Free & Equal Elections Foundation

The Free & Equal Elections Foundation (Free & Equal) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization in the United States, the mission of which is to empower American voters through education and advocacy of electoral reforms.^[1]

Free & Equal leads national, state, and local efforts to open the electoral process in the United States by hosting all-inclusive gubernatorial, Presidential, and senatorial debates; organizing Electoral Reform Symposiums; producing United We Stand tours; and supporting individuals running for office. Free & Equal was first organized in 1982 as the Foundation for Free Campaigns and Elections, before being formally reorganized in 2008 by Christina Tobin, an American activist and leader in the election reform and voters' rights movement.

During the 2008 presidential election, Free & Equal hosted a presidential debate at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., on October 23, 2008. Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin and independent candidate Ralph Nader participated in a debate moderated by journalist Chris Hedges. The Free & Equal debate was the only presidential debate featuring independent and third-party candidates held during the 2008 election to be broadcast to a national audience. The debate was broadcast live on C-SPAN2 in prime time.

Free & Equal debates, 2008
N°	Date	Host	Location	Moderators	Participants
P  Participant     N  Non-invitee      A  Absent invitee					Democratic	Republican	Libertarian	Green	Constitution	Independent
					Senator Barack Obama of Illinois	Senator John McCain of Arizona	Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia	Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia	Pastor Chuck Baldwin of Florida	Advocate Ralph Nader of Connecticut
1	October 23, 2008	Mayflower Hotel	Washington, D.C.	Chris Hedges	A	A	A	A	P	P

In 2012, Free & Equal sponsored the October 23, 2012 debate among four third party candidates for President of the United States. It featured Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Jill Stein (Green Party), Virgil Goode (Constitution Party), and Rocky Anderson (Justice Party). The debate was moderated by former Larry King Live host Larry King and Christina Tobin. It was televised by RT TV, Al Jazeera English, and C-SPAN.^[2][3]

Free & Equal debates, 2012
N°	Date	Host	Location	Moderator	Participants
P  Participant.     N  Non-invitee.      A  Absent invitee.					Democratic	Republican	Libertarian	Green	Constitution	Justice
					President Barack Obama of Illinois	Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts	Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico	Doctor Jill Stein of Massachusetts	Congressman Virgil Goode of Virginia	Mayor Rocky Anderson of Utah
1	October 23, 2012	Hilton Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Larry King of Ora.TV	A	A	P	P	P	P
2	November 5, 2012	RT America	Washington, D.C.	Thom Hartmann of RT	N	N	P	P	N	N

Free & Equal hosted an open debate along with Student Voices Count at the University of Colorado Boulder's Macky Auditorium on October 25, 2016.^[4] Originally, all presidential candidates with ballot access sufficient to represent a majority of electoral votes were invited.^[5] in October 2016, Free and Equal extended the invitation to all candidates with ballot lines representing at least fifteen percent of potential voters: the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Reform, and Socialism and Liberation parties, as well as independent candidate Evan McMullin.^[6] Gary Johnson, who participated in the 2012 debate, had already publicly declined in July 2016 to debate Jill Stein on The Young Turks because of a matter of "just time".^[7]

Free & Equal debates, 2016
N°	Date	Host	Location	Moderators	Invited participants
P  Participant.     A  Absent invitee.					Republican	Democratic	Libertarian	Green	Constitution	Reform	PSL	Independent
					Businessman Donald Trump of New York	Secretary Hillary Clinton of New York	Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico	Doctor Jill Stein of Massachusetts	Lieutenant Darrell Castle of Tennessee	Businessman Rocky De La Fuente of California	Activist Gloria La Riva of California	Director Evan McMullin of Utah
1	October 25, 2016	University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder, Colorado	Ed Asner[8]	A	A	A	A	P[9][8]	P[9][8]	P[9][8]	A

Early on March 4, 2020, the Free & Equal Elections Foundation held a debate at the Hilton Chicago Hotel. Various third-party candidates, as well as minor candidates affiliated with the Democratic and Republican parties attended.^[10] Some, but not all, of the participants would go on to be their parties nominees.

2020 Free & Equal debates
No.	Date & Time	Location	Moderators	Invited participants
P  Participant.				Democratic	Libertarian			Green	Constitution	American Solidarity	Life and Liberty	Transhumanist
				Businessman Mark Stewart of Connecticut	Activist Dan Berhman of Texas	Carpenter Erik Gerhardt of Pennsylvania	LNC Vice Chair Arvin Vohra of Maryland	Activist Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry of California	Financial Advisor Charles Kraut of Virginia	Educator Brian Carroll of California	Activist J.R. Myers of Alaska	Activist Ben Zion of Arizona
1a	March 4, 2020 2:00 pm CST	Chicago, Illinois	Christina Tobin	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
P  Participant.				Republican	Democratic	Libertarian				Green / Socialist	PSL	Independent
				Futurist Zoltan Istvan of California	Attorney Mosie Boyd of Arkansas	Lieutenant Ken Armstrong of Hawaii	Lecturer Jo Jorgensen of South Carolina	Corporal Adam Kokesh of Indiana	Activist Vermin Supreme of Massachusetts	Tradesman Howie Hawkins of New York	Activist Gloria La Riva of California	Activist Mark Charles of the District of Columbia
1b	March 4, 2020 6:30 pm CST	Chicago, Illinois	Christina Tobin	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

