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John Howard Wilhelm
John Howard Wilhelm (Natural Law Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Michigan. Wilhelm lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Elections
2018
William White, Tom Bagwell, Valerie Willis, and Tim Yow ran as write-in candidates.
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Michigan
Incumbent Debbie Stabenow defeated John James, Marcia Squier, George Huffman III, and John Howard Wilhelm in the general election for U.S. Senate Michigan on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Debbie Stabenow (D) | 52.3 | 2,214,478 |
 | John James (R) | 45.8 | 1,938,818 | |
 | Marcia Squier (G) | 0.9 | 40,204 | |
| George Huffman III (U.S. Taxpayers Party) | 0.6 | 27,251 | ||
 | John Howard Wilhelm (Natural Law Party) | 0.4 | 16,502 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 18 | ||
| Total votes: 4,237,271 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Michigan
Incumbent Debbie Stabenow advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Michigan on August 7, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Debbie Stabenow | 100.0 | 1,045,450 |
| Total votes: 1,045,450 | |||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Michigan
John James defeated Sandy Pensler in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Michigan on August 7, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John James | 54.7 | 518,564 |
 | Sandy Pensler | 45.3 | 429,885 | |
| Total votes: 948,449 | |||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Bob Carr (R)
- William White (R)
Campaign themes
2018
Wilhelm’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
My Campaign Brochure My Interest in Political Reform Our country sorely needs political reform at both the state and federal level to improve our political system so that it serves us better. It is my contention that an important key to this is an improved voting system that would be conducive to better choices for public office and better discussions of the policy issues we face. At the state level I advocate a constitutional amendment on voting that would do three things: 1) Guarantee every Michigan citizen in good standing the right to vote, 2) Abolish term limits on the state legislature, and 3) Institute approval voting in state elections What is Approval Voting and What Will It Do Under approval voting in multi-candidate, single-winner elections voters are allowed to give one vote each to that candidate or candidates they support with the candidate having the most votes winning. Approval voting has the advantage of getting rid of the wasted vote, the spoiler role and the necessity of vote splitting arising from sincere voting as opposed to tactical or strategic voting (e.g., having to vote for the 'lesser of two evils'), At the federal level approval voting could easily be introduced into federal elections by a simple congressional statutory act. That would open up our political processes to third parties because under approval voting a vote for your favorite candidate, even if he or she is a member of a third party, is never a wasted vote. Had approval voting been in place in the 2000 Florida presidential election, for instance, those 97 thousand plus who voted for Ralph Nader could have, given pre-election polling results, decided to cast an additional vote to participate in the real choice between Bush and Gore. That surely would have given Gore Florida and the presidential election and better reflected the preferences of those whose votes counted in that election in that state. Origins of My Policy Interests My exposure and interest in voting reform originated with materials I was exposed to and acquired as a clerical employee of Mathematical Reviews in Ann Arbor. My initial interest in the issue stemmed from my interest as a Soviet/Russia specialist in reform in the former Soviet Union. But after the 1992 run for president by Ross Perot, I realized that opening up our elections to third parties was essential to getting better discussions of policy issues in our elections. Opening up our politics to responsible third parties, which is not possible without breaking with our current system of plurality voting, has three important advantages. First, it would give us more, and likely better, choices especially in presidential elections. Second, having more credible parties in our state and federal elections would surely lead to more and better policy discussions. And thirdly, such a change would probably mitigate against majority control by any single party in our legislative bodies which would surely compel our current major parties to change their behavior in those bodies for the better. A number of my policy views originated from exchanges I had with my friend and fellow economist the late John Attarian whose article on “Economism” in the Social Contract Quarterly is an important read on policy issues. The Social Contract published out of Petoskey, Michigan by Dr. John Tanton has long published articles that have informed my thinking. This includes articles on peak oil, population sustainability, immigration, trade, fiscal policy and budget deficits including other articles by John Attarian and a special issue on Herman Daly edited by John. Unfortunately, the positions of all too many of the Social Contract articles have been met by politically correct responses rather than dialogue including the outrageous charge by the Southern Poverty Law Center that its publisher Dr. John Tanton is a racist because of his efforts to promote immigration reform. Michigan voters concerned about the future of their children and grandchildren could benefit by taking a look at the excellent Summer 2018 issue of the Social Contract which is available free online. My Appeal to Michigan Voters My purpose in running for US Senate from Michigan is two fold. First, to use it and the materials from my websites ( www.nationalrenewal.org and www.nationalrenewalparty.org ) to make Michigan voters more aware of the voting reform issue and of policy issues which I believe need better national attention. And secondly, if elected, to have the visibility, contacts and resources that a position in the US Senate would provide that I lack as a simple concerned citizen to promote voting reform and better discussions of policy issues at the national level. My appeal to Michigan voters is not to waste a vote on candidates from our two major parties which are destroying governance in this country but to give serious consideration to supporting my campaign and election.[1] |
” |
| —John Howard Wilhelm’s campaign website (2018)[2] | ||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ John Howard Wilhelm for U.S. Senate, "My Campaign Brochure," accessed October 19, 2018
