Howard Schultz possible presidential campaign, 2020
Date: November 3, 2020 |
 Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen
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| “ | To be very clear, I firmly believe there is an unprecedented appetite for a centrist independent presidential candidate, and that there is a credible path for an independent to win more than the necessary 270 electoral votes — a key criteria in my consideration of whether to run.[1] | ” |
| —Howard Schultz[2] | ||
Howard Schultz is the former CEO of Starbucks. He explored a presidential run as an independent candidate in early 2019 before announcing on September 6, 2019, that he would not enter the race.[3]
Schultz had said that he wanted to run because he believed an independent could gain enough support from various voting groups to win the presidential election. "The stakes are too high to cross our fingers and hope the Democratic Party nominates a moderate who can win over enough independents and disaffected Republicans, and even fellow Democrats, to defeat Trump next year. That any opponent can oust Trump, no matter how far to the radical left they are, is a fallacy," Schultz wrote on Medium.[2]
Schultz earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Northern Michigan University. He became director of retail operations and marketing for the Starbucks Coffee Company in 1982 and founded a coffee company called Il Giornale in 1986. He purchased Starbucks in 1987 and became CEO, and he served as CEO until 2000. He later returned to Starbucks as CEO from 2008 to 2018.[4]
Schultz in the news
- See also: Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing and Editorial approach to story selection for the Daily Presidential News Briefing
This section featured five recent news stories about Schultz and his possible presidential campaign.
Campaign staff
- See also: Presidential election key staffers, 2020
The following chart shows key national and state campaign staffers for the Schultz presidential campaign and their political experience. If you are aware of staffers that should be included, please email us.
| Howard Schultz presidential campaign staff, 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Staffer | Position | Previous experience |
| Bill Burton |
Communications adviser |
|
| Steve Schmidt |
Senior adviser |
|
Endorsements
- See also: Presidential election endorsements, 2020
The following table shows noteworthy endorsements for this candidate. Individual endorsers tracked include current DNC members, governors and other state executives, members of Congress, mayors of large cities, state legislative majority and minority leaders, and former presidents and vice presidents.[5] Endorsement tracking halted after former Vice President Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee on April 8, 2020.
Democratic presidential primary polls
PredictIt markets
Campaign finance
The following chart shows Democratic presidential campaign fundraising, including both total receipts and contributions from individuals, as well as campaign spending. Figures for each candidate run through the end of June 2020 or through the final reporting period during which the candidate was actively campaigning for president. The total disbursements column includes operating expenditures, transfers to other committees, refunds, loan repayments, and other disbursements.[6]
Satellite spending
Satellite spending, commonly referred to as outside spending, describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[7][8][9]
This section lists satellite spending in this race reported by news outlets in alphabetical order. If you are aware of spending that should be included, please email us.
Campaign advertisements
This section shows a sampling of advertisements released to support or oppose this candidate in the 2020 presidential election.
Campaign themes
Schultz did not publish campaign themes on an official campaign website, but he posted the following to Medium in February 2019.
| “ |
I’ve spoken about how the far right and the far left are holding our government hostage by engaging in revenge politics and preventing sensible solutions to big challenges, such as health care and immigration. The last few days have brought us two more stark examples of the cost of extreme ideologies. The president recklessly declared a national emergency so he can raid the budget for our military to start construction on his foolish and unnecessary border wall. Meanwhile, far-left activists succeeded in forcing Amazon to abandon plans to create a second headquarters in the New York City area, which would have brought 25,000 jobs and injected billions of dollars into the local economy. Where has common sense gone? At each of my public events, I’ve posed a rhetorical question: “What kind of country do we want to live in?” Is this the America we want — not just for us, but for our children and grandchildren. I am also excited by the reception that From the Ground Up has received. People are reading my story and getting to know me in a way much of the media coverage about me has ignored. I’ve had the honor of speaking before packed crowds in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. over the past three weeks, and this week brings sold-out events in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In the coming weeks, I will lay out my vision for how a centrist independent would govern. I will discuss how we must draw upon the best ideas from all sides, reject revenge politics and assemble an administration that reflects the full diversity of the country, including Democrats, Republicans and independents. I will also share more details about how a centrist independent would address major public policy challenges.[1] |
” |
| —Howard Schultz[10] | ||
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Vanity Fair, "Howard Schultz: 'I Firmly Believe' Americans Want a President Just Like Me," February 19, 2019
- ↑ Politico, "Howard Schultz announces he will not run for president," September 6, 2019
- ↑ Biography, "Howard Schultz," accessed March 28, 2019
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "The 2020 Endorsement Primary," accessed May 7, 2019
- ↑ FEC, "U.S. President," accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed September 22, 2015
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed September 22, 2015
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," November 6, 2015
- ↑ Medium, "Our path," February 19, 2019
