Peter Camejo

Although he competed in sailing for Venezuela (with his father), Peter Camejo is one of the few Olympians to have run for President of the United States. Born to a wealthy Venezuelan family, his mother had Peter born in New York, because of the better health care, and he thus earned dual citizenship. He later attended MIT but dropped out to pursue civil rights work in the American south. He returned to school at U Cal Berkeley but was expelled in the 1960s, amazingly for Berkeley, for his vocal criticism of the Vietnam War. In 1968, while still a student he was placed on Governor Ronald Reagan’s list of the 10 most dangerous Californians.

In 1976, Camejo ran for President as a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party. On the ballot in 18 states, he received 90,310 votes nationwide. He later was tossed from the party after he alleged corruption among the leadership. In 1991 he helped establish the Californian Green Party, and he ran for Governor of California in both 2002 and 2003 as a member of that party. In 2004, Ralph Nader had Camejo on his ticket as a Vice-Presidential candidate.