Kasey Wells, of Illinois, stopped in Centralia Thursday afternoon on his cross-country bid to be a write-in candidate in the 2020 presidential election. Behind his truck, he is towing a metal elephant sculpture made with salvaged parts and painted with his political beliefs.
Kasey Wells, of Illinois, stopped in Centralia Thursday afternoon on his cross-country bid to be a write-in candidate in the 2020 presidential election. Behind his truck, he is towing a metal elephant sculpture made with salvaged parts and painted with his political beliefs.
Kasey Wells, of Illinois, stopped in Centralia Thursday afternoon on his cross-country bid to be a write-in candidate in the 2020 presidential election. Behind his truck, he is towing a metal elephant sculpture made with salvaged parts and painted with his political beliefs.
Kasey Wells, of Illinois, stopped in Centralia Thursday afternoon on his cross-country bid to be a write-in candidate in the 2020 presidential election.
Kasey Wells, of Illinois, stopped in Centralia Thursday afternoon on his cross-country bid to be a write-in candidate in the 2020 presidential election.
For the past four months, Kasey Wells has been traveling across the country towing a colorful metal elephant sculpture to get the word out — he wants to be the next president of the United States.
“I left home with 500 dollars and a dream four months ago,” he said.
Wells, of Indiana, stopped in Centralia Thursday on his cross-country mission to register as a write-in candidate in the 2020 presidential election in as many states as possible.
In Washington, a person can register as a declared write-in candidate up to 18 days before a primary or general election.
“There’s a lot of reasons, but the number one policy I’m promoting is direct democracy,” Wells said. I want to empower the American people in the political process using our smart phones and computers, to allow all u.s. citizens to get a vote on public policy.”
A closer look at the elephant shows a myriad of details. It starts with an old Standard Oil farm fuel tank and spirals out into vintage wire-spoke car wheels, metal hoses and chains, sports trophies and even knives and forks.
Wells said he’s a metal scrapper and crafted the sculpture with a friend, who is a painter. Much of which is painted with Wells’ political beliefs.
The point of the elephant he said, is that money, earned from oil particularly, is the elephant in the room in politics.
“The Declaration of Independence states that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and so without our consent they really have no justifiable cause,” Wells said. “I just want to help create a system that allows us to provide our consent and obligate our elected leaders to serve our collective interest. Because right now it feels like they’re serving private interests over public interests. That’s not the way this country is supposed to be.”
Wells said he’s gotten a warm reception from most of the people he’s met on his journey.
“I would say about 80 percent of the people I spend more than two minutes talking to tell me, “Hey you got my vote,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re just being nice saying that, but it really makes my day when I hear it.”
For more information on Wells, go to kaseywellsforpresident.com or check him out on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
