Jay Inslee
The first presidential candidate to come from the Pacific Northwest in more than forty years sought to raise the profile of the climate change debate in the United States. Governor Inslee started his quest for the Democratic nomination in March of 2019 and ended it on August 21, 2019. He was able to qualify for the first two debates, but only met 1 of 2 qualifiers for the September and October debates. He was able to gather over 130,000 individual donors but not able to secure 2% or more in 4 qualifying polls. After coming to the conclusion that he could not raise his profile enough to raise his poll numbers he opted to drop out and run for a third term as governor of Washington. Here are some of the items, especially buttons, produced to promote his presidential campaign. There are a fair number of vendor items out there and right now you can also find pretty good deals on items issued by the campaign or supporters.
The last pin that was issued on his website was the 'specs' pin. All campaigns try to find some like this for their candidate. Something that would identify them from the others. It's an interesting concept for a pin and I like the artwork. I wonder how many of these were sold, given they didn't show up in his online store until the final weeks of the campaign. If you didn't get one, you should try to seek out someone that bought from the online store, each order included two pins. This pin, like the others from the official store, was made by Bumperactive.
Other items are out there, and we will update soon. A pin was made for Jay Inslee to be sold at the Minnesota State Fair at the Democratic-Farm Labor booth. I'll post a photo of that once it arrives. If you see a Jay Inslee button or interesting item that we have not featured, please send us a pic and a description.
Not many people outside of Massachuttess knew who Seth Moulton was prior to his long-shot presidential campaign...and probably not that many more know much more about now that he's ended his campaign to focus on re-election to Congress. He never polled above 2% in any poll taken of the presidential race. This kept him out of all the debates because he also could not meet the individual donor threshold for the first two debates. His campaign was togeather enough to open an online store to generate donations by selling stickers, shirts, hats, and buttons. There are at least two known Moulton buttons.
This one comes from his online store and is another made by Texas based Bumperactive. The other pin is very similar but was issued by the Minnesota Democratic-Farm Labor party to sell at their State Fair booth. I will include a picture of that pin when I can find a good photo.
Like Moulton before him, Congressman Swalwell was first elected to Congress in 2012. Both Swalwell and Moulton were not only younger members of Congress running for President, but they were also both running for President against their home state Senators (Kamala Harris in California & Elizabeth Warren in Massachuttes). Both have now dropped out, to pursue another term in the House, while the Senators remain in the race.
While Swalwell's campaign did not last as long as Moulton's, he did make it into the first debate in June. The main focus of his campaign was ending gun violence. He issued two pins via his online store. Again, another client of Bumperactive. A generic logo one and then a second pin that was based off a very good line he had in the debate. He essentially told the older candidates (and probably specifically Joe Biden) that it was time to pass the torch. A line used by politicians for decades since JFK spoke them in his inaugural address. I have yet to see any buttons from grassroots groups supporting Swalwell, but that does not mean there are none. There might have been some very enthusiastic supporters producing items.
Like Swalwell and Moulton before him, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper was not a household name outside of his home state prior to running for president. Just like Swalwell and Moulton, he found himself running against a sitting U.S. Senator from his state (Micheal Bennet). His campaign never really materialized, despite getting into the first two debates. He ran to the center-right on many of the issues the more popular candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were running to the left on. In early August, he dropped out of the race to enter the primary for U.S. Senate for the chance to run against Republican Cory Gardner, one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the country.
His campaign produced one button via his online store and there was a button issued by the Minnesota DFL for the state fair. I will post a photo of that pin as soon as I can. Both pins look to be a 2 1/4" pin. Hickenlooper, again, contracted with Bumperactive based in Texas. I heard from lots of collectors and noncollectors when I would share my buttons that while they probably wouldn't vote for Hickenlooper, they did like his logo. It almost looks like something you would see on an outdoors or adventure clothing store logo.
Governor Hickenlooper was one of the first 14 candidates to enter the race and was in during the Multnomah County Democrats Celsi Dinner & Auction. He made it into the set of 15 pins that were auctioned off at the dinner. The Inslee button is above. Here is the Hickenlooper button.
Did you find anything for Hickenlooper? Please share it with us!
The most interesting campaign from 2020 seems to be that of former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. He did not actively choose to seek the nomination but was convinced to enter by young progressive activists looking for a candidate. In something akin to the old Front Porch campaign, Gravel mostly stayed at home and interacted with folks via social media and the press. He met with the teenagers that were interested in promoting his political issues. He entered the race at that point. His goal was to get into the debates. While he qualified via the 65,000 individual donors for the 1st and 2nd debates, because more than 20 candidates qualified, he was eliminated by tie-breakers. The "#Gravelanche", was able to raise some money and qualify, it wasn't enough to edge him into the debates. He withdrew as a candidate in the summer of 2019, encouraging supporters to vote for Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard. He formally endorsed Sanders shortly after that.
Now, this is where things get interesting. Gravel, after some prodding, did issue buttons for his 2020 campaign. They were promoted heavily and sold via his website for $4.20! Get it? If not, get someone under 65 to explain it. For a donation to help qualify him for the debates, you were able to get a set of buttons (pictured below).
Great artwork, very Gravel themes. Sadly, I do not know a single person that has told me they ordered the pins, that the pins have arrived or even been sent. Several fellow APIC members have checked in at various points with Gravel's campaign team and they have said they HAVE the buttons and are getting orders out to people as fast as they can. I myself send an order in either April or May. I can't remember anymore. I check the mail every day to see if my contribution to the #Gravelanche will be in the mail. Every time they check in with the pesky teenagers that ran the campaign, they explain they are volunteers and trying to process the orders as fast as they can. The world wouldn't function without volunteers. Good luck folks on getting those orders out!
Did you see any other Gravel items out there? Let us know.
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