Green Party Watch

On Friday, Day 2 of the Annual National Meeting, there were multiple events going on all day from Platform meetings, budget discussions, candidate press conferences, strategic planning sessions and National Committee Plenary meetings.

News came in about the Texas judge, a Democrat, throwing the Green Party of Texas statewide candidates off the ballot that afternoon. kat swift and several other Texas Greens arrived after train delays late in the day, and the battle in Texas for ballot access is not over. The decision will be appealed, but it should also be noted that apparently the Democrats restraining order on the Green candidates applied only to their statewide candidates, meaning regional and local candidates for the Green Party of Texas *will* be on the ballot regardless of the outcome of the legal system.

A reception Friday night featured many more candidates, all of whom were great speakers and energized the crowd. Videos of some of those candidates will be posted here soon.

As Saturday, day 3 of the ANM gets underway, more Plenary meetings, more strategic planning, and a degree of anticipation as the voting ends for new Steering Committee members at 5 PM although the official results will not be announced until Sunday morning. The six candidates running for three co-chair positions on the Steering Committee include Lori Burton (OR), Craig Thorsen (CA), Julie Jacobson (HI), Theresa el-Amin (NC), Audrey Clement (VA) and Vivek Ananthan (PA). I expect the results to be close. Jeff Turner (HI) is the only candidate running for Treasurer of GPUS.

The three new co-chairs and Treasurer will join continuing Secretary Holly Hart (IA) and continuing co-chairs Farheen Hakeem (MN), David Strand (Lavender Caucus), Jason Nabewaniac (NY) and Mike Feinstein (CA).

More later.