Santa Claus is real and he's running for Congress
Will name recognition be enough for the North Pole city councillor in a race against 2008 Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin?
Santa Claus is running for Congress.
But will name recognition be enough for the North Pole city councillor in a race against 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin?
Santa is betting on it, and he’s confident enough that he’s refusing donations and forgoing the typical campaign trail.
Running as an Independent, the man born and raised as Thomas Patrick O’Connor legally changed his name to Santa Claus in 2005.
Santa isn’t just a local politician in North Pole, Alaska. He’s also a Christian monk of the Celtic Angelican order, Anam Cara. Santa lives on a vow of poverty, something he says has made him even more sensitive to children's issues.
As part of his vow of poverty, Santa receives a $300 weekly stipend as a North Pole councillor, a significantly smaller income than his fellow colleagues.
When he isn’t working, Santa spends countless hours working on child advocacy projects, from calling federal and state legislators to going on a Children's Tour to every single American state about child health, safety, and welfare.
While Santa threw his name in the hat before another household name, Sarah Palin, he believes the new ranked ballot system in Alaska will help keep him in contention.
"It’s good timing," Santa told me on a Zoom call last month.
As a kid, Santa learned—perhaps ironically—about childhood poverty at Christmastime.
"We had these wonderful Christmas celebrations as a big family [that were] very loving, very supportive, upper-middle class," Santa said. "And along the way, I saw a lot of children who weren't quite as well off as I might have been."
Even at a young age, Santa began to consider how abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonment, helplessness, institutionalization, foster care, and adoption all seemed to connect back to the core issue of poverty.
"Why are kids starving? Why are kids having trouble in school? Why are kids having to practice active shooter drills?" Santa asked, noting that whether it's education, health care, or even defense, politics directly or indirectly impacts children. And most of the time, not in a good way.
Asked about his platform pillars, Santa noted his campaign is focused on children's issues. When pressed for details, he redirected me to Sanders’ website.
While celebrating his 75th birthday this month, Santa still finds himself planning for the future.
"Why shouldn’t [children] see politicians up there trying to fight for them?" Santa asked. "They don’t vote. They can’t vote. So why not set a good example?"
Becoming Santa Claus
After studying television and film at New York University, Santa began working for the New York Police Department, setting up the first video production unit in a large metropolitan police organization in the United States in 1971.
Using the heavy old-school Sony quarterback helical scan video tape recorder, Santa would accompany members of the Emergency Services District to what he considered "heavy deputy responses," like hostage situations. For his work, he was appointed special assistant to the Deputy Commissioner.
"A lot of times, the responses involved children as victims or bystanders, and when I would go do the videotaping, I kept thinking, ‘all these people are falling through the cracks’," Santa said.
Later in his career, Santa became a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Defense executive reserve, where he served as Director of the Terrorism Research and Communication Center.
Sometime around 2004, Santa moved to Lake Tahoe and began growing his beard.
"You can see how it turned out," he told me.
Before long, people suggested he would make a good Santa Claus and raise awareness about the crisis of child poverty. That year, he volunteered for several non-profits, an act Santa says was "well received" by the residents of Lake Tahoe.
Then, in February 2005, Santa found himself praying (as monks often do) while walking to the post office during a snowstorm. He says that less than 30 seconds after finishing his prayer, he heard the sound of a car driving past him on the road.
The next thing he heard changed his life forever: "Santa, I love you!" a male voice shouted into the February air.
The shouting passerby sent a powerful message to the man known as Thomas O’Connor: he was destined to be Santa Claus. The next day, he called the county clerk and enquired about legally changing his name to Santa, a decision that would be left up to a judge recently appointed by the governor of Nevada.
A few days later, he got the call. He was officially Santa Claus.
Santa went through a few extra hurdles than most people when changing his legal documents, like his driver’s license, social security card, and passport.
"Going through the TSA the first time as Santa Claus, that was a challenge," he remembered, noting security in airports was tightened in the wake of 9/11.
Eventually, Santa’s work brought him to North Pole, Alaska, the same place he has since called home. Working as a senior ranger for a recreation area just outside the North Pole, he soon learned of an opening on the town council.
"It sounds ridiculous, but it's a very powerful tool," he said. The results of the Aug. 11 special election will ultimately decide just how powerful name recognition can be on a political ballot.
Obama once convinced Santa to run for President
In 2009, Santa was the recipient of an International Peace Award for his foundation, the Santa Claus Peace Foundation, by the Santa Claus Peace Council in Turkey.
That award came one year after Santa became an independent write-in candidate for president, vying against Barack Obama and John McCain, the Republican nominee who chose Sarah Palin as his running-mate.
Where did Santa get the idea to run for president? Just ask then-Senator Barack Obama.
During the campaign to decide the 2008 Democratic nominee for President, the Obama family visited Carson City, a 20-mile drive from Santa’s home in Lake Tahoe.
As soon as the Secret Service heard people refer to the jolly old man with a big white beard as Santa Claus, they asked the Obamas if their children, Sasha and Malia, would like to meet him.
"I went to this little room where [the Secret Service] are holding the kids and they're very sweet," he recalled, adding that he spoke to the girls for three or four minutes.
That’s when Barack walked in and introduced himself. During the less than a minute exchange, Santa told Obama he was supporting his campaign but asked about the lack of talk when it comes to children's issues.
According to Santa, Obama looked him in the eyes and smiled.
"You could run for President to talk about children's issues," Obama said, according to Santa.
"He may not even remember any of this, but I say ‘well, maybe.’ So when I got home, I took it to heart," Santa explained. And so began Mr. Claus’ first run for the oval office.
Looking ahead to the August special election
A self-proclaimed independent, progressive, and democratic socialist, Santa pointed out that during the 2016 Democratic primary, Sanders captured 82 per cent of the vote in Alaska against eventual-nominee Hillary Clinton. That victory, Santa believes, shows that Alaskans have a lot of independent voters as well as a wide range of Democrats who like a progressive platform.
As far as the midterms go, Santa is encouraging voters to "vote Blue in ‘22," noting that, as an independent, he’s inclined to support progressive candidates.
The race to replace former Rep. Don Young, the former longest-sitting congressman who passed away at age 88, is a unique one: the winner will only serve four months in Congress, compared to the regular two-year term.
The new member of Congress will then have to decide whether to focus the remainder of Young’s term on completing the work of the session or shift to a subsequent campaign for the November midterms.