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Green Candidates Show a 44% Win Rate So Far in 2004. |
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Tuesday, May 4, 2004 Contacts: WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party candidates have a 44% win rate for elections in which they participated between January 1 and April 30, 2004. 39 Greens ran for office in the first four months of 2004, with 17 victories, which translates to 43.6%. The Green Party of the United States currently counts at least 255 candidates in this year's races; more are expected to announce. Many of the candidates will meet with the national party during the Green Party's Presidential Nomination Convention, which will take place June 23-28 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "This year, we have a percentage of wins through April 30 of 43.6% -- a batting average of 436," explained Brent McMillan, Political Director of the Green Party of the United States. "Our batting average has more than doubled during the Bush Administration." Greens tend to win more elections in the spring than in regular state legislative partisan races on Election Day in November. In irregular and special elections, Greens and other third party and independent candidates often face fewer ballot access restrictions. The figures for Green wins were bolstered by a large number of candidates participating in the April 6 spring elections in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Green candidate Shwaw Vang was re-elected to his second term on the Madison School Board. Vang received 70% (19,987 votes), beating a well-funded extreme conservative challenger. Vang, who is Hmong, emigrated to the U.S. from Laos, and grew up in Madison, had earlier survived a vicious recall effo t by right-wing activists that was promoted by Rush Limbaugh. In Dane County, Wisconsin, two Green Party incumbents, county supervisors Kyle Richmond and Echnaton Vedder, went unopposed because their support was so strong that both Democrats and Republicans determined it wasnt worth the effort. Greens also counted two write-in victories in northern Wisconsin, for Portage County supervisor Taniya Fatticci and Winnebago County supervisor David Machotka. In New Mexico, Fran Gallegos was re-elected as Santa Fe municipal judge on March 2, with 55% of the vote in a four-way election. Gallegos is popular for her innovative sentencing practices that favor community service instead of imprisonment. Gallegos, who is Latina, is currently the only Green judge in the U.S. Steven Krulick's victory in a special election as Ellenville village trustee sustains the Green Party's momentum in New York, where Jason West, New York's first Green mayor, has attracted national attention by officiating same-sex marriages in New Paltz. MORE INFORMATION search: prty, elct |