Green Party of the United States
Green Party of the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Green Party of the United States
Green Party of the United States Logo (2014).svg
Governing body Green National Committee
Founded April 2001; 19 years ago
Split from Greens/Green Party USA
Preceded by Association of State Green Parties
Headquarters 6411 Orchard Avenue, Suite 101, Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
Newspaper Green Pages
Youth wing Young Ecosocialists
Women's wing National Women's Caucus
LGBT wing Lavender Greens
Latinx wing Latinx Caucus
Black wing Black Caucus
Membership (February 2020) Decrease 246,377[1]
Ideology
Green politics[2]
Anti-capitalism[3]
Communalism[3]
Eco-socialism[3]
Political position Left-wing[4][5]
International affiliation Global Greens
Continental affiliation Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas
Colors Green
Seats in the Senate
0 / 100
Seats in the House
0 / 435
Governorships
0 / 50
State Upper House Seats
0 / 1,972
State Lower House Seats
0 / 5,411
Territorial Governorships
0 / 6
Territorial Upper Chamber Seats
0 / 97
Territorial Lower Chamber Seats
0 / 91
Other elected offices 130 (Mar. 2020)[6]
Appointed offices 6 (Nov. 2019)[7]
Website
gp.org
Politics of United States
Political parties
Elections
United States of America
Greater coat of arms of the United States.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the United States
Federal government[show]
Legislature[show]
Executive[show]
Judiciary[show]
Elections[show]
Political parties[show]
Federalism[show]
Flag of the United States.svg United States portal
Other countries
vte
The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a federation of Green state political parties in the United States.[8] The party promotes green politics, specifically environmentalism; nonviolence; social justice; participatory, grassroots democracy; gender equality; LGBTQ rights; anti-war; anti-racism and ecosocialism. On the political spectrum, the party is generally seen as left-wing.[3]
The GPUS was founded in 2001 as the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) split from the Greens/Green Party USA (G/GPUSA). After its founding, the GPUS soon became the primary national green organization in the country, eclipsing the G/GPUSA, which was formed in 1991 out of the Green Committees of Correspondence (CoC), a collection of local green groups active since 1984.[9] The ASGP, which formed in 1996,[10] had increasingly distanced itself from the G/GPUSA in the late 1990s.[11]
The Greens gained widespread public attention during the 2000 presidential election, when the ticket composed of Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke won 2.7% of the popular vote. Nader was vilified by many Democrats, who accused him of spoiling the election for Al Gore, the Democratic candidate.[12] Nader maintains that he was not a spoiler in the 2000 election.[13]
Contents
1 History
1.1 Early years
2 Ideology
3 Political positions
3.1 Economic issues
3.1.1 Healthcare
3.1.2 Education
3.1.3 Green New Deal
3.2 Social issues
3.2.1 Criminal justice
3.2.2 Racial justice
3.2.3 LGBT+ rights
3.3 Foreign policy
3.3.1 Iran
3.3.2 Israel/Palestine
4 Structure and composition
4.1 Committees
4.2 Green National Committee
4.3 Caucuses
5 Geographic distribution
6 Office holders
7 List of national conventions and annual meetings
8 Presidential ballot access
9 Electoral results
9.1 President and Vice President
9.2 Congress
9.2.1 House of Representatives
9.2.2 Senate
10 Fundraising and position on Super PACs
11 State and territorial parties
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
History
Main article: History of the Green Party of the United States
Early years
The political movement that began in 1985 as the decentralized Committees of Correspondence[14] evolved into a more centralized structure by 1990, opening a national clearinghouse and forming governing bodies, bylaws and a platform as the Green Committees of Correspondence (GCoC) and by 1990 simply The Greens. The organization conducted grassroots organizing efforts, educational activities and electoral campaigns.
Internal divisions arose between members who saw electoral politics as ultimately corrupting and supported the notion of an "anti-party party" formed by Petra Kelly and other leaders of the Greens in Germany[15] vs. those who saw electoral strategies as a crucial engine of social change. A struggle for the direction of the organization culminated a "compromise agreement", ratified in 1990 at the Greens National Congress in Elkins, West Virginia and in which both strategies would be accommodated within the same 527 political organization renamed the Greens/Green Party USA (G/GPUSA). It was recognized by the FEC as a national political party in 1991.