Two debates were held prior to the general election. The first was on October 8, 2020, in Denver, Colorado, with participation limited to candidates on the ballot in at least eight states.^[11] A second debate with the same candidates occurred on October 24, 2020, in Cheyenne, Wyoming.^[12]

2020 Free & Equal debates
No.	Date & Time	Location	Moderators	Invited participants
P  Participant.  A  Absent Invitee.				Republican	Democratic	Libertarian	Green / Socialist	PSL	Alliance / Reform	Constitution	American Solidarity	Independent
				President Donald Trump of Florida	Former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware	Lecturer Jo Jorgensen of South Carolina	Tradesman Howie Hawkins of New York	Activist Gloria La Riva of California	Businessman Rocky De La Fuente of California	Businessman Don Blankenship of West Virginia	Educator Brian Carroll of California	Entrepreneur Brock Pierce of Puerto Rico	Producer Kanye West of Wyoming
2	October 8, 2020 6:00 pm MDT	Denver, Colorado	Christina Tobin	A	A	A	P	P	A	P	P	P	A
3	October 24, 2020 6:00 pm MDT	Cheyenne, Wyoming	Christina Tobin	A	A	A	P	P	A	A	P	P	A

On January 18, 2024, the Free & Equal Elections Foundation held its first ever Democratic Party primary debate streamed on Rumble while four candidates took the stage at Chelsea Television Studios in New York City, New York. Candidates were invited if they had ballot access in at least four states. Although eight candidates were invited, ^[13] only Gabriel Cornejo, Frankie Lozada, Stephen Lyons, and Jason Palmer participated.^[14]

On February 29, 2024 Free & Equal held its first independent presidential debate also at Chelsea Television Studios featuring two Libertarian candidates (Chase Oliver and Lars Mapstead), two Green Party candidates (Jill Stein and Jasmine Sherman) (also nominee of The Unicorn Party), plus Party for Socialism and Liberation nominee Claudia De la Cruz. Independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Cornel West were invited but unable to attend. ^[15][16]

These selections were made via multiple choice voting available on their website where members of the public could pick their top seven candidates across party lines and independents. ^[17]

2024 Free & Equal debates
No.	Date & Time	Location	Moderators	Invited participants
P  Participant.  A  Absent Invitee.				Democratic
				President Joe Biden of Delaware	Entrepreneur Gabriel Cornejo of New York	Entrepreneur Frankie Lozada of New York	Plumber Stephen Lyons of California	Entrepreneur Jason Palmer of Maryland	Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota	Media host Cenk Uygur of California	Author Marianne Williamson of California
1	January 18, 2024 6:00 pm PDT	Los Angeles, California	Christina Tobin Kwame Jackson	A	P	P	P	P	A	A	A
P  Participant.  A  Absent Invitee.				Libertarian		Green		PSL	Independent
				Businessman Lars Mapstead of California	Sales executive Chase Oliver of Georgia	Activist Jasmine Sherman of North Carolina	Doctor Jill Stein of Massachusetts	Activist Claudia De la Cruz of New York	Attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of California	Academic Cornel West of California
2	February 29, 2024 8:00 pm EDT	New York City, New York	Jason Palmer Caitlin Sinclair Christina Tobin	P	P	P	P	P	A	A

Free and Equal hosted a second debate on July 12, 2024, at FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Nevada moderated by the foundation's chair, Christina Tobin and congressman Thomas Massie.^[18][19]

Biden, Kennedy, Oliver, Stein, Randall Terry, Trump and West were invited to the debate,^[18] while Oliver, Stein, and Terry participated.^[18]

The Free and Equal hosted a third debate on October 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California moderated by the foundation's chair, Christina Tobin and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker.^[20]

Chase Oliver, Jill Stein, Randall Terry, Claudia De la Cruz, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and Cornel West were invited. Oliver, Stein, and Terry participated again. Confirmed United We Stand artists: Loomis, Mahdieh Maleki, LeRome Swiss, Samuel J, Jon Nash, Shyalpa Rinpoche, Shylah Ray, Scott Page, Jose Muñoz, Franko Heke, Charlie Scott III/Chad Bishop, Colin Cantrell and Kaisi Berick.

Since 2009, Free & Equal has hosted electoral reform symposiums to unite intellectuals and experts to share and debate reforms to the U.S. electoral system. Past panelists and speakers include President of The League of Women Voters of Colorado Nancy Crow, Deputy Secretary of State of Colorado Suzanne Staiert, Founder of FairVote Rob Richie, Founder of Nexus Earth Colin Cantrell, Founder of Ballot Access News Richard Winger and more.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

In 2014, Free & Equal launched United We Stand, a festival and tour uniting the younger generations with musicians, artists, and thought leaders to promote political and cultural change. Since its inception, the tour has made stops at Belasco Theater in Los Angeles in 2014^[26] and 2015,^[27] University of Colorado Boulder in 2016,^[28] and Texas A&M University in 2018.^[29] The 2019 tour includes Indiana,^[30] Texas,^[31] Colorado,^[32] Oregon,^[33] and Tennessee.^[34]

• Free & Equal Elections Foundation, official website
• Free & Equal Elections 2024 Presidential Debate Series #2. Published March 5, 2024.