Gary Swing

Swing was born in Willingboro, New Jersey. He earned a high school diploma from Friends School in Mullica Hill, a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1991 and a master's degree in political science from the University of Colorado Denver in 1999.[3] His career experience includes about twenty years as a cultural events promoter, per his survey, along with work as a U.S. postal carrier, a produce receiver for Whole Foods, and a public policy research assistant at the University of Colorado Denver's Graduate School of Public Affairs.[3]

By his own account, Swing has been on the ballot thirteen times as an alternative-party candidate since 1996, including seven times with the Green Party and three times with the Unity Party of Colorado, in both Colorado and Arizona. He ran in Colorado's 1st District in 2012, and says he received 138,634 votes (5.5 percent) as a Green candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona.[3] He is a former co-chair of the Colorado Coalition for Fair and Open Elections and a former spokesperson for the election-reform group Best Democracy, and says he lobbied in 2019 against a bill raising petition signature requirements for independent candidates. He describes himself as a lifelong pacifist and a long-distance backpacker who has hiked the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails.[3] He was the Green Party candidate on the general-election ballot for Arizona's 6th Congressional District.[1] His survey answers emphasized nonviolence, reduced military spending and proportional representation.[3] He received 0.9% of the vote to JoAnna Mendoza's 52.9%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[2]