The compromise agreement subsequently collapsed and two Green party organizations have co-existed in the United States since. The Green Politics Network was organized in 1990 and the National Association of Statewide Green Parties formed by 1994. Divisions between those pressing to break onto the national political stage and those aiming to grow roots at the local level continued to widen during the 1990s. The Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) encouraged and backed Nader's presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. By 2001, the push to separate electoral activity from the G/GPUSA issue-based organizing led to the Boston Proposal and subsequent rise of the Green Party of the United States. The G/GPUSA lost most of its affiliates in the following months and dropped its FEC national party status in 2005.
Ideology
Part of a series on
Green politics
Sunflower symbol
Core topics[show]
Four pillars[show]
Perspectives[show]
Organizations[show]
Related topics[show]
vte
The Green Party of the United States follows the ideals of green politics, which are based on the Four Pillars, namely:
Ecological wisdom,
Social justice,
Grassroots democracy, and
Nonviolence.[16]
The Ten Key Values, which expand upon the Four Pillars, are as follows:[2]
Grassroots democracy,
Social justice and equal opportunity,
Ecological wisdom,
Nonviolence,
Decentralization,
Community-based economics,
Feminism and gender equality,
Respect for diversity,
Personal and global responsibility, and
Future focus and sustainability.
Peter Camejo was quoted in 2002 as claiming that he was a watermelon—green on the outside, but red on the inside.[17] In January 2004, he initiated the Avocado Declaration, which compares Greens to avocados. "An avocado is Green on the outside and Green on the inside".[18] The Declaration goes on to explain that Greens have a vital role in bringing democracy to the otherwise undemocratic two party system of the United States; that the Greens have a unique and independent identity as a third party, which cannot be subsumed into the Republican or Democratic parties; and that they cannot be dismissed by Republican or Democratic critics by implying that they are merely socialists or communists.
In 2016, the Green Party passed a motion in favor of rejecting both capitalism and state socialism, and instead supporting "alternative economic system based on ecology and decentralization of power".[2] The motion states the change that the party says could be described as promoting "'ecological socialism,' 'communalism,' or the 'cooperative commonwealth'".[2]
The Green Party does not accept donations from corporations, political action committees (PACs), 527(c) organizations or soft money. The party's platforms and rhetoric harshly criticize corporate influence and control over government, media, and society at large.[19]
Political positions
Economic issues
Healthcare
The Green Party supports the implementation of a single-payer healthcare system. They have also called for contraception and abortion procedures to be available on demand.[20]
Education
The Green Party calls for providing tuition-free college at public universities and vocational schools, increasing funding for after-school and daycare programs, cancelling all student loan debt, and repealing the No Child Left Behind Act. They are strongly against the dissolution of public schools and the privatization of education.[21]
Green New Deal
In 2006, the Green Party developed a Green New Deal that would serve as a transitional plan to a one-hundred-percent clean, renewable energy by 2030 utilizing a carbon tax, jobs guarantee, tuition-free college, single-payer healthcare and a focus on using public programs.[22][23][24]
Social issues
Criminal justice
The Green Party favors the abolition of the death penalty, repeal of Three-strikes laws, banning of private prisons, legalization of marijuana, and decriminalization of other drugs.[25]
Racial justice
The Green Party advocates for "complete and full" reparations to the African American community, as well the removal of the Confederate flag from all government buildings.[26]
LGBT+ rights
The party supports same-sex marriage, the right of access to medical and surgical treatment for transgender and gender-nonconforming people, and withdrawing foreign aid to countries with poor LGBT+ rights records.[26]
Foreign policy
The Green Party calls on the United States to join the International Criminal Court, and sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and Non-Proliferation Treaty. Additionally, it supports cutting the defense budget in half, as well as prohibiting all arms sales to foreign countries.[27]
Iran
The Green Party supports the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to decrease sanctions while limiting Iran's capacity to make nuclear weapons.[28]
Israel/Palestine
The Green Party advocates for the Palestinian right of return and cutting all U.S. aid to Israel. It has also expressed support for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.[29]
Structure and composition
Committees
The Green Party has two national committees recognized by the Federal Election Commission (FEC):
The Green National Committee (GNC)
The Green Senatorial Campaign Committee (GSCC)[30]
Green National Committee
Main article: Green National Committee
The GNC is composed of delegates elected by affiliated state parties. The state parties also appoint delegates to serve on the various standing committees of the GNC. The National Committee elects a steering committee of seven co-chairs, a secretary and a treasurer to oversee daily operations. The National Committee performs most of its business online, but it also holds an annual national meeting to conduct business in person.
