The Pacific Green Party of Oregon (PGP) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, recognized by the Oregon Secretary of State. It is affiliated with the

Green Party of the United States The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a federation of Green state political parties in the United States. The party promotes green politics, specifically environmentalism; nonviolence; social justice; participatory democracy, grassroot ...

. The party has occasionally elected candidates to public office at the

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

level. The party gained public attention during

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...

's presidential campaign in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, which saw Nader garner over 5% of the vote statewide.

History

The party was initially founded as the Pacific Party in 1992, largely in response of the perceived failure of the Democratic Party to provide meaningful opposition to the 1991 Gulf War. Many of the party's early candidates were also highly involved in the

forest protection Forest protection is a branch of forestry which is concerned with the preservation or improvement of a forest and prevention and control of damage to forest by natural or man made causes like forest fires, plant pests, and adverse climatic cond ...

movement. These included candidate for

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Lou Gold in 1994; Joe Keating for Congress and Andy Davis for state representative in 1996; and Blair Bobier for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and Karen Moskowitz for U.S. Senate in 1998. Davis and Keating were arrested for civil disobedience at the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

office building in downtown Portland during the campaign, chaining themselves to a desk along with local activist attorney Stu Sugarman.

was the party's nominee for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

in 1996, and his vice-presidential candidate,

Winona LaDuke Winona LaDuke (born August 18, 1959) is an American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for Vice ...

, came to Portland and walked a local

picket line A picket line is a horizontal rope along which horses are tied at intervals. The rope can be on the ground, at chest height (above the knees, below the neck) or overhead. The overhead form is usually called a high line. A variant of a high l ...

in support of raising the minimum wage. 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. In 2004, Teresa Keane, the Green Party's candidate for the

, 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), a seven-member committee elected by the National Committee of the Green Party of the United States to raise funds for senate candidates. 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.

Platform

The party's platform emphasizes environmentalism, economic and social justice, peace and nonviolence, and respect for diversity. The party's platform expresses the following positions: * Public campaign financing for all campaigns for public office and strict limits on political campaign contributions * Support for

net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

* Support for instant run-off voting,

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in the

Oregon State Legislature The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the H ...

, and proportional allocation of Oregon's Electoral College (United States) votes by Congressional district with the end goal of electing the President solely by the popular vote with the abolishment of the Electoral College (United States) * Voting rights for convicted felons and ex-felons * Passage of a Single-payer health care system * Protection of a women's right to abortion and supportive of legal

physician-assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

* Establishment of carbon taxes to promote use of renewable energy * Opposed to nuclear weapons and to using nuclear power to generate electricity * Support for legalization and cultivation of hemp and marijuana * Support for a ban on patent claims on naturally originating organisms and plants * Support for the establishment of a federal

Department of Peace The Department of Peace is a proposed cabinet-level department of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. History The peace movement in the United States has a proposed legislative history that dates to the first year ...

* Support for the release of nonviolent drug offenders from prison * Opposed to private prisons * Abolishment of the death penalty * Abolishment of the state's lottery

Current elected officials

The following are currently elected Green officeholders in the state of Oregon. * 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''

Election results

Presidential elections

Senate elections

Gubernatorial elections

References

External links

Official web site

Green Party of the United States (GPUS)

Green Party Ballot Status and Voter Registration Totals
{{OregonPoliticalParties Political parties in Oregon

Political parties established in 1997 1997 establishments in Oregon