Mike Gravel 2020 presidential campaign
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