Caucuses
Five Identity Caucuses have achieved representation on the GNC:
Black Caucus[31]
Latinx Caucus[32]
Lavender Greens Caucus[33] (LGBTQIA)
National Women's Caucus[34]
Young Ecosocialists[35]
Other caucuses have worked toward formal recognition by the GNC:
Disability Caucus[36]
Labor Caucus[37]
Indigenous Caucus[38]
Elder Caucus[39]
Geographic distribution
The Green Party has its strongest popular support on the Pacific Coast, Upper Great Lakes, and Northeast, as reflected in the geographical distribution of Green candidates elected.[40] As of June 2007, Californians have elected 55 of the 226 office-holding Greens nationwide. Other states with high numbers of Green elected officials include Pennsylvania (31), Wisconsin (23), Massachusetts (18) and Maine (17). Maine has the highest per capita number of Green elected officials in the country and the largest Green registration percentage with more than 29,273 Greens comprising 2.95% of the electorate as of November 2006.[41] Madison, Wisconsin is the city with the most Green elected officials (8), followed by Portland, Maine (7).
The 2016 presidential campaign of Jill Stein got substantive support from counties and precincts with a high percentage of Native American population. For instance, in Sioux County (North Dakota, 84,1% Native American), Stein gained her best county-wide result: 10.4% of the votes. In Rolette County (also North Dakota, 77% Native American), she got 4.7% of the votes. Other majority Native American counties where Stein did above state average are Menominee (WI), Roosevelt (MT) and several precincts in Alaska.[42][43]
In 2005, the Green Party had 305,000 registered members in states allowing party registration and tens of thousands of members and contributors in the rest of the country.[44] One challenge that the Green Party (as well as other third parties) faces is the difficulty of overcoming ballot access laws in many states, yet the Green Party has active state parties in all but a few states.
Office holders
Main article: List of Green politicians who have held office in the United States
Musician Jello Biafra ran for several offices with the Green Party, including for President in 2000
Malik Rahim, former Black Panther Party activist, ran for Congress in 2008 with the Green Party
Psychiatrist Joel Kovel ran for the Green Party's presidential nomination in 2000
2012 and 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein
As of October 2016, 143 officeholders in the United States were affiliated with the Green Party, the majority of them in California, several in Illinois, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with five or fewer in ten other states.[45] These included one mayor and one deputy mayor and fourteen county or city commissioners (or equivalent). The remainder were members of school boards, clerks and other local administrative bodies and positions.[45]
Several Green Party members have been elected to state-level office, though not always as affiliates of the party. John Eder was elected to the Maine House of Representatives, re-elected in 2004, but defeated in 2006. Audie Bock was elected to the California State Assembly in 1999, but switched her registration to independent seven months later[46] running as such in the 2000 election.[47] Richard Carroll was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2008, but switched parties to become a Democrat five months after his election.[48] Fred Smith was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2012,[49] but re-registered as a Democrat in 2014.[50] In 2010, former Green Party leader Ben Chipman was elected to the Maine House of Representatives as an unenrolled candidate and was re-elected in 2012 and 2014. He has since registered as a Democrat, and is serving in the Maine Senate.[51][52]
Gayle McLaughlin was twice elected mayor of Richmond, California, defeating two Democrats in 2006[53] and then reelected in 2010; and elected to City Council in 2014 after completing her second term as mayor.[54] With a population of over 100,000 people, it was the largest American city with a Green mayor. Fairfax, California; Arcata, California; Sebastopol, California; and New Paltz, New York are the only towns in the United States to have had a Green Party majority in their town councils. Twin Ridges Elementary in Nevada County, California held the first Green Party majority school board in the United States.[55]
On September 21, 2017, Ralph Chapman, a member of the Maine House of Representatives, switched his party registration from unaffiliated to Green, providing the Green Party with their first state-level representative since 2014.[56] Henry John Bear became a member of the Green Party in the same year as Chapman, giving the Maine Green Independent Party and GPUS its second currently-serving state representative, though Bear is a nonvoting tribal member of the Maine House of Representatives.
