Mike Gravel presidential campaign, 2020

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Mike Gravel suspended his presidential campaign on August 6, 2019.

2020 Presidential Election Date: November 3, 2020

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“	Today, we launch an unprecedented presidential campaign, a movement centered on changing the conversation, retaking Democracy, and ending the American Empire. We can do it, but only with your help.	”
—Gravel 2020 (April 2019)

Mike Gravel, a Democratic former U.S. senator from Alaska, announced that he was running for president of the United States on April 2, 2019. He suspended his presidential campaign on August 6, 2019, and endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii).

Gravel did not enter the race seeking to win the Democratic nomination. "Our only aim is pushing the field left by appearing in the Democratic debates," the Gravel campaign tweeted.

From 1969 to 1981, Gravel represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate. He also served in the Alaska State House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966, including two years as the speaker of the House.

Gravel in the news

See also: Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing and Editorial approach to story selection for the Daily Presidential News Briefing

This section featured five news stories about Gravel and his presidential campaign. For a complete timeline of Gravel's campaign activity, click here.

• August 7, 2019: Gravel, who suspended his presidential campaign on August 6, clarified that he was endorsing both Sanders and Gabbard.

• August 6, 2019: Gravel suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Bernie Sanders.

• July 31, 2019: The Gravel campaign tweeted it was coming to an end. The campaign would donate its funds to charity and form the Gravel Institute, a self-described leftist think tank.

• July 20, 2019: The Gravel campaign called on John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, and Tim Ryan to withdraw from the presidential race since none of them qualified for the debates via grassroots fundraising while Gravel had met that threshold.

• July 18, 2019: In an interview with The National Interest, Gravel discussed his presidential campaign, foreign policy, and the debate qualifications. He said his campaign would “make an investigation whether or not the DNC turned my name into these various polls that were being taken.”

Biography

Gravel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1930. After graduating from high school, Gravel enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he served for three years in the Communications Intelligence Service and the Counter Intelligence Corps, deploying to post-WWII France and West Germany. After leaving the Army, Gravel attended Columbia University, graduating with a degree in economics in 1956.

After graduating from Columbia, Gravel moved to Alaska. He ran unsuccessfully for the Territorial Legislature in 1958 and for mayor of Anchorage in 1959. Gravel won election to the state House in 1962 and was elected as speaker for the 1965-66 session. In 1966, Gravel left the state House to launch an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. House.

Gravel won election to the U.S. Senate in 1968 with 45% of the vote. He won re-election in 1974 with 58% of the vote but was defeated in the 1980 Democratic primary by former state Rep. Clark Gruening (D), whose grandfather Gravel had unseated in 1968.

In 1992, Gravel launched a pair of nonprofit organizations dedicated to promoting a type of direct democracy in which issues and policies are voted on by citizens rather than elected representatives. On April 18, 2006, Gravel launched a bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, intending to promote direct democracy. On March 25, 2008, Gravel joined the Libertarian Party and began a campaign for its presidential nomination. He placed fourth in the first round of voting at the party's 2008 convention and was eliminated on the fourth round of ballots.

Gravel passed away on June 26, 2021.

Campaign staff

See also: Mike Gravel presidential campaign staff, 2020, Presidential election key staffers, 2020, and Presidential campaign managers, 2020

The table below shows a sampling of the candidate's 2020 national campaign staff members, including the campaign manager and some senior advisors, political directors, communication directors, and field directors. It also includes each staff member's position in the campaign, previous work experience, and Twitter handle, where available. For a larger list of national campaign staff, visit Democracy in Action.

Mike Gravel presidential campaign national staff, 2020
Staff	Position	Prior experience	Twitter handle
David Oks	Campaign manager	N/A	@DavidEOks
Elijah Emery	Director of operations	N/A	@__elijahemery
Henry Williams	Chief strategist	N/A	@humford

Campaign finance

The following chart shows Democratic presidential campaign fundraising, including both total receipts and contributions from individuals, as well as campaign spending. Figures for each candidate run through the end of June 2020 or through the final reporting period during which the candidate was actively campaigning for president. The total disbursements column includes operating expenditures, transfers to other committees, refunds, loan repayments, and other disbursements.

