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For the first time since Jill Stein ran as the Massachusetts Green Party candidate for Governor in 2002, endorsed by the Rainbow Coalition Party, the merged Green-Rainbow Party is not running a candidate for the Corner Office.

But that doesn’t mean that the party is sitting this election out. Instead, three candidates have put themselves forward for statewide office, receiving the party’s endorsement and running as a slate. As we announced earlier, MK Merelice, Danny Factor, and  Ian Jackson are running for the constitutional positions of State Auditor, Secretary of the Commonwealth, and State Treasurer, respectively. Needing 5,000 certified signatures to get on the ballot, the slate had collected 6,646 raw signatures as of July 4, and is aiming for 9,000 by July 27th to protect against challenges by the Democrats and Republicans. For details on how to help ensure the slate makes it onto the ballot, see www.green-rainbow.org.

While Stein is the party’s female co-chair, she opted to continue organizing at the national level, following up on her 2012 campaign as the Presidential candidate of the Green Party of the U.S. along with Vice Presidential running mate Cheri Honkala. The Green-Rainbow Party needs 3% of the vote in one of their statewide races in order to regain major party status in Massachusetts, which would result in ballot access for a Presidential ticket in 2016.

How do you, dear readers, feel about not having a Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate this year? How do you feel about the chance of having a slate of candidates for Auditor, Secretary and Treasurer instead?  What do you think any of this means for independent politics in Massachusetts?

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2 Comments


  1. Of course I’d like to see a Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate but if no one stepped up to form a gubernatorial campaign team then that’s why there will not be a Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial choice on the ballot this year.

    I serve on the State Committee of the Green-Rainbow Party.  Although the State Committee may vote whether to give its endorsement of a candidate the committee does not decide which candidates are going to be placed on the ballot.  That is a function of a given campaign collected the requisite number of signatures.  I was happy to support the slate of three candidates with my State Committee vote that endorsed their respective nominations.

    Party members may encourage someone to run but only the candidate can make that ultimate decision.

    We’re often asked the question:  “Why isn’t the Green-Rainbow Party running a candidate for office x?”  The question assumes that the party has a certain power that it actually does not have.

    When more voters decide to register Green-Rainbow then we will see more candidates deciding to run on the Green-Rainbow Party ticket.  I am happy to encourage more voters to make that statement and happy to support good candidates – like this year’s slate – to step up.

  2. briancady413

    I understand that we now have over 6,000 certified signatures statewide, so we made it! Mass voters will have a green-rainbow choice this November.

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