Though several Green congressional candidates have topped 20%, no nominee of the Green Party has been elected to office in the federal government. In 2016, Mark Salazar set a new record for a Green Party nominee for Congress. Running in the Arizona 8th district against incumbent Republican Congressman Trent Franks, Salazar received 93,954 votes or 31.43%.[57]
List of national conventions and annual meetings
The Green National Convention is scheduled in presidential election years and the Annual National Meeting is scheduled in other years. The Green National Committee conducts business online between these in-person meetings.
1996 – Los Angeles, California
2000 – Denver, Colorado
2001 – Santa Barbara, California
2002 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2003 – Washington, D.C.
2004 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2005 – Tulsa, Oklahoma
2006 – Tucson, Arizona
2007 – Reading, Pennsylvania
2008 – Chicago, Illinois
2009 – Durham, North Carolina
2010 – Detroit, Michigan
2011 – Alfred, New York
2012 – Baltimore, Maryland
2013 – Iowa City, Iowa
2014 – Saint Paul, Minnesota
2015 – St. Louis, Missouri
2016 – Houston, Texas
2017 – Newark, New Jersey
2018 – Salt Lake City, Utah
2019 – Salem, Massachusetts
2020 – Virtual Online (originally planned for Detroit, Michigan prior to COVID-19 pandemic)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Green Party of the United States
Green Party of the United States Logo (2014).svg
Governing body Green National Committee
Founded April 2001; 19 years ago
Split from Greens/Green Party USA
Preceded by Association of State Green Parties
Headquarters 6411 Orchard Avenue, Suite 101, Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
Newspaper Green Pages
Youth wing Young Ecosocialists
Women's wing National Women's Caucus
LGBT wing Lavender Greens
Latinx wing Latinx Caucus
Black wing Black Caucus
Membership (February 2020) Decrease 246,377[1]
Ideology
Green politics[2]
Anti-capitalism[3]
Communalism[3]
Eco-socialism[3]
Political position Left-wing[4][5]
International affiliation Global Greens
Continental affiliation Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas
Colors Green
Seats in the Senate
0 / 100
Seats in the House
0 / 435
Governorships
0 / 50
State Upper House Seats
0 / 1,972
State Lower House Seats
0 / 5,411
Territorial Governorships
0 / 6
Territorial Upper Chamber Seats
0 / 97
Territorial Lower Chamber Seats
0 / 91
Other elected offices 130 (Mar. 2020)[6]
Appointed offices 6 (Nov. 2019)[7]
Website
gp.org
Politics of United States
Political parties
Elections
United States of America
Greater coat of arms of the United States.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the United States
Federal government[show]
Legislature[show]
Executive[show]
Judiciary[show]
Elections[show]
Political parties[show]
Federalism[show]
Flag of the United States.svg United States portal
Other countries
vte
The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a federation of Green state political parties in the United States.[8] The party promotes green politics, specifically environmentalism; nonviolence; social justice; participatory, grassroots democracy; gender equality; LGBTQ rights; anti-war; anti-racism and ecosocialism. On the political spectrum, the party is generally seen as left-wing.[3]
The GPUS was founded in 2001 as the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) split from the Greens/Green Party USA (G/GPUSA). After its founding, the GPUS soon became the primary national green organization in the country, eclipsing the G/GPUSA, which was formed in 1991 out of the Green Committees of Correspondence (CoC), a collection of local green groups active since 1984.[9] The ASGP, which formed in 1996,[10] had increasingly distanced itself from the G/GPUSA in the late 1990s.[11]
The Greens gained widespread public attention during the 2000 presidential election, when the ticket composed of Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke won 2.7% of the popular vote. Nader was vilified by many Democrats, who accused him of spoiling the election for Al Gore, the Democratic candidate.[12] Nader maintains that he was not a spoiler in the 2000 election.[13]
