Recent History
Eric Bodenstab is described on the Unity Party website as having been the first Unity Party candidate, declaring in May 2007 for Boulder, Colorado City Council, even though that is a non-partisan election. The Unity Party fielded two Congressional candidates in the 2008 election cycle (Bill Hammons in Colorado's 2nd District (0.63%) and Terry Ronzio in Pennsylvania's 12th District (did not qualify for the ballot). Sherman Reickart declared for Brant, New York Town Council with the Unity Party, Bill Hammons declared for Colorado's 2nd District again on June 22, 2009, Energy Drilling Consultant Levi Hancock declared as the first Unity Party candidate for Colorado Governor in 2009, and Oilfield Drilling Engineer Mike Nelson has declared as a Unity Party candidate for Colorado's 4th Congressional District. Hammons and Nelson are both former residents of Odessa, Texas, even though both now live in Colorado. On July 15, 2010, Hammons announced his withdrawal from the 2nd CD race, citing challenges in obtaining the required number of petition signatures to appear on the ballot a second time. His fellow three Unity Party Colorado candidates had withdrawn as well.
On January 11, 2010, Navy veteran and Pueblo, Colorado resident Ray Roman declared as the Unity Party's first candidate for US Senate, running against incumbent Senator Michael Bennet. That same month, Hammons appeared on Denver 9 News' Your Show to make the case for changing Colorado election law and allowing the Unity Party's more recently affiliated candidates to petition onto the General Election ballot as Unity Party candidates, along with himself. On May 27, 2010, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed House Bill 10-1271, which will allow Colorado's unaffiliated candidates for public office (including, technically, Unity Party candidates) to run for office if their voter registration has not changed during the year of the election in question, beginning in 2012.
An April 9, 2010 Colorado Statesman article highlighted the fact that the Unity Party of Colorado had fielded twice as many candidates in 2010 as the Green Party of Colorado, and four times as many candidates as the Constitution Party of Colorado.
Read more about this topic: Unity Party Of America
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