SYRACUSE, NY (WRVO) - Syracuse's Howie Hawkins could add running for president to his already long electoral résumé, forming an exploratory committee to test the waters for a presidential run.
As a Green Party founder, Hawkins has unsuccessfully run for everything from Syracuse Common Council to governor of New York state to U.S. Senate. After retiring last year from his job with UPS, and after finishing third in the race for governor, his plan was to read a couple hundred books. But then Green Party leaders asked him to run for president.
"I been asked in the past, but I always had the excuse, 'I gotta punch a time clock at UPS every night. I can’t run around the country, you’ve got to find someone else'," said Hawkins. "I don’t have that excuse anymore."
If he runs, his focus will be on building up the Green Party, and promoting the Green New Deal, a platform he first brought up during his 2010 gubernatorial run.
"I’m the original Green New Dealer, he said. "So I deserve a place on the platform where it’s discussed. Because we built that platform.”
He says the Green's plan goes further than the Green New Deal floating around Democratic circles right now, by advocating social ownership of key industries, like banking and utilities. Hawkins rolled out an exploratory committee website last week.
"I wanna see if support's out there, and see if people are willing to contribute money. So we’re going to do that for six to eight weeks and then we’ll make a decision," he said.
Three other candidates are also running for the Green Party nomination for president.