Contents
1 History
1.1 Early years
2 Ideology
3 Political positions
3.1 Economic issues
3.1.1 Healthcare
3.1.2 Education
3.1.3 Green New Deal
3.2 Social issues
3.2.1 Criminal justice
3.2.2 Racial justice
3.2.3 LGBT+ rights
3.3 Foreign policy
3.3.1 Iran
3.3.2 Israel/Palestine
4 Structure and composition
4.1 Committees
4.2 Green National Committee
4.3 Caucuses
5 Geographic distribution
6 Office holders
7 List of national conventions and annual meetings
8 Presidential ballot access
9 Electoral results
9.1 President and Vice President
9.2 Congress
9.2.1 House of Representatives
9.2.2 Senate
10 Fundraising and position on Super PACs
11 State and territorial parties
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
History
Main article: History of the Green Party of the United States
Early years
The political movement that began in 1985 as the decentralized Committees of Correspondence[14] evolved into a more centralized structure by 1990, opening a national clearinghouse and forming governing bodies, bylaws and a platform as the Green Committees of Correspondence (GCoC) and by 1990 simply The Greens. The organization conducted grassroots organizing efforts, educational activities and electoral campaigns.
Internal divisions arose between members who saw electoral politics as ultimately corrupting and supported the notion of an "anti-party party" formed by Petra Kelly and other leaders of the Greens in Germany[15] vs. those who saw electoral strategies as a crucial engine of social change. A struggle for the direction of the organization culminated a "compromise agreement", ratified in 1990 at the Greens National Congress in Elkins, West Virginia and in which both strategies would be accommodated within the same 527 political organization renamed the Greens/Green Party USA (G/GPUSA). It was recognized by the FEC as a national political party in 1991.
The compromise agreement subsequently collapsed and two Green party organizations have co-existed in the United States since. The Green Politics Network was organized in 1990 and the National Association of Statewide Green Parties formed by 1994. Divisions between those pressing to break onto the national political stage and those aiming to grow roots at the local level continued to widen during the 1990s. The Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) encouraged and backed Nader's presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. By 2001, the push to separate electoral activity from the G/GPUSA issue-based organizing led to the Boston Proposal and subsequent rise of the Green Party of the United States. The G/GPUSA lost most of its affiliates in the following months and dropped its FEC national party status in 2005.
Ideology
Part of a series on
Green politics
Sunflower symbol
Core topics[show]
Four pillars[show]
Perspectives[show]
Organizations[show]
Related topics[show]
vte
The Green Party of the United States follows the ideals of green politics, which are based on the Four Pillars, namely:
Ecological wisdom,
Social justice,
Grassroots democracy, and
Nonviolence.[16]
The Ten Key Values, which expand upon the Four Pillars, are as follows:[2]
Grassroots democracy,
Social justice and equal opportunity,
Ecological wisdom,
Nonviolence,
Decentralization,
Community-based economics,
Feminism and gender equality,
Respect for diversity,
Personal and global responsibility, and
Future focus and sustainability.
Peter Camejo was quoted in 2002 as claiming that he was a watermelon—green on the outside, but red on the inside.[17] In January 2004, he initiated the Avocado Declaration, which compares Greens to avocados. "An avocado is Green on the outside and Green on the inside".[18] The Declaration goes on to explain that Greens have a vital role in bringing democracy to the otherwise undemocratic two party system of the United States; that the Greens have a unique and independent identity as a third party, which cannot be subsumed into the Republican or Democratic parties; and that they cannot be dismissed by Republican or Democratic critics by implying that they are merely socialists or communists.
