Rocky De La Fuente

Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente Guerra (born October 10, 1954) is an American businessman and politician.

De La Fuente was born on October 10, 1954, at Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California, the son of automobile dealer and business park developer Roque Antonio De La Fuente Alexander (circa 1923 – 2002) and Bertha Guerra Yzaguirre.

His parents raised him in Mexico (Mexico City, Tijuana, Baja California), and in the United States (San Diego and Anaheim).

He was educated by his parents and the Legionaries of Christ, the Marist Brothers, the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart, Daughters of the Holy Spirit and the Jesuits.

De La Fuente earned a B.S. in physics and mathematics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and studied accounting and business administration at Anahuac University near Mexico City.

Between 1976 and 1990 (when he took over his father's automobile dealerships after his father had had a stroke ), De La Fuente acquired 28 automobile franchises for Alfa Romeo, American Motors Corporation, Audi, Cadillac, Chrysler, Daihatsu, Dodge, GMC, Honda, and other brands.

He also opened three banks (one national bank approved by the OCC and two state charter banks approved by the California Banking Commission and the FDIC), assisted living facilities in Los Angeles and Lemon Grove, California, and eleven currency exchange locations in the United States and Mexico.

In 1997, De La Fuente received a settlement of $38.7 million from San Diego County for 524 acres of land belonging to him and his father that the county had taken to build a new county jail.

He sees potential profit to be found in the border wall being erected by the Trump administration, as his properties include 2000 acres along the border, surrounding areas that the government will be using.

He intends to set a high price for the land, saying, "I'm in the business of making money."

In 2004, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued an order barring De La Fuente from participating in any FDIC-insured institution.

De La Fuente appealed and the 9th Circuit reversed the order in part and advised the FDIC to reconsider its sentence, stating that "De La Fuente's use of [First International Bank] as his personal piggy bank was in shocking disregard of sound banking practices and the law to the detriment of depositors, shareholders, and the public. Nevertheless, we remand this matter to the Board for it to consider, in light of this disposition, whether this extraordinary sanction remains deserved."

In November 2015, De La Fuente and the city of San Diego settled a decades-long legal dispute over land-use issues regarding a 312-acre area that De La Fuente is developing in Otay Mesa.

As of 2015, De La Fuente owned businesses and properties in Mexico, the United States, and Uruguay.

A perennial candidate, De La Fuente was the Reform Party nominee in the 2016 and 2020 United States presidential elections.

He also appeared on his own American Delta Party's presidential ticket in 2016, and on those of the Alliance Party and American Independent Party in 2020.

De La Fuente unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for President in 2016, and the Republican nomination in 2020.

De La Fuente campaigned for president in the 2016 United States presidential election.

He sought the Democratic Party's nomination during their presidential primaries.

His campaign did not win a single primary or a single delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

De La Fuente founded the American Delta Party and ran as that party's nominee with his running mate Michael Steinberg.

He was also the presidential nominee of the Reform Party, which had ballot access in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Mississippi.

Although De La Fuente's platform was at odds with the Reform Party platform, he was able to get his supporters to vote within its primaries.

De La Fuente received 33,136 votes in the general election, 0.02% of the total popular vote.

He received no electoral votes.

In the popular vote De La Fuente placed eighth overall, behind the Democratic Party's Hillary Clinton, Republican Party's Donald Trump, Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson, Green Party's Jill Stein, independent Evan McMullin, Constitution Party's Darrell Castle, and Party for Socialism and Liberation's Gloria LaRiva.

In 2016, De La Fuente and Stein sued the state of Oklahoma over the state's high requirement for petitions.

On June 20, 2016, De La Fuente paid the $10,440 (~$ in ) qualifying fee to run for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 election for US senator from Florida, over a seat then occupied by Republican Marco Rubio.

He competed with Patrick Murphy, Alan Grayson, Pam Keith, and Reginald Luster for the nomination.

Murphy won the nomination; De La Fuente came in fourth-place out of five candidates, receiving 60,606 votes (5.38% of the overall vote).

They dismissed the suit in 2017 after Oklahoma eased their requirements.

De La Fuente sought the Republican nomination for Mayor of New York City in the 2017 election.

He joined the race claiming that private polling data showed him defeating the two Republican candidates who were then entered, Paul Massey and Michel Faulkner.

De La Fuente's candidacy ran into problems with his lack of residency.

City law requires candidates to be residents of the city prior to the election.

He has also run for Congress numerous times, losing primaries for United States Senate in nine states simultaneously in 2018.

In February 2018, De La Fuente won two court cases slightly easing ballot access requirements in Virginia and Washington.

De La Fuente's history of ballot access suits and his victories received a write-up from the Federal Judicial Center.

He also lost the March 2020 primary for U.S. House of Representatives seat for California's 21st congressional district.

He has campaigned as a critic of President Donald Trump's immigration policies.