Families and Independence parties). In 2015, Hawkins ran for Syracuse City Auditor against incumbent Marty Masterpole. Hawkins noted that Masterpole had filed only two financial audits, and criticized him for auditing city skating rinks and golf courses while the city suffered from high poverty, failing infrastructure and struggling schools. Former District 2 city councilor Pat Hogan suggested to Hawkins that he should run for auditor, stating, "I'm not turning Green ... I am more concerned about the city than the party. The auditor is supposed to be a watchdog on the city budgets and Marty isn't doing any watching. There's a dearth of independence in city government." Hawkins lost the election, winning 35 percent of the vote. In 2017, Hawkins ran for Mayor of Syracuse as a Green Party candidate to replace outgoing mayor Stephanie Miner. One of his central campaign points was to restore the Erie Canal through Downtown Syracuse to help aide in the revitalization of the neighborhood, with the belief that 'Cities that capitalize on their waterways tend to have more vibrant downtowns'. Hawkins won 4.1% of the vote (excluding write-ins) and lost to independent Ben Walsh (54.4%, excluding write-ins), the first independent in the city's history. On April 12, 2018, Hawkins announced his third run for Governor of New York on the Green Party line. Hawkins and running mate Jia Lee received 95,716 votes (1.7%). 2020 presidential campaign Background In 2012 Hawkins was approached over the possibility of running for the Green Party nomination, but declined due to his employment commitments at UPS forcing him to campaign for offices in New York at most and would interfere with a national campaign. However, following Hawkins' retirement he was approached again to run by a draft movement with a public letter addressed to him that was signed by former Green vice presidential nominees Cheri Honkala and Ajamu Baraka, former Green mayoral candidate and Nader's 2008 running mate Matt Gonzalez, and other prominent Green Party members. Campaign On April 3, 2019, Hawkins announced that he was forming an exploratory committee to prepare for a potential candidacy for the Green Party 2020 presidential nomination and later Hawkins formally launched his campaign on May 28, 2019, in Brooklyn, New York. On August 23, 2019, the Hawkins campaign announced they had met the requisite federal matching funds for California and New York. The campaign must receive $5,000 from residents, with no more