On March 11, Ross Mirkarimi told the press that he has changed his voter registration from “Green” to “Democratic”. See this story from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Mirkarimi had been the Green Party’s only county supervisor in California, although the party still has some California city councilmembers, and has Mayor of Richmond, California, is a registered Green. Thanks to Irv Sutley for this news.
If only San Francisco had instant runoff voting.
Oh wait, they DO. :}
Maybe time to try FUSION?
SF has IRV for local elections only. That leaves out any partisan races, including state senate, state assembly, governor, congress, etc.
It is fairly common for officials elected on a third party ticket to eventually switch to one of the big parties. Often they see such a switch as necessary to give them a chance at higher office.
Third parties have to devote more effort to changing the political climate, increasing their pools of affiliated voters, and establishing sustainable organizations. Elected officials are always going to be fickle.
This is sad. It’s probably because he’s going to run for mayor. He’s warned of this in the past.
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Ross, your’re probably right. But being a green wasn’t such a bad thing back in 2003, incidentally before IRV was implemented.
Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez was a very competitive challenger against Gavin Newsome in the 2003 traditonal runoff:
2003 Results
GAVIN NEWSOM. . . . . . . . . . 133,546 52.81
MATT GONZALEZ . . . . . . . . . 119,329 47.19
http://www.sfgov.org/site/election_index.asp?id=19802
Turnout was awesome, apparently voters found the contest compelling.
2003 San Francisco Mayoral Contest – Traditional Runoff Election
PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 562). . . . . 562 (100%)
REGISTERED VOTERS – TOTAL . . . . . 466,127
BALLOTS CAST – TOTAL. . . . . . . . . 253,872
VOTER TURNOUT – TOTAL . . . . . . . . 54.46
http://www.sfgov.org/site/election_index.asp?id=19802
Pingback: Ross Mirkarimi Switches Party Affiliation From Green to Democrat
For a take on the current state of the Green Party of California, listen to this interview with GPCA Spokesperson, Derek Iversen, by host Sonali Kolhatkar on KPFK radio two days ago: http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=12607
“Maybe time to try FUSION?”
No thanks, Joyce. My Greens aren’t interested in putting your corporate Blue Dog Dems on our ballot lines.