This year the Green party made incredible strides in the state and the country. Lack of national coverage did not stop Jill Stein’s national campaign from garnering over twice as many votes as the previous Green Party presidential candidate. In Colorado, Jill made a powerful appearance at the Boulder Smoke-Out and the 420 Rally to stand for cannabis rights. She was arrested not once, not twice, but THREE times defending nonviolence, social justice, and environmental wisdom.
Many local Colorado educators reached out to third parties in this election, teaching their students about the importance of hearing all voices in a democracy. Despite the lack of a presence in the national debates, we had the support of Democracy Now! and other powerful independent voices to push our message through.
Perhaps most important for Coloradans, our Greens waged powerful grassroots campaigns throughout the state. During the last month, volunteers were out on corners in major cities in Colorado waving signs alongside our local candidates. The first national party phone bank was successfully run from our state. We made great strides as a decentralized team to bring our message to a public drowning in vitriolic national discourse. Eric Fried, Secretary of the GPCO and Poudre Valley Chair, eloquently summed up our victories and our humble thanks:
“I would like to add my voice of thanks for all the courage and hard work of our Colorado candidates. In all cases, votes for Greens were many multiples of the number of registered Greens, despite near-total media blackout. In Larimer County , for instance, Susan Hall got over 4,000 votes, while we have only about 800 registered Greens. In El Paso county, thanks to the good work of Bob and others, Greens did especially well, with Karyna Lemus getting over 10,000 votes for county commissioner and Misha Luzov pulling in 17,000 for Congress, one of the best vote totals for a green congressional candidate in the US. Art Goodtimes was re-elected, and Stephen Schechter raised the visibility of a green alternative in Gunnison County. Thanks also to Chris Allen, state coordinator for Jill Stein, for all his hard work. ” -Eric Fried, GPCO State Secretary
We could not have done this without our dedicated volunteers, state officers, and candidates. I encourage all local Greens to take a moment and thank your local parties for the effort they put forth to make this election a success. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again. We have so much more to do, and without you all it would never happen.
Bill Bartlett
GPCO State Co-Chair
