Adriel Hampton
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Adriel O. Hampton (born 1978) is an American entrepreneur, strategist, and political activist. He runs The Adriel Hampton Group, a digital advertising agency that supports progressive causes, and is the founder of The Really Online Lefty League
political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
(PAC). Earlier in his career, Hampton co-founded the analytics startup Pinpoint Predictive, the podcast Gov 2.0 Radio, and the progressive Facebook community Really American. He was an early member of the organizing software company NationBuilder. In 2009, Hampton became the first person to launch a congressional candidacy via Twitter. Hampton is known for criticizing Facebook's political advertising policies, arguing that the social media giant doesn't do enough to combat false political advertising on its platform. In 2019, he launched a campaign for the 2022 California gubernatorial election as a progressive candidate, but withdrew before the filing deadline.


Early life and education

Hampton was born in
Modesto, California Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in Ca ...
and was homeschooled. He is a citizen of the
Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation () is a federally recognized Indigenous nation with headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, in the United States. The Chickasaw Nation descends from an Indigenous population historically located in the southeastern United States, in ...
. He worked as editor-in-chief of ''The Impact'' newspaper at
San Joaquin Delta College San Joaquin Delta College (Delta College) is a public community college in Stockton, California. It was founded in 1935 as Stockton Junior College. The college serves a district area that includes all of San Joaquin County and parts of Alameda, ...
, and graduated from
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
with a degree in Rhetoric. Hampton worked as an editor at the ''
Lodi News-Sentinel The ''Lodi News-Sentinel'' is a daily newspaper based in Lodi, California, United States, and serving northern San Joaquin and southern Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat ...
'', Alameda News Group, the ''
San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...
'', and as an investigator for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office.


Career


Founding of Government 2.0

Hampton launched Government 2.0 Radio in March 2009 featuring an interview with
Web 2.0 Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture, and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, a ...
pioneer
Tim O'Reilly Timothy O'Reilly (born 6 June 1954) is an Irish-American author and publisher, who is the founder of O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates). He popularised the terms open source and Web 2.0. Education and early life Born in County Co ...
. Hampton gained publicity for use of
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
and
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
in a 2009 campaign for the CA-10 seat to replace Rep.
Ellen Tauscher Ellen O'Kane Tauscher (November 15, 1951 – April 29, 2019) was an American businesswoman, diplomat, and Democratic Party politician who was the U.S. representative for California's 10th congressional district from 1997 to 2009. From 2009 to 20 ...
in the House of Representatives. Hampton's campaign used collaborative editing, a form of crowdsourcing, to draft an anti-drug war policy statement.


2009 congressional campaign

On March 18, 2009, Representative
Ellen Tauscher Ellen O'Kane Tauscher (November 15, 1951 – April 29, 2019) was an American businesswoman, diplomat, and Democratic Party politician who was the U.S. representative for California's 10th congressional district from 1997 to 2009. From 2009 to 20 ...
(CA-10) was nominated by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
to serve as
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security The under secretary of state for arms control and international security (T) is a position within the U.S. Department of State that serves as a senior adviser to the President of the United States, president and the United States Secretary of St ...
. Hampton announced his candidacy for the subsequent
special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
to fill the seat, receiving national attention for being the first congressional candidate to announce their campaign launch on Twitter. During the campaign, Hampton prioritized support for
single-payer healthcare Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...
,
auditing An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing al ...
the
Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...
, increased funding for
public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...
, and capping interest rates. On foreign policy, Hampton stressed his support for removing U.S. troops from
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
and
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
. During the campaign, Hampton was supported by former chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party Matthew Rothschild and
Matt Gonzalez Matthew Edward Gonzalez (born June 4, 1965) is an American politician, lawyer, and activist. He served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2001 to 2005 and was president of the Board. In 2003, Gonzalez, running as a member of the Gre ...
, the former president of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...
. Hampton was defeated by
John Garamendi John Raymond Garamendi ( ; born January 24, 1945) is an American businessman, politician and member of the Democratic Party who has represented areas of Northern California between San Francisco and Sacramento, including the cities of Fairfiel ...
, the former
Lieutenant Governor of California The lieutenant governor of California is the second highest Executive (government), executive officer of the government of the U.S. state of California. The Lieutenant governor (United States), lieutenant governor is elected to serve a four-yea ...
.


