Donald Trump announced his latest presidential bid on Tuesday night, but the former president isn’t our first candidate to file paperwork for the 2024 election. As of November 15, nearly 500 people have already filed with the the Federal Election Commission to run for president, with forms being submitted as early as 2019.
As expected, several of the candidates are running as a joke, such as Dmitri Pavlovich, who claims to live in fake town Moscow, Massachusetts and marks his party affiliation as the Communist Party. Last March, another presidential hopeful filed as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with a statement that reads: “NOW HERE’S THE STORY ALL ABOUT HOW CATARGETBOT TURNED MY LIFE UPSIDE DOWN AND BECAME THE PRINCE OF GO F*CK YOURSELF.”
Amongst the ocean of Democratic and Republican candidates, there are some submissions from various third parties, such as the Concerned Peoples Party of Connecticut and the George Wallace Party. Someone even registered under the DC Statehood Green Party, and the bid appears to be from a legitimate candidate…until you see their running mate is “Tulsi Gabbarard.” (Not to be confused with very real political Tulsi Gabbard.)
But there are a few others who might actually be serious about running for the country’s number one job. Some folks have been filing candidacy statements since before Biden’s first run for president. (Remember his tragic campaign in 1988?) Thomas Allen Daley, a 2024 hopeful, first ran in 1976, and Jerry Leon Carroll has submitted a statement for almost every presidential election since 1980.
Internet personality Sexy Vegan is also running for president (again!) and even has an authorized campaign committee. The viral sensation, who has the words “sexy and “vegan” tattooed on his face, appeared on Dr. Phil twice. He was brought on the first time for spending millions of his mom’s money and legally changing his name to “Sexy Vegan.” The episode ends with him being forcibly removed from the stage for swearing while doing the moonwalk, so he went on the show a second time to apologize for his behavior.
Sexy Vegan isn’t the only candidate filing under an, er, interesting moniker. People have submitted forms under aliases like Kurt Cobain II, the Fiend, YeeYee Ass Haircut Johnson, and even Leonardo DiCaprio. And while the country could certainly benefit from some more serious candidates in the mix, we’re not not curious about what a YeeYee Ass administration would entail.
Before becoming Research Editor, Damare Baker was an Editorial Fellow and Assistant Editor for Washingtonian. She has previously written for Voice of America and The Hill. She is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she studied international relations, Korean, and journalism.
