The 2020 presidential campaign of Mike Gravel, former U.S. senator from Alaska, began on March 19, 2019 with the formation of an exploratory committee, followed on April 2, 2019 with his campaign filing with the Federal Elections Commission to officially run for the presidency. Gravel's initial intention was not to win the nomination, but rather to inject his platform into the conversation so that his ideas become part of the mainstream, though he announced that he was "running to win" on April 29, possibly after realizing that a sham candidacy might disqualify Gravel from the primary debates.
The campaign was also notable for its young leadership; manager David Oks and chief of staff Henry Williams were only 18 years old. The pair, and other young staffers, developed an online identity and fanbase as the "Gravel Teens."
The campaign reached 65,000 donors on July 12, 2019, officially qualifying him for the second Democratic presidential primary debate. However, he was left out of the debate as he only qualified via donations (which are given less weight than polling). Gravel indicated in July (as well as early August) that the campaign would come to a close soon, with Gravel's campaign staff stating on Twitter on August 5, 2019, that they will be "dropping out very soon".
Gravel officially dropped out on August 6, 2019. He endorsed Bernie Sanders the same day, while simultaneously endorsing Tulsi Gabbard to be Sanders's running mate.
Background
Gravel has served in the U.S. Senate representing the state of Alaska from 1969 to 1981, as well as the Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1965 to 1967.
He gained national attention during his tenure in the Senate for his strong anti-war beliefs, specifically against the War in Vietnam. He garnered significant media attention by reading previously unreleased segments of the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record given to him by prominent socialists Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, making them public knowledge via a loophole discovered by Daniel Ellsberg.
Gravel's presidential bid was his second, following his 2008 campaign for president. In 2008, he was noted by pundits for his debate performances. However, he never reached significant polling numbers.
On March 11, 2019, a discussion about Gravel came up on the 296th episode of the leftist comedy podcast Chapo Trap House, "The Unsullied", where one of the hosts, Felix Biederman, claimed "Mike Gravel is the only politician I ever felt, like, represented me." Three days later, David Oks, a high school senior, and Henry Williams, a college freshman, both avid listeners of Chapo Trap House, persuaded the former senator to run for president through a phone call and assured him he would not travel too much. On March 20, the r/Gravelforpresident subreddit would be created and Williams' account 'u/Gravelanche' (in reference to the portmanteau often used by Gravel's campaign manager and supporters to nickname the campaign) would be added as moderator.
Campaign
Exploratory committee
Gravel first entered the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries on March 19, 2019 by forming an exploratory committee. Late that day, Gravel's campaign posted on Twitter that he was not entering the campaign to win, rather to bring anti-war ideas to the Democratic debate stage, as well as that there would be a formal announcement in the coming days.
His Twitter account was run by Oks and Williams who became the campaign manager and chief of staff, respectively. They posted attacks on other Democratic presidential candidates and potential candidates Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O'Rourke while praising fellow candidates Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard, including when Gravel urged them not to make personal attacks and rather focus on policy critiques.
Campaign announcement
On April 2, 2019, Gravel's exploratory committee filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to officially run for the presidency. The campaign was announced on April 8 alongside Gravel's platform. That same day, the Mike Gravel YouTube channel posted a sequel to the viral "Rock" ad from Gravel's 2008 campaign with "Rock 2.0". On April 29, an email announcement went out stating that Gravel would now be running to win "[j]ust as much as Seth Moulton, John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan, or Eric Swalwell are."