Post-campaign work

After his Congressional campaign, Hampton began working as Chief Organizer and Vice President of Business Development at NationBuilder, a Los Angeles tech startup specializing in content management and digital organizing, and which served clients such as California Governor
Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
and Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the List of ambassadors of the United States to India, United States ambassador to India from 2023 to 2025. He was the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles f ...
. In 2015, Hampton left NationBuilder and founded a consulting firm, The Adriel Hampton Group. Also in 2015, he co-founded and served as President of Pinpoint Predictive, a San Francisco startup pioneering predictive personality advertising. Adriel's consulting firm specializes in digital advertising and community building. Hampton's clients have included phone and email append provider Accurate Append, mobile canvassing app Ecanvasser, and the activist toolset Do Gooder. He is an adviser to VoterCircle.


The Really Online Lefty League PAC and opposition to Facebook

The Really Online Lefty League (TROLL) is a political action committee (PAC) formed by Hampton. The rollout of the PAC, created in collaboration with the Institute for Progressive Memetics, included a fake advertisement for the
Green New Deal The Green New Deal (GND) calls for public policy to address climate change, along with achieving other social aims like job creation, economic growth, and reducing economic inequality. The name refers to the New Deal, a set of changes and ...
. The PAC gained recognition for launching an advertisement describing
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
Senator
Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (; born July 9, 1955) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A membe ...
as being in favor of Green New Deal legislation to highlight the issues stemming from Facebook's political advertising policies. Public awareness of
social media use in politics Social media use in politics refers to the use of online social media platforms in political processes and activities. Political processes and activities include all activities that pertain to the governance of a country or area. This includes Pol ...
and
disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...
grew in 2019 due to a congressional hearing in which
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...
questioned Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born May 14, 1984) is an American businessman who co-founded the social media service Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms, of which he is the chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling sharehold ...
as to whether Facebook would be taking down ads from politicians that spread false information. Zuckerberg replied that they probably would not. In 2019, TROLL was noted for putting up digital billboards along the
Interstate 15 in Utah Interstate 15 (I-15) runs north–south in the U.S. state of Utah through the southwestern and central portions of the state, passing through most of the state's population centers, including St. George, Utah, St. George and those compris ...
as well as in other states with a photo of Zuckerberg and President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
with the caption "Trump - Zuckerberg 2020" in order to raise awareness to the potential impact of Facebook's advertising policies in assisting Trump's reelection bid. In 2020, Hampton and TROLL released a YouTube ad against Congressman
Ken Calvert Kenneth Stanton Calvert (born June 8, 1953) is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for , and previously the 44th, 42nd, and 43rd, serving since 1993 as a member of the Republican Party. The district is par ...
in the election for
California's 42nd congressional district California () is a state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the ...
.


2022 gubernatorial campaign

On October 29, 2019, Hampton announced he was running for governor of California in order to run fake Facebook ads. Stating that "we have some pretty serious issues of corporations now basically running society and I think Facebook is the grossest example of that", Hampton pledged that his gubernatorial campaign would serve to highlight issues stemming from the platform. A spokesperson for Facebook has since responded to his candidacy, stating that "
ampton Ampton is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk (district), West Suffolk District of Suffolk, England, about five miles north of Bury St Edmunds. According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name is 'Amma's homestead'. Ac ...
has made clear he registered as a candidate to get around our policies, so his content, including ads, will continue to be eligible for third-party
fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...
." Despite Facebook's statement, Hampton successfully ran and promoted additional fake ads as a candidate, including one that suggested
Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...
was replacing
Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
as Donald Trump's running mate, and another where
Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...
appeared to publicly support impeachment of Trump. In a 2019 editorial, the Los Angeles Times' Jon Healy wrote that Hampton "may be the most interesting gubernatorial candidate in the country at the moment" because of Hampton's targeting of Facebook as a source of political misinformation. Hampton has stated that climate change played a major role in his decision to run for governor, arguing that incumbent
Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...
is tied too closely to the
Pacific Gas and Electric Company The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...
.


References


External links


Adriel Hampton for U.S. Congress
Official 2009 Congressional Campaign Website Archive
adrielhampton.com
Official Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, Adriel 1978 births Living people People from Modesto, California University of California, Berkeley alumni Chickasaw people 21st-century Native American people 21st-century American businesspeople