Mike Gravel 2020 presidential campaign

Gravel first entered the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries on March 19, 2019 by forming an exploratory committee.[3] Late that day, Gravel's campaign posted on Twitter that he was not entering the campaign to win, rather to bring anti-war ideas to the Democratic debate stage, as well as that there would be a formal announcement in the coming days.[24]

His Twitter account was run by Oks and Williams who became the campaign manager and chief of staff, respectively.[20] They posted attacks on other Democratic presidential candidates and potential candidates Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O'Rourke[25][26] while praising fellow candidates Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard,[27] including when Gravel urged them not to make personal attacks and rather focus on policy critiques.[20]

On April 2, 2019, Gravel's exploratory committee filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to officially run for the presidency.[4][5] The campaign was announced on April 8 alongside Gravel's platform.[28] That same day, the Mike Gravel YouTube channel posted a sequel to the viral[29] "Rock" ad from Gravel's 2008 campaign with "Rock 2.0".[30] On April 29, an email announcement went out stating that Gravel would now be running to win "[j]ust as much as Seth Moulton, John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan, or Eric Swalwell are."[7]

In June 2019, Gravel touted the endorsement of Muntadher al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who, in December 2008, made headlines after he threw his shoes at President George W. Bush in protest of the U.S. war in Iraq. Al-Zaidi endorsed Gravel based on his promise to improve White House policies regarding Iraq and the Middle East.[31]

On June 13, 2019, the Democratic Party announced the 20 major candidates who qualified for the first debate later that month. Gravel was one of the four who were excluded (the others were Montana Governor Steve Bullock, U.S. Representative Seth Moulton, and Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam).[32] He had failed to get the requisite number of donations or to score one percent or better in enough polls; indeed he failed to reach that threshold in any poll, many of which did not include him.[33] Nevertheless, Gravel said he would not drop out and would try to qualify for the July debate.[34] In early June 2019, FiveThirtyEight listed him as a "major candidate."[35] On July 12, the campaign announced it had reached 65,000 donations, meeting the donor threshold, but because the donor requirement was given less weight than polling he was not invited to appear at the second debate.[36]

On August 6, 2019, Gravel officially announced that he was suspending his campaign and co-endorsed U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard for president.[15][16] Reports circulated that Gravel had endorsed Howie Hawkins as the Green Party nominee. This was later clarified by Gravel, who stated "No, I don't know much about him. So I haven't endorsed anybody else in that regard...To my knowledge, I haven't endorsed him because I don't know what he represents in that regard."[37]

Gravel's campaign was based around bringing a critique of American imperialism and general American foreign policy to the Democratic debate stage.[40] Foreign policy would include:[41]

• Acceding to the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
• Signing and ratifying the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
• Officially declaring that the U.S. will not be the first to use nuclear weapons.
• Repealing the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists
• Renaming the Department of Defense to the 'Department of War', as well as creating a Department of Peace
• Reforming the United Nations Security Council
• Ending all unilateral sanctions against foreign countries
• Ending military aid to Israel and Saudi Arabia
• Ending sales of arms by companies like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to foreign countries
• Officially ending the Korean War, promoting cultural exchange between North Korea and South Korea, reuniting families separated by the war, apologizing to victims of the Jeju uprising and No Gun Ri massacre and potentially offering compensation
• Closing every foreign military base, beginning with those in Muslim-majority countries
• Cutting military spending by 50%
• Vowing not to invade foreign countries like North Korea or Venezuela without a first attack against the U.S. by that country
• Pursuing friendly relations with all foreign countries, irrespective of the U.S.' opinions of their leaders or economic structure
• Rejoining the Iran nuclear deal.

The campaign sought to reduce the number of intelligence agencies from 17, including the abolition of the National Security Agency, as well as a U.S. withdrawal from the Five Eyes network, the ending of the PRISM surveillance program, and repealing of the Patriot Act and the Espionage Act. The campaign viewed many of these programs and organizations to be a 'trampling' of Americans' civil rights "in the rush to enhance security following 9/11". Whistleblowers Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, John C. Kiriakou, Julian Assange, Reality Winner, and Terry Albury would be given pardons and some would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The campaign also focuses on "full equality for all of America's LGBTQIA+ people, with a special focus on transgender rights." This included an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the addition of a ban on discrimination due to "sexual orientation and/or gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, and credit", honoring transgender rights activist Marsha P. Johnson and author James Baldwin with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, banning conversion therapy nationwide and making the operation of a conversion therapy clinic a crime.[41]

The campaign wanted to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a system of direct election. The platform stated it was because "[it] has been responsible for two Presidents within the last three winning an election without winning a majority of the votes", referring to the 2000 election of George W. Bush and the 2016 election of Donald Trump, and also because it "was a tool originally created to suppress democracy; historically, it has empowered slavers and segregationists." The campaign also stated it "distorts democracy" by giving weight to voters like Floridian Cuban-Americans and Iowan farmers and reducing the weight of voters in cities.[41]

The campaign also wants to put all elections under Congressional oversight, citing "restrictive" voter ID laws and the election fraud in the 2018 election of Representative Mark Harris in North Carolina,[42][43] as well as registering all U.S. citizens for voting once they turn 18, instituting national ranked choice voting, adopting the Wyoming Rule, and passing an amendment that would make voting power in the Senate proportional to state population. The campaign also supported a 12-year term limit for Supreme Court justices.[41]