10 Mar Q&A With Dr. Butch Ware: Green Party Candidate Aims to ‘Crash the Party’ With Ideas That Disrupt the Governor’s Race

Randolph “Butch” Ware is running for governor of California as a member of the Green Party. He was Jill Stein’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election. (The Feachaz, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Edward Henderson | California Black Media 

Editor’s Note:
This California Black Media Q&A series with California’s gubernatorial candidates is intended to inform voters about where the candidates for governor stand on key issues. The opinions, assertions, and claims expressed are those of the candidates and have not been independently verified; they may or may not be supported by publicly available data.

Dr. Butch Ware is the Green Party representative running for governor of California.  

Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Minneapolis, Ware made his way to California seven years ago when he joined the faculty at the University of California at Santa Barbara. 

Specializing in West Africa, Islamic Knowledge & Spirituality, and the African Diaspora, Ware began his political journey as the 2024 vice-presidential candidate alongside Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party.

Inspired by the teachings of political activists and revolutionaries from the Civil Rights Movement along with his spiritual grounding in Islam, Ware says throwing his name in the hat disrupts the race for governor of California, as he stands firm in his belief that “politics is a tool in the revolutionary toolkit to create change for the working class.” 

California Black Media spoke with Ware about his decision to step into politics, his progressive political platform that “crashes the party”; and his belief that now is the time for a third party to imagine a radically different future for the state. 

Your first foray into electoral politics was at the national level as the Green Party’s vice-presidential nominee during the 2024 election. What led to your selection for that role?

I didn’t go looking for a political role — they came to me. In 2020, the week George Floyd was murdered, I opened a public social media account for the first time. I had already been teaching about Black resistance traditions, African history, and Islam since I was 19. My platform grew quickly, especially as I connected Black liberation with Palestinian liberation, something leaders like Malcolm X, Kwame Ture and [Nelson] Mandela also emphasized. That visibility led me to interview Dr. Jill Stein. Twenty-four hours later, I was asked if I’d consider running as her VP candidate. 

What was the selling point for you to accept that invitation?

Two moments in my interview with her sealed it for me. First, I asked about reparations. She said it’s been calculated many times — between $10 [trillion] and $14 trillion is owed to descendants of the enslaved — and she supported cash payments. That was powerful. 

Second, I asked her about her broader vision for U.S. foreign policy. She said her goal was to dismantle the American global empire. That echoed Malcolm, Kwame Ture and the Panthers. That kind of honesty showed me she was serious. 

What inspired you to enter the race for governor of California?

People often criticize the Greens for only showing up during presidential cycles. That’s false. There are hundreds of elected Greens nationwide — but it’s true that the party needs more community infrastructure.

California is both my home and the most strategic state for building independent political power. It leans more progressive than anywhere else in the country. Running here gives us a real chance to challenge the political duopoly. Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, once said, “The United States is a single-party state, but with classic American extravagance, they have two of them.”

Democrats and Republicans serve the same donors: developers, corporations, AIPAC, and weapons manufacturers. They just package it differently. 

Your platform highlights housing, healthcare and homelessness. How is your approach different from your competition, and is it financially realistic?

Unlike my Democratic opponents Xavier Becerra and Katie Porter, I fully support universal healthcare in California. Gavin Newsom promised it, but when insurance companies gave Democrats $2.7 million, they pulled the bill.

The truth is, 70% of California healthcare spending already comes from taxpayers. The extra 30% goes to insurance companies whose business model is to deny care. Cut out the middlemen, and universal healthcare is already affordable. With modest taxes on the state’s 186 billionaires, we can more than cover the costs. 

This ties into the larger fight against neoliberalism — the philosophy that private enterprise should run essential public services. That only means less service for more money, with corporations pocketing the difference.

On your website, you refer to “solidarity beyond identity and ideology.” Can you explain what that concept means in practice and how it shapes your policy vision?

Fred Hampton said, ‘We don’t fight racism with racism; we fight racism with solidarity.’That’s the heart of it.

My ancestors were enslaved in Georgia. The master narrative of American history ignores our suffering. But what we’ve always shown America is that ideals like freedom and democracy are worth fighting for — even when the nation betrayed them. Our struggle has been about holding America accountable to its professed principles.  

I believe we can end white supremacy and imperialism in our lifetime if we root ourselves in our traditions while standing on universal principles of justice.

Beyond politics, who are you as a person? What brings you joy?

Growing up, I only wanted to be a baseball player or an emcee. I got into college on a baseball scholarship, throwing 90 mph at 17. Fitness is still huge for me. I benched 225 for 30 reps at age 50.

I’m also still an emcee. During 2020, I produced albums with a collective called Slum Prophecy, collaborating with legends like Wise Intelligent and Akil from Jurassic 5. We make hip-hop rooted in revolutionary culture, but accessible. 

And, of course, I’m a father. I raised four daughters and now have a 15-year-old autistic son. Showing up for people with disabilities is crucial for me.