Open Letter to Potential Presidential Candidates and their Supporters from John Reiger, State Chair, Peace and Freedom Party.
We welcome presidential aspirants who are not affiliated to the two parties of the billionaires to participate in the Peace and Freedom Party March 2020 California Primary Election. Our Presidential Preference Primary is a non-binding primary election in which our party registrants will vote for their preferred candidates for President.
If you or someone you support is interested in becoming the Peace and Freedom Party candidate for President, please quickly contact Kevin Akin at (951) 787-0318 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The official Peace and Freedom Party Presidential candidate will be selected by the newly-elected members of the State Central Committee, chosen in the March 3 primary election. All elected county central committee members are automatically members of the State Central Committee and also Presidential Convention delegates.
We should note that anyone interested in our presidential nomination must not only appear on the ballot, but also ensure that a substantial number of supporting delegates get elected to the State Central Committee in the March election. Without supporters on the state central committee, no one is likely to obtain the nomination. The filing period for central committee members begins on September 27, 2019, and ends on December 6, 2019.
This year, new requirements have been enacted by the California Legislature, and it will be a little more difficult to qualify for the primary ballot. Each presidential candidate must:
- File with the Federal Elections Commission as a candidate for President (while this is otherwise not required until a candidate has raised $5000, a candidate may file before that).
- Have a campaign website.
- Have the Peace and Freedom Party submit a written request to the California Secretary of State that the candidate be placed on the ballot.
- Submit a form to the California Secretary of State by late November 2019 certifying that requirements 1 through 3 have been accomplished, signed by the candidate.
(A further requirement regarding release of income tax returns was adopted but will face court challenges and may or may not be enforced.)
We will also be offering candidates for US House of Representatives, State Assembly, and State Senate (no statewide offices will appear on the 2020 ballot). If you or your organization is interested in running candidates for these positions, which have different candidate procedures, please contact C.T. Weber at (916) 422-5395 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Again, deadlines are tight. The first petitions may be taken out for these offices on September 12, 2019, and some must be returned by November 6th, with final papers returned by December 6, 2019.
We are a non-sectarian independent party of the left, providing a ballot line for candidates of varying schools of thought within the broad socialist movement. The Peace and Freedom Party describes itself as “committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, racial equality and internationalism.” We expect our Presidential candidate to hold views in line with ours.