David McReynolds Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
After years of internal problems, the SPA suffered a three-way split in 1973. The SPA was renamed the Social Democrats USA by the right-wing leadership of Trotskyite-turned-neoconservative Max Shachtman. Michael Harrington and his followers would split off and found the Democratic Socialists of America with the purpose of "realignment" — the aim of working within the Democratic Party (a major party, as opposed to the Socialists) and pulling it to the left (arguably akin to the Trotskyist idea of "entrism"). The left-wing of the SPA, known as the Debs Caucus, including McReynolds, reconstituted the spirit of the SPA and Eugene V. Debs into the Socialist Party USA (SP-USA) that exists today.
In his political career, McReynolds ran for Congress from California twice and for President twice. In 1958 he ran as a write-in SPA candidate and than in 1968 as a Peace And Freedom Party candidate for Congress. In 1980 he ran for President as the SP-USA candidate, receiving over 6,000 votes and also becoming the first openly gay man to run for President in U.S. history. Upon the request of fellow Socialists, McReynolds ran again for President as the SPUSA candidate in 2000 and receive approximately 8,000 votes.
On July 10th, 2004, David McReynolds announced his candidacy running on the Green Party of the United States ticket for one of the New York seats in the Senate, running an anti-war campaign against Democrat incumbent Chuck Schumer.
Today, McReynolds lives in New York City and continues to be active in the Socialist and pacifist movements through the combination of Marxian politics and Gandhian nonviolence.