Howie Hawkins

Howard Gresham Hawkins III (born December 8, 1952) is an American trade unionist, environmental activist, and perennial candidate from New York. A co-founder of the Green Party of the United States, Hawkins was the party's presidential nominee in the 2020 presidential election. His ideological platform includes enacting an eco-socialist version of the Green New Deal—which he first proposed in 2010—and building a viable, independent working-class political and social movement in opposition to the country's two major political parties, and capitalism in general.

Hawkins has played leading roles in anti-war, anti-nuclear, and pro-worker movements since the 1960s. Hawkins is a retired teamster and construction worker; from 2001 until his retirement in 2017, Hawkins worked the night shift unloading trucks for UPS.

Hawkins has ran for numerous political offices on twenty-five occasions, all of which resulted in losses. He was the Green Party of New York's candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2006. In 2010, Hawkins ran as the Green Party's candidate for Governor of New York, which restored ballot status for the party when it received more than the necessary 50,000 votes. In 2014, Hawkins ran again for the same office and received 5% percent of the vote. Hawkins ran for Mayor of Syracuse in 2017 and received roughly 4% of vote. He then ran a third time for Governor of New York in 2018, but received less than 2% percent of the vote.

Hawkins received 407,068 votes, or 0.2% of the electorate in the 2020 presidential election, receiving nearly a percentage less of the popular vote compared to 2016 Green Party nominee Jill Stein.

Hawkins ran for Governor of New York in 2022 but since Hawkins and the Green Party only received 32,832 votes in New York in the 2020 election, a far cry of the 130,000 needed, they lost their ballot access and Hawkins ran as an Independent write-in candidate. He failed to win, as the sum of all write-ins only came to 9,290 votes, or 0.2%.