Satellite spending

Satellite spending, commonly referred to as outside spending, describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.

This section lists satellite spending in this race reported by news outlets in alphabetical order. If you are aware of spending that should be included, please email us.

Campaign advertisements

This section shows a sampling of advertisements released to support or oppose this candidate in the 2020 presidential election.

Rock 2.0, April 8, 2019

Campaign themes

The following campaign themes were published on the Gravel campaign website in July 2019:

Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing

See also: Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing

The following section provides a timeline of Gravel's campaign activity beginning in April 2019. The entries, which come from Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing, are sorted by month in reverse chronological order.

2019

• August 2019 (click to collapse)

  August

  • August 7, 2019: Gravel, who suspended his presidential campaign on August 6, clarified that he was endorsing both Sanders and Gabbard.

  • August 6, 2019: Gravel suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Bernie Sanders.

• July 2019 (click to expand)

  July

  • July 31, 2019: The Gravel campaign tweeted it was coming to an end. The campaign would donate its funds to charity and form the Gravel Institute, a self-described leftist think tank.

  • July 20, 2019: The Gravel campaign called on John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, and Tim Ryan to withdraw from the presidential race since none of them qualified for the debates via grassroots fundraising while Gravel had met that threshold.

  • July 18, 2019: In an interview with The National Interest, Gravel discussed his presidential campaign, foreign policy, and the debate qualifications. He said his campaign would “make an investigation whether or not the DNC turned my name into these various polls that were being taken.”

  • July 12, 2019: Gravel reached the donor threshold to qualify for the second Democratic presidential debate. The campaign said it had contacted the Democratic National Committee over the polling qualification requirement since Gravel had been excluded from more than half of eligible polls.

  • July 11, 2019: The Gravel campaign released a negative ad against Joe Biden questioning his record as a progressive. It aired on MSNBC on July 12. Also that day, in an op-ed on democracy for Fortune, Gravel wrote, "We must return lawmaking power directly to the people through a legislature of the people, and give them the budgets they need through a land value tax."

  • July 9, 2019: The Gravel campaign shared its transportation policy, calling for nationalizing railways, redirecting funding from highways to public transportation, and creating an interstate bikeway system.

  • July 8, 2019: Marianne Williamson sent a fundraising email on Gravel's behalf, encouraging her supporters to help him reach the donor threshold for this month’s debate.

  • July 5, 2019: The Gravel campaign tweeted that it was "nearing its conclusion", although Gravel was still attempting to qualify for the second presidential debate.

  • July 2, 2019: The Gravel campaign tweeted that he was 10,000 donors away from crossing the threshold to qualify for the second presidential debate.

• June 2019 (click to expand)

  June

  • June 25, 2019: The Gravel campaign tweeted that Gravel needs two more polls to qualify for the second presidential debate.

  • June 24, 2019: Gravel sat for an interview with Jacobin Magazine on his political history and his proposal to create a Legislature of the People.

  • June 22, 2019: Related to an officer-involved shooting in South Bend, Indiana, Gravel tweeted, "The media has given Buttigieg a pass on a lackluster record in South Bend that shows him to be more concerned about public acclaim than the lives of average people. Why the pass? Because he's an articulate white kid with all the right credentials. His constituents know the truth."

  • June 20, 2019: Gravel started Amendit.us, a group aiming to amend the U.S. Constitution to legalize marijuana for recreational use at the federal level.

  • June 19, 2019: Gravel published a piece on Mondoweiss—a website featuring news and commentary on Palestine, Israel, and the U.S.—entitled, "The two-state solution is dead. Let us take the obvious and humane path forward."

  • June 13, 2019: The Democratic National Committee announced who qualified for the first set of Democratic primary debates on June 26-27. Gravel, Steve Bullock, Wayne Messam, and Seth Moulton were unable to reach either the polling or fundraising threshold to qualify.

  • June 10, 2019: In an interview on CBS News' Red & Blue, Gravel discussed the organization of his campaign and the state of progressive policies in the Democratic Party.

