Apache Junction/Gold Canyon Independent publishes column by Richard Grayson, "No Labels Party candidate says no to name change"

Today, Friday, December 12, 2025, the Apache Junction/Gold Canyon Independent published a column by Richard Grayson, "No Labels Party candidate says no to name change":

OPINION — As the No Labels Party candidate in the September special election in the 7th Congressional District, I object to the party’s name change, which was rammed through without procedural due process for the associational rights of the party’s over 40,000 members without any notice or public hearing.

As its website makes clear, Paul Johnson’s Arizona Independent Party has different views and is a different party from the No Labels Party that existed before he allegedly took control in some deal between himself and the national No Labels organization.

My objections are different from those who decry the confusion the Arizona Independent Party causes with true independent voters, but the prospects for confusion are rife.

Richard Winger’s letter is correct insofar as there was once an American Independent Party, but the situation in 1968 was very different.

The AIP was a creature of George Wallace’s pro-segregation, far-right candidacy for president. The only Arizona AIP candidates who ever got on the ballot were a 1970 congressional candidate, the party’s Wallaceite leader Clifford Thomallo, who accused every U.S. president since 1933 of being under the influence of Communists, and 1972 candidate for state representative, Lawrence Oliver, another far-right party member. So the AIP was clearly an ideological party.

Another difference between now and then: In 1976, only 7% of voters in Arizona were true independents, a far cry from today's 34%, so the possibility of confusion is now much greater — especially when the Arizona Independent Party says it is specifically targeting voters not registered with any party (true independents) and planning to be a home for “independent” candidates.

The state must keep the No Labels Party as the No Labels Party. Paul Johnson can get signatures to make his party a new party in the 2026 elections.

 

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Early August, 2001 | Richard Grayson

 

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Early August, 2001 | Richard Grayson

Arizona Daily Star/Tucson.com publishes letter by Richard Grayson, "When the state chooses your party"

Today, Tuesday, December 9, 2025, the Arizona Daily Star/Tucson.com published a letter, ""When the state chooses your party," by Richard Grayson:

In Communist East Germany, the government simply assigned people to political parties. It was a quiet but powerful way to control political life: the state decided who you were.

Arizona shouldn’t be doing anything that even faintly resembles that history. Yet Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has said he will automatically reassign nearly 47,000 No Labels voters to the Arizona Independent Party becauses of the wishes of a new party chairman, without any formal input from those who chose to register with the No Labels Party. Fontes's office says people who don't like it can “just change it back.” But political identity is a fundamental right, not a clerical detail. Forcing voters into a party whose beliefs they may not share undermines voluntary political association.

No democracy should ever let the government choose a citizen’s party for them.

Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Late July, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Late July, 2001 | Richard Grayson

Arizona Daily Star/Tucson.com article on Clean Elections Commission's lawsuit against the No Labels Party's name change mentions Richard Grayson

Today, Friday, November 28, 2025, The Arizona Daily Star/Tucson.com published an article by Howard Fischer, "Arizona commission will sue to block political party's name change." 

The article began: 

Ignoring threats of being sued themselves, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission voted Friday to go to court to block the No Labels Party from rebranding itself as the Arizona Independent Party. The panel voted 4-1 to challenge the decision last month by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to permit the name change.

Towards the end of the article, Richard Grayson's name came up:

There are about 47,000 people who signed up with the No Labels Party. Fontes' move appears to now automatically change their registration to the Arizona Independent Party.

That drew a complaint from Richard Grayson, a member of the No Labels Party who ran unsuccessfully as its nominee earlier this year in the special election in Congressional District 7.

He argued that the Arizona Independent Party is not simply a home for those who don't align with the major parties. Instead, he said, it has a belief system of its own.

He cited the party's web page, which lists among its beliefs that the U.S. military is "strongest in the world,'' that the party supports "strong borders and a workable immigration system,'' and an "all-of-the-above energy strategy'' including oil, gas, nuclear and renewables.

"So it's not an independent party,'' Grayson said. "They have an ideology."

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Mid-July, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Mid-July, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Early July, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Early July, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Late June, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Late June, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Mid-June, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Mid-June, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Early June, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Early June, 2001 | Richard Grayson

1980 Press Photo of Candidate Richard Grayson at his home at University Villages on eBay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/397116706957

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Late May, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Late May, 2001 | Richard Grayson

Anchorage Daily News article features news of Richard Grayson's campaign for U.S. Senator from Alaska

Today, October 16, 2025, the Anchorage Daily News published an article by Iris Samuels, "Begich and Sullivan maintain fundraising efforts ahead of 2026 elections," that mentions Richard Grayson's Green Party candidacy for the U.S. Senate from Alaska in its final paragraph:

The Alaska Democratic Party has indicated that though no Democratic contenders have filed to run as of Thursday, it plans to field candidates in both congressional races.

“We’re working on candidate recruitment,” Alaska Dems Executive Director Jenny-Marie Stryker said in an interview Wednesday. “There’s lots of planning that’s happening on our side, and we’re going to be ready for those races.”

Though no candidate with Democratic Party backing has entered the race, several people have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission indicating plans to place their names on Alaska’s ballot.

Among them is Richard Grayson, an Arizona resident who filed to run for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat as a member of the Green Party. He is attempting to form a fundraising committee titled “Sophisticated Cosmopolitan Anti-Fascist Brooklynite Richard Grayson for Alaska Senator.”

Richard Grayson Is 2026 Green Party Candidate for U.S. Senator from Alaska

The Alaska Division of Elections lists Richard Grayson as the Green Party candidate on the ballot for the U.S. Senate in the August 18, 2026 state primary election.

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Mid-May, 2001 | Richard Grayson

A Writer’s Diary Entries From Mid-May, 2001 | Richard Grayson