Political party in Oregon
The Pacific Green Party of Oregon (PGP) is a political party in the U.S. state of Oregon, recognized by the Oregon Secretary of State.[3] It is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. The party has occasionally elected candidates to public office at the local level.
The party gained public attention during Ralph Nader's presidential campaign in 2000, which saw Nader garner over 5% of the vote statewide.
History
The party was initially founded as the Pacific Party in 1992,[citation needed] largely in response of the perceived failure of the Democratic Party to provide meaningful opposition to the 1991 Gulf War.[citation needed]
Many of the party's early candidates were also highly involved in the forest protection movement. These included candidate for United States Senate Lou Gold in 1994; Joe Keating for Congress and Andy Davis for state representative in 1996; and Blair Bobier for governor and Karen Moskowitz for U.S. Senate in 1998.[citation needed] Davis and Keating were arrested for civil disobedience at the United States Forest Service office building in downtown Portland during the campaign, chaining themselves to a desk along with local activist attorney Stu Sugarman.
Ralph Nader was the party's nominee for President of the United States in 1996, and his vice-presidential candidate, Winona LaDuke, came to Portland and walked a local picket line in support of raising the minimum wage.[citation needed] In addition to running candidates for office that year, the Pacific Party helped pass initiatives to raise the state minimum wage and expand the Portland area light rail system.[citation needed]
In 2004, Teresa Keane, the Green Party's candidate for the United States Senate, won 2.4% of the vote – more than any other Green candidate for the U.S. Senate in that year. In 2006 Keane was elected Chair of the newly formed Green Senatorial Campaign Committee (GSCC),[4] a seven-member committee elected by the National Committee of the Green Party of the United States to raise funds for senate candidates.[5]
In 2020 the Lane County chapter of the PGP contended with the PGP Statewide Coordinating Committee, energized by the strength of Lane’s appeal to constituencies on the libertarian and right sides, as well as the left, evidenced by large numbers of signatures collected to support Lane affiliated candidates for Federal office, which horizontally challenged the SCC that was deemphasizing anti-imperialism while credulous on Russia-gate, even as party registration had declined by approximately 20% relative to 2016.
Current elected officials
The following are currently elected Green officeholders in the state of Oregon.[7]
- Alex Polikoff, Corvallis Rural Fire Protection District - term through May 2021
- Cindy Johnsen, John Day Water District, Commissioner Position 5 (Clatsop County) - term through May 2021