  • June 8, 2019: Gravel discussed Brexit, economic development in Africa, and regime change in the Middle East in an interview with Cherwell.

  • June 6, 2019: The New York Times profiled Gravel’s Twitter-driven presidential run. Campaign manager Henry Williams said, “Trump was the first postmodern politician. I like to think Gravel is the second.”

  • June 4, 2019: Gravel tweeted about Islamophobia and Israel: “We need a foreign policy that sees Jews and Muslims as equal citizens in Israel, and is willing to find a path to peace without condoning land grabs by Netanyahu. We need to stop funding the slaughter of Muslims in Yemen. And we need to end FBI domestic surveillance of Muslims.”

  • June 1, 2019: Gravel tweeted the campaign had passed 40,000 donors and needed 25,000 more to qualify for the July debates.

• May 2019 (click to expand)

  May

  • May 28, 2019: Gravel's campaign tweeted they had 38,000 donors and were on pace to participate in the July debate but not the June.

  • May 23, 2019: Gravel called for a federal investigation into the police shooting of a Lakota man named Clarence Leading Fighter.

  • May 22, 2019: The Gravel campaign tweeted that Gravel was in the process of writing a book.

  • May 20, 2019: Forward profiled David Oks, the high school senior managing Gravel’s campaign.

  • May 17, 2019: Gravel released a statement on North Korea, calling for the U.S. to lift sanctions, meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and South Korean president Moon Jae-in, end the conflict, and recall troops.

  • May 16, 2019: The Washington Post interviewed Gravel about the goals of his presidential campaign and the other candidates.

  • May 15, 2019: Gravel discussed the 2016 presidential election and term limits during an appearance on The Tim Black Show.

  • May 14, 2019: Gravel tweeted that he had reached 35,000 donations and needed 30,000 more to reach the debate stage.

  • May 13, 2019: Gravel celebrated his 89th birthday.

  • May 11, 2019: Gravel commented on the Democratic field, Venezuela, Iran, and Julian Assange in an interview on RT’s Going Underground.

  • May 8, 2019: Gravel discussed foreign policy and imperialism on Intercepted with Jeremy Scahill.

• April 2019 (click to expand)

  April

  • April 30, 2019: Commenting on the crisis in Venezuela, the Gravel Twitter account posted, “At this crucial moment, Sen. Mike Gravel stands with the people of Venezuela against American imperialism. What is happening in that nation is an internal matter, and American provocations have no place. The U.S. must stay out of it.”

  • April 29, 2019: Gravel announced that he was no longer running just to reach the debate stage. “I am running to win. Just as much as Seth Moulton, John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan, or Eric Swalwell are,” he said.

  • April 25, 2019: Voices of Monterey Bay profiled the purpose and operations of Gravel’s campaign.

  • April 18, 2019: VICE released a video profile of Gravel and the teenagers running his campaign and Twitter account.

  • April 17, 2019: The Daily Caller reported the Gravel campaign had received donations from 20,000 donors with an average contribution of $3.

  • April 10, 2019: In a profile in The Atlantic, Gravel and his campaign manager, David Oks, reiterated that the Gravel did not want to win or have people vote for him. “We thought the way to push the field left would be to have our own candidate in the race,” Oks said. “We really need someone to go in there and criticize the other candidates for policy positions that are really bad.” Gravel said he was interested in supporting Sanders or Gabbard after his campaign.

  • April 8, 2019: High school seniors David Oks and Elijah Emery and Columbia University freshman Henry Williams were the driving force behind Gravel’s campaign, according to Rolling Stone.

  • April 2, 2019: Gravel announced that he was running for president. The former U.S. senator from Alaska said he would remain in the race to participate in the debates before withdrawing and endorsing the most progressive candidate. “Our only aim is pushing the field left by appearing in the Democratic debates,” he tweeted.

See also

• Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
• Presidential candidates, 2020
• Presidential election endorsements, 2020
• PredictIt markets in the 2020 presidential election
• Presidential candidate campaign travel, 2020
• Democratic presidential primary debates, 2020