Thomas Conrad Hoefling (born December 20, 1960) is an American

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

and politician, who was the founder and national chairman of America's Party. Hoefling was the party's

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

presidential nominee In United States politics and government, the term presidential nominee has two different meanings: # A candidate for president of the United States who has been selected by the delegates of a political party at the party's national convention ...

, after seeking the nomination of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and American Independent parties. Currently a member of the Republican Party, Hoefling has served as political director for

Alan Keyes Alan Lee Keyes (born August 7, 1950) is an American politician, political scientist, and perennial candidate who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1985 to 1987. A member of the Republican P ...

' political group America's Revival and as a representative for the American Conservative Coalition.

Career

Presidential campaigns (2012, 2016)

In August 2012, the ballot-qualified

American Independent Party The American Independent Party (AIP) is an American political party that was established in 1967. The American Independent Party is best known for its nomination of Democratic then-former Governor George Wallace of Alabama, who carried five s ...

nominated Hoefling as its candidate for president of the U.S. Hoefling was on the ballot in California, Colorado, and Florida. He was filed as a qualified

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia. Hoefling received 40,624 votes in the general election, or 0.03%, coming in eighth place nationally out of 27 candidates who were on the ballot in at least one state.

2020

Hoefling appeared on the ballot in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

for the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

. During the 2020 election, Hoefling received attention when ''

The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...

'' compared his campaign to

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

's 2020 effort to appear on the ballot in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, as Hoefling centered his campaign against "the abortion holocaust" and describing himself as a "no compromise"

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the lega ...

candidate.

Iowa gubernatorial campaign (2013)

In December 2013, Hoefling announced his bid for the Republican nomination for governor of Iowa in the 2014 election. He lost the nomination to incumbent Republican Governor

Terry Branstad Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is a retired American politician who served as the 39th and 42nd governor of Iowa (1983–1999; 2011–2017) and the United States ambassador to China (2017–2020). A member of the Repu ...

Positions

Donald Trump

Hoefling has vehemently denounced Donald Trump and Trumpist Republicans due to their involvement in the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months afte ...

, comparing Trump to tyrants such as

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

and calling him "the exact opposite of George Washington." Hoefling stated that

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

"clearly" beat Trump in the

2020 United States Presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

and called on the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

to convict Donald Trump and bar him from ever holding public office again. Prior to this Hoefling supported the

Second impeachment of Donald Trump Donald Trump, serving as the 45th president of the United States, was impeached for the second time on January 13, 2021, one week before his term expired. On that date, the House of Representatives adopted one article of impeachment again ...

and called for the immediate removal of Trump from public office. Before this in 2019 Hoefling attacked Trump for making border security a dirty topic preventing any meaningful attempts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Hoefling's opposition to Trump can be traced back to the

2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that we ...

when he highlighted Trump's 2000 bid for president and denounced him as a liberal and that "Trump Republicans are for all practical purposes liberals, no matter what they say." He also called efforts by Republicans to promote Trump as the lesser of two evils between

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

as "impractical" and called Trump "crass" "unprincipled" and accused him of being a "liberal friend" and "financial backer" of Clinton. After Trump was named the nominee he called all his campaign points "false promises" specifically targeting his pro-

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

stance, and his ambiguous position on

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

Conspiracy theories

ACLU

Following the 2012 decision in '' Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians & Gays, Inc. v. Camdenton R-III School District'', Hoefling denounced the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

(ACLU) in its effort to promote the presence of

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

in high-school libraries under the

first amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

as an anti-American institution polluting American educational facilities. Hoefling wrote in his

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

in support of

Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum Sr. ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, author, and political commentator who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1995 to 2007. He was the Senate's Chairman of the United Sta ...

's 2012 bid for president and stated that gay porn is not constitutionally protected

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

Personal life

Hoefling is married to Siena Stone Hoefling.

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoefling, Tom 1960 births Living people Activists from Iowa America's Party (political party) politicians American political party founders Iowa Republicans Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2024 United States presidential election Never Trump movement