In 2016, the Green Party passed a motion in favor of rejecting both capitalism and state socialism, and instead supporting "alternative economic system based on ecology and decentralization of power".[2] The motion states the change that the party says could be described as promoting "'ecological socialism,' 'communalism,' or the 'cooperative commonwealth'".[2]
The Green Party does not accept donations from corporations, political action committees (PACs), 527(c) organizations or soft money. The party's platforms and rhetoric harshly criticize corporate influence and control over government, media, and society at large.[19]
Political positions
Economic issues
Healthcare
The Green Party supports the implementation of a single-payer healthcare system. They have also called for contraception and abortion procedures to be available on demand.[20]
Education
The Green Party calls for providing tuition-free college at public universities and vocational schools, increasing funding for after-school and daycare programs, cancelling all student loan debt, and repealing the No Child Left Behind Act. They are strongly against the dissolution of public schools and the privatization of education.[21]
Green New Deal
In 2006, the Green Party developed a Green New Deal that would serve as a transitional plan to a one-hundred-percent clean, renewable energy by 2030 utilizing a carbon tax, jobs guarantee, tuition-free college, single-payer healthcare and a focus on using public programs.[22][23][24]
Social issues
Criminal justice
The Green Party favors the abolition of the death penalty, repeal of Three-strikes laws, banning of private prisons, legalization of marijuana, and decriminalization of other drugs.[25]
Racial justice
The Green Party advocates for "complete and full" reparations to the African American community, as well the removal of the Confederate flag from all government buildings.[26]
LGBT+ rights
The party supports same-sex marriage, the right of access to medical and surgical treatment for transgender and gender-nonconforming people, and withdrawing foreign aid to countries with poor LGBT+ rights records.[26]
Foreign policy
The Green Party calls on the United States to join the International Criminal Court, and sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and Non-Proliferation Treaty. Additionally, it supports cutting the defense budget in half, as well as prohibiting all arms sales to foreign countries.[27]
Iran
The Green Party supports the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to decrease sanctions while limiting Iran's capacity to make nuclear weapons.[28]
Israel/Palestine
The Green Party advocates for the Palestinian right of return and cutting all U.S. aid to Israel. It has also expressed support for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.[29]
Structure and composition
Committees
The Green Party has two national committees recognized by the Federal Election Commission (FEC):
The Green National Committee (GNC)
The Green Senatorial Campaign Committee (GSCC)[30]
Green National Committee
Main article: Green National Committee
The GNC is composed of delegates elected by affiliated state parties. The state parties also appoint delegates to serve on the various standing committees of the GNC. The National Committee elects a steering committee of seven co-chairs, a secretary and a treasurer to oversee daily operations. The National Committee performs most of its business online, but it also holds an annual national meeting to conduct business in person.
Caucuses
Five Identity Caucuses have achieved representation on the GNC:
Black Caucus[31]
Latinx Caucus[32]
Lavender Greens Caucus[33] (LGBTQIA)
National Women's Caucus[34]
Young Ecosocialists[35]
Other caucuses have worked toward formal recognition by the GNC:
Disability Caucus[36]
Labor Caucus[37]
Indigenous Caucus[38]
Elder Caucus[39]
Geographic distribution
The Green Party has its strongest popular support on the Pacific Coast, Upper Great Lakes, and Northeast, as reflected in the geographical distribution of Green candidates elected.[40] As of June 2007, Californians have elected 55 of the 226 office-holding Greens nationwide. Other states with high numbers of Green elected officials include Pennsylvania (31), Wisconsin (23), Massachusetts (18) and Maine (17). Maine has the highest per capita number of Green elected officials in the country and the largest Green registration percentage with more than 29,273 Greens comprising 2.95% of the electorate as of November 2006.[41] Madison, Wisconsin is the city with the most Green elected officials (8), followed by Portland, Maine (7).
