Announcing the Kentucky Party
by Anna Keller (editor), with contributions from September 5 speeches by Geoff Sebesta (Kentucky Party), Mohammad Ahmad (Ceasefire Now Covington), Destiny Kelley (The Revolution KY), and Geoff Young (Kentucky Democratic Party)
Watch a 2 minute 35 second montage of our speeches (Sep 5, 2024).
Watch Dr. Jill Stein & Dr. Butch Ware on Green Party policies, Trump vs Kamala, and pathway to victory on Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM (1 hour, Sep 12, 2024).
Path to the ballot
Anti-war, anti-corruption down ballot candidates face enormous hurdles getting on the ballot in Kentucky. Unlike the two major parties, independent and third-party candidates must complete a petition of 5,000 verifiable signatures and file them with the Secretary of State prior to being granted ballot access - a tough task.
On June 12th of this year members of the Kentucky Party's organizing committee and Dr. Jill Stein met in the Red River Gorge. Dr. Stein agreed to serve as the Kentucky Party's candidate for president. Today the Kentucky Party provided the Secretary of State with 7,000 petition signatures. Dr. Stein, and the Kentucky Party, are on the ballot.
To maintain ballot access and give Kentuckians a voice outside the two party system, we need 2% of the vote in Kentucky to go to Jill Stein in this year's presidential election. 2% is around 40,000 votes. In a state that silenced 32,908 uncommitted votes at the DNC, where 8,984 Republicans also voted uncommitted, this is absolutely achievable.
After this election, Kentucky candidates won't have to be Democrat or Republican anymore. It will be enough to be Kentuckian. Anti-war, anti-corruption candidates won't need 5,000 signatures to run. They'll need two. This goes for presidential candidates, because the law says we have to have one. But this isn't really about national politics. This is for the person who wants to run for constable in Christian County or state senate in Salyersville.
Kentucky Democrat votes for Dr. Stein in this election won't hurt Harris. Republican votes for Stein won't hurt Trump. Kentucky isn't a swing state; it won't flip to blue. A vote for Stein is a vote for ballot access for rural Kentucky candidates who never had the support from Democrats they deserve, Republican candidates disgusted by their party's corruption by foreign interests and big money, and independent candidates who want to pass fair legislation to build communities, not campaign funds.
We're proud of what it took to get here - grit, determination, and hundreds of hours of work. We crossed this state from London to Covington, Ashland to Fancy Farm, and we got Dr. Stein on the ballot to establish a vehicle for the people's will, not special interests.
Why the people deserve a new party
We started the Kentucky Party by listening. This year, we listened, in-person, to about 20,000 Kentuckians. Kentucky teachers told us, "Stop arming Israel and protect our pensions." Foster kids who wait six months in hospitals and on cots in their caseworkers' offices asked why the system's so broken. Veterans and military families told us, "Stop arming Ukraine, throwing money and weapons away to corrupt politicians and a military that decorates itself with Nazi imagery." They said, "Stop funding Hunter Biden."
People in rural counties who commute hours each way to auto parts factories because their county's economy revolves around meth, fentanyl, and criminal enterprises like the Appalachian Recovery Centers told us, "Stop arming Taiwan. Build our industry." Palestinian Kentuckians said, "Stop teaching your kids to bully our kids at school. Stop killing our grandparents, cousins, and nieces." Jewish Kentuckians said, "Stop killing in our names. Stop twisting antisemitism to mean criticism of Israel. It doesn't make us safer. It's irreconcilable with our ethics."
Our federal legislators like Mitch McConnell and Andy Barr unapologetically march in lockstep with the arms lobby and Israel, with little to no regard for the voice of the people of Kentucky or the civilians in Gaza being maimed, starved, and wiped off the earth.
We asked the people of Kentucky to imagine a political party that stood for the people of this state. They did. We asked them if they wanted the Kentucky Party to exist. They said yes. Thousands wanted it enough to sign their names on hundreds of pieces of paper. That's all it took to bring our case, and Dr. Stein's, before all the commonwealth's voters.
With 2% of the vote this November 5th, the Kentucky Party will allow any Kentuckian the freedom to run for office on what the people want, not what the Kentucky Democratic Party and Republican Party of Kentucky will back.
Why we're building a party
We love Kentucky: our people, culture, rich heritage, values, and welcoming spirit. But we are ashamed of many lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels, Democratic and Republican, regarding the brutal and violent genocide in Gaza that's been livestreamed before our eyes for 11 months.
The mostly-Democratic City Commission in Covington mistreated constituents who doggedly demanded a humanitarian ceasefire resolution at the onset of this genocide. In Frankfort, the state legislature has an entire caucus dedicated to relations with Israel, the Kentucky-Israel caucus. This foreign influence operation hasn't shown regard or concern for the Palestinian people or the people of Kentucky. Israel's one of two countries with a caucus dedicated to its affairs in our legislature. How does this benefit the Kentuckians our legislators are supposed to represent?
Members of our organizing committee called and wrote our legislators, protested on our campuses, prayed in our churches, and ran for office in the two-party system. Shauna Rudd ran a strong primary race in the 6th Congressional District to be the Democrat poised to take Andy Barr's seat. Her pro-Kentucky, anti-genocide platform didn't win her the party power player endorsements she needed to win. Violet Olds was appointed a delegate to the Chicago Democratic Convention for Kentuckians in her district who voted "uncommitted," which means "stop arming Israel." Governor Beshear did not count her during roll call.
Members of our organizing committee, lifelong Kentuckians, had family killed by weapons sent by our administration, financed with our money. Mohammad's mother grew up in the occupied West Bank witnessing IDF violence as a young child. His relatives' village is under illegal Israeli military occupation. Last summer in July, his cousin Bilal was gunned down by settlers under protection from the IDF on his way home from work. He left a wife and three children who mourn him, with genocide just miles away. They may be the next to die.
The Kentucky legislature enthusiastically backs Israel's apartheid regime. In the last year, Israel committed war crime after war crime, atrocity after atrocity. Its generals and leaders, including Benjamin Netanyahu, were explicit about genocidal intent. Israel ran out of weapons the first month of the genocide. Every man, woman, and child in the United States contributed $12,000 worth of bombs, shells, and missiles to Israel this year, $300 million every day. Our Democrats and Republicans funded, aided and abetted the slaughter, never mind the laws they broke along the way.
We don't want to fund destruction. We want construction. We believe in liberty and justice for all. As the leader of the free world, what does it say when we rob ourselves to export death, destruction, and violence to Palestinians and others? What does it say when our arms lobby undermines diplomacy, when our legislature and executive spit on the sanctity of life?
After this year's election
We must have peace. We can be an empire or a republic, not both. We must no longer inflict militarism upon the world. Our military must cease to use Kentucky's youth as weapons. Palestine is not the only thing going wrong in the world, but it has come to symbolize everything we the people of this commonwealth cannot abide any longer.
130 years ago, the Farmer's Alliance and Knights of Labor stood up to the abuses and corrupting influence of the L+N Railroad. They seated representatives, senators, and a governor who minded the peoples' will. We can, and will, do it again. The work of building the party has just begun. Local organizations, volunteers, policy that does the people's will when Kentucky Democrats and Republicans will not, strong candidates, these are what we look forward to.
The promise of this country and this commonwealth is popular government. The people of Kentucky have a choice. Continue to vote for Ukraine and Israel, for corruption and death, or start to vote for Kentucky, for life, for a future. The choice is clear.
This article, like all original content in The Kentuckian, is released into the public domain. The Kentuckian is an independent publication. It doesn't represent the opinion of the Kentucky Party or any of its committees.