition from Runners for Clark to Unity Runners to the Unity Party of America.
Party founder Bill Hammons has been the party's national chairman since its inception, as well as the party's Colorado state party chairman.
Eric Bodenstab is described on the Unity Party website as having been the first Unity Party candidate, declaring in May 2007 for Boulder, Colorado City Council, even though that is a non-partisan election. The Unity Party fielded two Congressional candidates in the 2008 election cycle (Bill Hammons in Colorado's 2nd District, who received 2,176 votes or 0.63%, and Terry Ronzio in Pennsylvania's 12th District, who did not qualify for the ballot). Sherman Reickart declared for Brant, New York Town Council with the Unity Party, Bill Hammons declared for Colorado's 2nd District again on June 22, 2009, Energy Drilling Consultant Levi Hancock declared as the first Unity Party candidate for Colorado Governor in 2009, and Oilfield Drilling Engineer Mike Nelson declared as a Unity Party candidate for Colorado's 4th Congressional District. Hammons and Nelson are both former residents of Odessa, Texas, even though both now live in Colorado.
On January 11, 2010, Navy veteran and Pueblo, Colorado resident Ray Roman declared as the Unity Party's first candidate for US Senate, running against incumbent Senator Michael Bennet. That same month, Hammons appeared on Denver 9 News' Your Show to make the case for changing Colorado election law and allowing the Unity Party's more recently affiliated candidates to petition onto the General Election ballot as Unity Party candidates, along with himself. On May 27, 2010, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed House Bill 10-1271, which will allow Colorado's unaffiliated candidates for public office (including, technically, Unity Party candidates) to run for office if their voter registration has not changed during the year of the election in question, beginning in 2012.
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Wikipedia