The 2016 presidential campaign of Jill Stein got substantive support from counties and precincts with a high percentage of Native American population. For instance, in Sioux County (North Dakota, 84,1% Native American), Stein gained her best county-wide result: 10.4% of the votes. In Rolette County (also North Dakota, 77% Native American), she got 4.7% of the votes. Other majority Native American counties where Stein did above state average are Menominee (WI), Roosevelt (MT) and several precincts in Alaska.[42][43]
In 2005, the Green Party had 305,000 registered members in states allowing party registration and tens of thousands of members and contributors in the rest of the country.[44] One challenge that the Green Party (as well as other third parties) faces is the difficulty of overcoming ballot access laws in many states, yet the Green Party has active state parties in all but a few states.
Office holders
Main article: List of Green politicians who have held office in the United States
Musician Jello Biafra ran for several offices with the Green Party, including for President in 2000
Malik Rahim, former Black Panther Party activist, ran for Congress in 2008 with the Green Party
Psychiatrist Joel Kovel ran for the Green Party's presidential nomination in 2000
2012 and 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein
As of October 2016, 143 officeholders in the United States were affiliated with the Green Party, the majority of them in California, several in Illinois, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with five or fewer in ten other states.[45] These included one mayor and one deputy mayor and fourteen county or city commissioners (or equivalent). The remainder were members of school boards, clerks and other local administrative bodies and positions.[45]
Several Green Party members have been elected to state-level office, though not always as affiliates of the party. John Eder was elected to the Maine House of Representatives, re-elected in 2004, but defeated in 2006. Audie Bock was elected to the California State Assembly in 1999, but switched her registration to independent seven months later[46] running as such in the 2000 election.[47] Richard Carroll was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2008, but switched parties to become a Democrat five months after his election.[48] Fred Smith was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2012,[49] but re-registered as a Democrat in 2014.[50] In 2010, former Green Party leader Ben Chipman was elected to the Maine House of Representatives as an unenrolled candidate and was re-elected in 2012 and 2014. He has since registered as a Democrat, and is serving in the Maine Senate.[51][52]
Gayle McLaughlin was twice elected mayor of Richmond, California, defeating two Democrats in 2006[53] and then reelected in 2010; and elected to City Council in 2014 after completing her second term as mayor.[54] With a population of over 100,000 people, it was the largest American city with a Green mayor. Fairfax, California; Arcata, California; Sebastopol, California; and New Paltz, New York are the only towns in the United States to have had a Green Party majority in their town councils. Twin Ridges Elementary in Nevada County, California held the first Green Party majority school board in the United States.[55]
On September 21, 2017, Ralph Chapman, a member of the Maine House of Representatives, switched his party registration from unaffiliated to Green, providing the Green Party with their first state-level representative since 2014.[56] Henry John Bear became a member of the Green Party in the same year as Chapman, giving the Maine Green Independent Party and GPUS its second currently-serving state representative, though Bear is a nonvoting tribal member of the Maine House of Representatives.
Though several Green congressional candidates have topped 20%, no nominee of the Green Party has been elected to office in the federal government. In 2016, Mark Salazar set a new record for a Green Party nominee for Congress. Running in the Arizona 8th district against incumbent Republican Congressman Trent Franks, Salazar received 93,954 votes or 31.43%.[57]
List of national conventions and annual meetings
The Green National Convention is scheduled in presidential election years and the Annual National Meeting is scheduled in other years. The Green National Committee conducts business online between these in-person meetings.
1996 – Los Angeles, California
2000 – Denver, Colorado
2001 – Santa Barbara, California
2002 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2003 – Washington, D.C.
2004 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2005 – Tulsa, Oklahoma
2006 – Tucson, Arizona
2007 – Reading, Pennsylvania
2008 – Chicago, Illinois
2009 – Durham, North Carolina
2010 – Detroit, Michigan
2011 – Alfred, New York
2012 – Baltimore, Maryland
2013 – Iowa City, Iowa
2014 – Saint Paul, Minnesota
2015 – St. Louis, Missouri
2016 – Houston, Texas
2017 – Newark, New Jersey
2018 – Salt Lake City, Utah
2019 – Salem, Massachusetts
2020 – Virtual Online (originally planned for Detroit, Michigan prior to COVID-19 pandemic)
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