Green Party History in the United States

If someone asks what you think of the Green Party, is Ralph Nader the only name that comes to mind? Depending on your opinion of them, you might be tempted to throw in “spoiler,” too. But the organization has a fascinating history, with enough twists, breakups and name changes to rival a soap opera. So just where does the budding party lay its roots?

The first Green Parties were founded mostly in Europe and New Zealand during the 1970’s. Inspired by the foreign chapters, organizational committees in the United States began meeting in 1984. They successfully created the Green Committees of Correspondence, laying the groundwork for the party and drafting the “Ten Key Values.”

“All Greens are united by the Ten Key Values,” according to the Green Party website. The list, which has no doubt evolved since 1984, seems an interesting mix of some libertarian and some socialistic ideals. Ecological preservation, nonviolence, decentralization and respect for diversity are central themes.

A Green candidate first appeared on a ballot in 1986, two years after the formative committees began meeting. For the next four years, bids for office would remain at a local level.

In 1990, Jim Sykes ran for governorship of Alaska, winning about 3 percent of the vote. While it may sound minuscule, it was enough to earn Greens ballot status in the state and give them greater national prominence. The following year saw the removal of the GCOC and the formation of the Greens/Green Party USA.

The number of Greens increased considerably over the next five years, but the 1995 convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico decided not to run a presidential candidate. In response to this rejection, a splinter faction began to emerge, running Ralph Nader as president and Winona LaDuke as vice president in 1996. The ticket garnered about .7 percent of the vote.

After the election, a handful of state Green Parties broke from G/GPUSA and formed the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP), which put a strong emphasis on running candidates for office, running Nader/LaDuke again in 2000, who would 2.7 percent of the vote, about four times that of the 1996 campaign.

The ASGP again ran Nader/LaDuke in 2000, and in October 2000 the group negotiated the “Boston Proposal” with the G/GPUSA, attempting to include the latter as a “complementary organization” that would focus on advancing issues while the ASGP would concentrate its efforts on running candidates. While the ASGP approved the proposal, G/GPUSA rejected it, leaving them to fall into relative obscurity while the ASGP, renamed the “Green Party of the United States,” became officially recognized by the Federal Election Commission in 2001.

In the 2004 elections, Ralph Nader, never a registered Green, split with the party, running as an independent with Peter Camejo as his running mate. David Cobb was chosen as the Green Party presidential nominee, selecting Pat LaMarche to join his campaign. When the votes were tallied, Nader had about .36 percent of the vote, and Cobb around .09 percent.

Despite having a United States presence for over twenty years, a stable Green Party has only recently emerged, especially in an historical context. Though not yet collecting even one percent of presidential votes, with a unified message and set of goals, the Green Party will likely grow considerably in the next few decades.