Eugene Debs, a Socialist leader in the early 20th century, ran for President five times. His fifth and highest vote count came in the 1920 Presidential election, in which he was running while in Federal prison for sedition. He received about 3.4% of the vote at the time (which included women for the first time since the Nineteenth Amendment was passed in 1920 as well). Not naming names, but yes, it’s possible to run for President while in prison, though results may vary.
You might like the book “American Midnight” by historian Adam Hothschild. Came out last year and all about the shit that went down in the US between 1917-1921.
Debs is talked about quite a bit and he is well regarded. It was how I learned about him and I just finished the book this week. It’s absolutely fantastic and also yes, absolutely fucking terrifying.
It’s nuts that we just kinda gloss over that time period in history. It also shows that some of the worst mindsets of today regarding things like immigration, unions, censorship/freedom of speech (the real kind, done by the government. Not the whiny cancel culture shit), prisons, etc, the list goes on, have not changed a bit in 100 years. And we’re still fighting the same battles and blaming all the bad things on all the wrong people.
Anyway, book was fantastic, cannot recommend it enough, and now as a result I’m reading “The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover” by Lerone A. Martin because I realized how little I knew about that asshole other than he was an asshole and FBI stuff.
Thanks! I’ve been looking for a non fiction read :)