REGIONAL- With little fanfare, absentee early voting for Minnesota’s March 5 Super Tuesday presidential primary opened on Friday, Jan. 19, with a total of 19 candidates vying for delegates for the state’s three major political parties – Republican, Democrat-Farmer-Labor, and Legal Marijuana Now.
As voter registration in Minnesota does not include designation of political party affiliation, the presidential primary offers the opportunity for parties to more clearly identify their membership bases. Each party chair will receive a list of the names of voters who requested their party’s ballot in the primary, which parties can use for get-out-the-vote efforts. The information is not to be posted publicly, and the candidate you select remains secret.
Republicans
Former president Donald Trump is far and away the leader for the Republican nomination nationally, and a January poll of Minnesotans tells the same story here, with Trump leading former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley 78 percent to 14 percent. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are also ballot options, but all three have formally withdrawn from the race. Ramaswamy and DeSantis have both endorsed Trump, while Christie has not thrown his support to either of the remaining candidates.
Democrats
Incumbent Democrat President Joe Biden is likewise leading his party’s race for the nomination by a huge margin, leading his closest challenger Minnesota U.S. Representative Dean Phillips by a 70-9 percent margin according to recent polling. Seven other candidates are on the DFL ballot for the primary, including:
• Frankie Lozada is an entrepreneur who runs a New York-based events management company. Based on his social media posts, Lozada remains an active campaigner.
• Gabriel Cornejo is a Las Vegas-based entrepreneur who most recently worked as product manager and lead software developer for the National Merchants Association. Cornejo and his Renovate America campaign remain active according to social media.
• Cenk Uygur is a Turkish-born political commentator and media host known for his progressive online media broadcasts on The Young Turks network. Uygur is ineligible to be president as he does not meet the Constitutional requirement of being a natural-born U.S. citizen, but he believes that if elected the courts would overturn that requirement based on the Equal Protection Clause. Uygur’s campaign also remains active.
• Armando “Mando” Perez-Serrato was a candidate in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election. Serrato’s career experience includes working as a para-educator and a behavioral therapist in general and special education, as well as running his own company, Perez Combat Inc. Perez-Serrato has an active campaign website and appears to have an active campaign X account.
• Maryland-based Jason Palmer is a self-described entrepreneur, impact investor, and philanthropist who has served in executive and leadership roles at numerous corporations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Palmer also remains an active campaigner for the nomination.
• California-based candidate Eban Cambridge described his background in a California voter guide as having experience as a licensed EMT, ten years as an Uber driver, and as a web developer. A URL for a campaign website returned an error message, but Cambridge does have several active campaign social media accounts, albeit with few posts.
• Bestselling author, political activist, and spiritual thought leader Marianne Williamson ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2020 and announced a second run in March 2023. She officially ended her campaign on Feb. 7 after losing in a landslide to Biden in the Nevada primary, receiving only three percent of the vote.
Legal Marijuana Now
Having earned its status as a major political party in 2018 and retained it in 2020 after receiving more than five percent of the vote in qualifying electoral races, Legal Marijuana Now (LMN) would appear to be a party without a cause after the Minnesota Legislature legalized cannabis last year. But party spokesperson Kevin O’Connor said last year that the party wanted to evolve beyond its original goal to become a viable independent alternative to the DFL and Republicans.
LMN is part of some of the more interesting story lines for this presidential primary, as two of its candidates were submitted for the ballot without their knowledge or approval, while another campaigns with a boot on his head. The DFL has recently petitioned the state Supreme Court to decertify LMN as a major political party and bar them from nominating a presidential candidate.
The LMN candidates are:
• Krystal Gabel, a cannabis advocate from Colorado who is not running for president but whose name was submitted by LMN as a candidate without her permission, something allowed by Minnesota law. Gabel told Colorado Public Radio that, “I was put on the ballot against my consent, and that very much felt like a violation of not only my privacy but of my constitutional rights,” she said. “It even felt very physically icky and violating.” Gabel requested that her name be withdrawn, but while LMN removed her from its own candidate list, the request came too late to remove her from the primary ballot.
• New Jersey based marijuana activist Edward Forchion is listed by that name on the LMN ballot, although in 2022 a New Jersey judge approved his petition to change his name to NJWeedman.com, according to his Wikipedia entry. Forchion appears to be another candidate named without consent, based on a Jan. 21 Facebook post of his which reads: “Somebody put my name on the ballot in Minnesota to run for President — wtf (No signature required / no consent needed) … weird! That’s not even my legal name!!!” The Timberjay found no evidence online that NJWeedman.com has been campaigning for the presidency, although he has made numerous unsuccessful runs for other political offices.
• Minnesotan Dennis Schuller is the party chairman for LMN who is an entertainment entrepreneur and recording professional and a former Richfield municipal planning commission member.
• Rudy Reyes, a California-based teacher, actor, archaeologist, and cannabis rights activist, serves as national chairperson for the Legal Marijuana Now Party, according to his Wikipedia entry. Reyes was a vice-presidential candidate for the party in 2000.
• Vermin Supreme is a performance artist and perennial political candidate from Massachusetts who campaigns wearing a boot on his head as a symbol of the media’s obsession with candidates, he told Boston Public Radio. He also said the boot helps him to communicate with the public by amplifying his First Amendment free speech voice. Supreme has campaigned on a platform that includes free ponies for all Amercians, time travel research, and using zombies to create energy. He also promises mandatory toothbrushing laws. Supreme finished fifth in the Democratic presidential primary in New Hampshire.