Rocky Anderson announces he will seek Americans Elect nomination

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announced yesterday that he will seek the U.S. presidential nomination of Americans Elect, an independent organization hoping to field a nonpartisan presidential ticket. Anderson is already the nominee of the Justice Party, which he founded late last year.

Anderson served as mayor of Salt Lake City from 2000 to 2008 as a Democrat. During his time in office, he enacted proposals to reduce the city's carbon emissions and reformed its criminal justice system. After leaving office, he grew critical of President Barack Obama, and left the Democratic Party. He later established the Justice Party, which promotes "social justice, environmental justice, and economic justice" as well as campaign finance reform. The party has qualified for the ballot in Utah and Mississippi.

Americans Elect has already attained ballot access in eighteen states, and is petitioning to appear in all fifty. It hopes to nominate a ticket "responsive to the vast majority of citizens while remaining independent of special interests and the partisan interests of either major political party." Former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer and economist Laurence Kotlikoff have both announced their intentions to seek the party's nomination. Additionally, former Utah governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, Jr. has received recent speculation that he will make a run for the nomination with former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh as his running mate.

In a press release, Anderson explained, "The Democrats and Republicans no longer respect nor represent the public interest. They both feed from the same trough of, and depend upon, special interest money", but Americans Elect "gives the American people the ability to select their choice for President without worrying about the corporate investors backing their campaign."

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