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For Fans of a Third Party: How About the Franco Dok Harris Ticket?

Last year, Franco “Dok”* Harris, son of football legend Franco Harris (about whom I once wrote a book) ran for mayor of Pittsburgh. He ran under the Franco Dok Harris Party.
The incumbent mayor, Luke Ravenstahl (who is also very young, and who once made a move toward changing his name from Ravenstahl to Steelerstahl), ran on the Democratic and Republican tickets.
Harris has a fairly impressive resume to date:

“A North Side native, he graduated from Sewickley Academy in 1997 and Princeton University in 2001, getting a degree in politics. After working in banking in Washington D.C., he returned to Pittsburgh to enter the joint law-business degree program at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. He graduated last year. Mr. Harris works for his family’s business, Super Bakery Inc.”


Still, he was utterly unseasoned. And running on a vanity third-party ticket – fourth-party, really, as there was also a legitimate Independent candidate for Pittsburgh mayor – you wouldn’t think he’d get many votes. But he did all right:

Here’s a look at Dok in campaign mode:

If Dok doesn’t stick with his father’s healthy-doughnut business, perhaps he has a legitimate political future, whether as a candidate or an organizer.
*The “Dok” comes from his mom’s maiden name, Dokmanovich.


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