Green Party of Virginia
The Green Party of Virginia (GPVA) is the Virginia state affiliate of the Green Party of the United States.
Campaigns
GPVA focuses on local elections for offices such as the Virginia House of Delegates, town council, board of supervisors, and soil & water conservation district (SWCD) board of directors. The party earned its first electoral victories in November 1997 when Phil Welch was elected to the Buena Vista Soil & Water Conservation District board [1] and Stephanie Porras was elected to the Lexington Soil & Conservation District board [2]. Since that time, several other GPVA members have run for office in both partisan and non-partisan races, with some success at the town council and SWCD level.
The most notable campaigns for office by a GPVA candidate in a partisan election have been Josh Ruebner's 2006, 2007 and 2008 candidacies for the Arlington County Board of Supervisors. Ruebner received extensive local media coverage for both campaigns. In 2007 he received a vote from 10.3% of Arlingtonians who came to the polls (two votes may be cast for the Arlington County Board of Supervisors race; he received 3,253 votes from among the 31,511 people who were counted as having voted), an unusually high percentage for a Virginia third party candidate running under a party label. Reeder received a vote share of 23.3% for the Arlington County Board in the 2008 elections. His vote count was 21,503, a figure which represents a significant increase of 10% from the 2007 elections. Reeder achieved this by running on a platform to promote affordable housing, increase recycling opportunities, and trim government waste. Furthermore, a Green Party-backed referendum to establish a housing authority, with the aim of increasing the County's available tools to address an ever-deepening affordable housing crisis, won 33% of the votes despite the opposition of both Democratic and Republican parties.[3]
Independent Greens split
In 2004, Carey Campbell Carey Campbell has recruited more Green Party candidates in Virginia than anyone. The state sister party to the Green Party of Virginia, the Independent Greens of Virginia has put thousands of candidates on the ballot in Virginia over the last 20 years. The Independent Greens of Virginia, with a greater emphasis on "More Trains, Less Traffic" "More Candidates, Less Apathy, and fiscal conservatism and social responsibility.
Presidential elections
- 2000 Ralph Nader 59,398 votes, 2.17% [4]
- 2004 David Cobb 104 votes (write-in) [5]
- 2008 Cynthia McKinney 2,316 votes [3]
Current officeholders
- Kathleen Harrigan, Fredericksburg Soil & Water Conservation District Board of Directors
- Daniel Metraux, Staunton Soil & Water Conservation District Board of Directors
- Chris Simmons, Loudoun Soil & Water Conservation District Board of Directors
References
- ^ http://216.92.191.78/elections/candidates.php?candidateId=1015&electionId=77&year=
- ^ http://216.92.191.78/elections/candidates.php?candidateId=1174&electionId=77&year=
- ^ a b "The Green Party of Virginia - Press Release". Vagreenparty.org. 2008-11-07. Retrieved 2010-09-04.
- ^ "Virginia November 2000 General Election". Thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved 2010-09-04.
- ^ "Virginia 2004 General Election". Thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved 2010-09-04.
External links
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