Convicted Killer Running As Democrat For Vacant Senate Seat
You’ve seen the “Hillary for Prison” signs — but it looks like even if the presidential election loser ever ended up behind bars, she should could just call her cell “Democrat Campaign Headquarters” and run again.
Alright, the chances of the former secretary of state either going to jail or making another White House run are both pretty slim at this point. However, a twisted political campaign in Minnesota is paving the way for even hardened criminals to run for office — and shockingly, a number of liberals are completely fine with that prospect.
That leftist-leaning state is where one convicted murderer is trying to be elected to U.S. Senate after he found a loophole in the law that allowed him to run.
Leonard Richards, 75, is serving a life sentence for killing two people. Parole is out of the question, but he now wants voters to send him to Washington.
You guessed it — he’s running as a Democrat.
“Richards was found guilty of killing his half-sister, May Wilson, in 1982 and of fatally shooting his lawyer, Robert Stratton, five years later,” reported Fox News.
Unsurprisingly, there are laws that prevent convicts from running for public office. The murderer-turned-Democrat has a scheme to get around that barrier.
“Minnesota law bars felons from running for state-level offices, but does not prevent them from seeking federal positions,” Fox News explained.
“He is now seeking the nomination of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, which will hold its primary Aug. 14,” the outlet continued. “Richards is looking to upset U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who has held the seat since 2007.”
The DFL Party is essentially the state branch of the larger Democrat party, and is a major player within Minnesota. Both U.S. senators and several congressmen from that state are from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
It seems that the convicted murderer’s candidacy is legal, as distasteful as that seems.
“Bert Black, a legal adviser for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office, said in an email to the Associated Press that courts have ruled that felons — even those currently incarcerated — cannot be prohibited from filing an affidavit of candidacy,” said Fox.
The loophole could be closed if Minnesota changes its state law to restrict felons from seeking federal office. That probably won’t happen before the August primary, a situation that is frustrating many people.
One of them is the sister of Robert Stratton, the attorney who Richards murdered in 1987.
“I know he won’t win against [candidate] Amy Klobuchar, but even one vote for this murderer is too many,” Stratton’s outraged relative told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
To be fair, it’s a stretch to presume that the entire Democrat party in Minnesota is on board with the disturbing stunt. With that said, a shocking number of liberal voters cast their ballot for the double murderer when he previously ran for office in the mid 1990s.
“In 1992, Richards ran in the DFL primary for the Eighth Congressional District seat and received more than 14,500 votes. He ran for the U.S. Senate in the DFL primary in 1994, winning more than 4,000 votes,” reported the Star Tribune.
That’s more than 20,000 people who had no problem voting for a convicted murderer to represent them as a Democrat in Washington. He may not win, but this fact alone should be enough to make you pull your hair out.
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