Peter Miguel Camejo

Vice Presidential Candidates

Information Peter Camejo is back on the national political scene after an absence of nearly 25 years, only he's much changed since he last ran for President. Camejo was 1976 Presidential nominee of Socialist Workers Party -- a militant, Trotskyist communist party. He won ballot status in 30 states and captured 90,000 votes. Since then, his strident leftist views have evolved into the democratic socialism of the Green Party that he now espouses. "I tried to make changes inside the SWP, and it was very difficult. I guess it's like being in the Catholic Church and suggesting that Mary wasn't really a virgin or something," explained Camejo. A longtime progressive activist, he marched in Selma with Martin Luther King in the early 1960s, protested the Vietnam War, and advocated environmental protection policies. He also became a successful financial executive as chair and co-founder of Progressive Asset Management, a broker-dealer firm which promotes "socially responsible investments." Camejo also created the Eco-Logical Trust for Merrill Lynch, the first environmentally-screened fund of a major firm. He was an active Nader supporter in 1996 and 2000. In 2002, Camejo was the Green nominee for California Governor (382,000 votes - 5% - 3rd place). During the Gray Davis gubernatorial recall election in 2003, he was again the Green candidate for Governor (242,000 votes - 3% - 4th place). In both those elections, Camejo polled well enough during the campaign to be included in the various televised gubernatorial debates. While Camejo was an active candidate for the 2004 Green nomination for President, but he readily admitted he was running as a Nader surrogate. Days before the start of the GPUS National Convention, Nader announced his selection of Camejo as his VP runningmate to boost his chances of winning the Green endorsement (and ballot spots in 22 states) -- but the Nader/Camejo ticket was unable to win the support of the Greens. Go to Presidential Nominee