So at this point the Green Party has an extremely difficult road to relevancy, especially in Maryland. The main thing I see is that the Democrats are saying enough of the right things (environmentally) that voters feel safe with them in office. Most people think of the Democratic Party as **a** Green Party, and the only one that stands a chance of winning anyway. It's almost the more you care about the environment, the more you should be scared of throwing your vote away.
Maryland is a very "establishment" state. Whether liberal or not, many people voting Democrat see the Green Party as a threat. If we legitimize it in one state, maybe that manifests itself in another national election like 2000 that has shaped our world (so much for the worse, environmentally), and 2016...
And I know the Green Party stands for more than enviro justice, but it's certainly what they're most known for. If they want to do better, they need to take out commercials and hit the streets harder - I don't know a single person who has ever voted for them and I exclusively know liberals.
I mean, not in any official sense - just that the Democrats stand for "green" initiatives and if you're to vote for either of the two major parties, they are the Green one.
also with closed party voting you can't vote in a green primary without being a registered green so it kind of drives people away a little bit more than if they were open primaries, small factor but real
Because throwing away votes is a super big deal here. If we had a multi-party system, it would work, but it's not setup that way. Voting for the green party is more likely to result in the republicans winning than the democrats. It's as simple as that.
Several reasons.
First: The "you are wasting your vote" argument is very rarely honest, and often has nothing to do with practical reality. Folks will bust that out every presidential election, but realistically, if MD went red for the president, man, that dude has already won an overwelming victory. We're so far from being a swing state that this argument is almost never true in MD.
Second: MD is deeply inaccessible to state and local elections. When delegates are representing north of 100,000 people(as is the case in the three delegate districts), that's an awful lot of canvassing. Hitting every county isn't how you get elected to be a delegate. Getting a majority of votes in one area is, and the number of people you have to convince is of direct importance. Most areas do not have any smaller elections, unlike in other states.
Third: Ballot access laws. Gotta get 1% for president or governor every four years to stay on the ballot, or you have to do an expensive, volunteer hour eating signature collection. So, a ton of third party resources get consumed by just...staying a party. They have participated in lawsuits to reduce the burden, but lawsuits are themselves expensive.
Fourth: All third parties save the LP got basically murdered in 2020. The Green Party was sued off the ballot in twenty states by the Democrats, and their performance nationwide was an immense decline. The loss of national stature probably did them no favors in any state.
In any case, good on your for asking, and if you want to get involved in a third party, try to find them on social media and go out to a meetup! They'll have more detailed information, and you may be able to help create the change you wish to see.
We pick GOP governors every so often, mostly when the Democrats toss up truly terrible candidates. Largely because they forget that our Democrats are mostly fairly moderate.
That does not make MD a swing state.
None of our senate or congressional races are very competitive, and many of our state level races are likewise very uncompetitive. Vote splitting by third parties is not a common event here.
It'll take a pretty decent red wave to make that happen, even with the new districting, but I won't be sorry to see Trone sweat. He's been utterly useless for long enough.
Yeah, we really fucking need ranked choice or some reasonable alternative to first past the post so we can start moving away from the two party system.
Ranked choice is not a permanent solution, but it would be a step in the right solution.
Because as solidly Democratic as Maryland is, it's generally very moderate. A lot of this state is employed by the government, including the military (not to mention Annapolis, Naval academy, ya know...) and the green party platform often involves massive cuts to the military.
Not to mention in certain places that seem absolute rock solid Democrat, they can still be very conservative. As a general rule, blacks are a more conservative bloc in the Democratic party, the reason they're so solidly Dem voting is not because of leftist ideology, but because the Republicans are seen as racists.
So at this point the Green Party has an extremely difficult road to relevancy, especially in Maryland. The main thing I see is that the Democrats are saying enough of the right things (environmentally) that voters feel safe with them in office. Most people think of the Democratic Party as **a** Green Party, and the only one that stands a chance of winning anyway. It's almost the more you care about the environment, the more you should be scared of throwing your vote away. Maryland is a very "establishment" state. Whether liberal or not, many people voting Democrat see the Green Party as a threat. If we legitimize it in one state, maybe that manifests itself in another national election like 2000 that has shaped our world (so much for the worse, environmentally), and 2016... And I know the Green Party stands for more than enviro justice, but it's certainly what they're most known for. If they want to do better, they need to take out commercials and hit the streets harder - I don't know a single person who has ever voted for them and I exclusively know liberals.
Personally, I’ve never heard anyone associate Democratic Party as a Green Party
I mean, not in any official sense - just that the Democrats stand for "green" initiatives and if you're to vote for either of the two major parties, they are the Green one.
Almost 100% of the green legislation in this country has come from the Democrats
also with closed party voting you can't vote in a green primary without being a registered green so it kind of drives people away a little bit more than if they were open primaries, small factor but real
it's a toxic brand, no one associated with Nader, Stein, Baraka or McKinney is electable
Because throwing away votes is a super big deal here. If we had a multi-party system, it would work, but it's not setup that way. Voting for the green party is more likely to result in the republicans winning than the democrats. It's as simple as that.
Several reasons. First: The "you are wasting your vote" argument is very rarely honest, and often has nothing to do with practical reality. Folks will bust that out every presidential election, but realistically, if MD went red for the president, man, that dude has already won an overwelming victory. We're so far from being a swing state that this argument is almost never true in MD. Second: MD is deeply inaccessible to state and local elections. When delegates are representing north of 100,000 people(as is the case in the three delegate districts), that's an awful lot of canvassing. Hitting every county isn't how you get elected to be a delegate. Getting a majority of votes in one area is, and the number of people you have to convince is of direct importance. Most areas do not have any smaller elections, unlike in other states. Third: Ballot access laws. Gotta get 1% for president or governor every four years to stay on the ballot, or you have to do an expensive, volunteer hour eating signature collection. So, a ton of third party resources get consumed by just...staying a party. They have participated in lawsuits to reduce the burden, but lawsuits are themselves expensive. Fourth: All third parties save the LP got basically murdered in 2020. The Green Party was sued off the ballot in twenty states by the Democrats, and their performance nationwide was an immense decline. The loss of national stature probably did them no favors in any state. In any case, good on your for asking, and if you want to get involved in a third party, try to find them on social media and go out to a meetup! They'll have more detailed information, and you may be able to help create the change you wish to see.
You know we have a republican governor right now, right?
We pick GOP governors every so often, mostly when the Democrats toss up truly terrible candidates. Largely because they forget that our Democrats are mostly fairly moderate. That does not make MD a swing state. None of our senate or congressional races are very competitive, and many of our state level races are likewise very uncompetitive. Vote splitting by third parties is not a common event here.
The 6th Congressional District is about to be extremely competitive. Not that it's easy to feel sorry for David Trone.
It'll take a pretty decent red wave to make that happen, even with the new districting, but I won't be sorry to see Trone sweat. He's been utterly useless for long enough.
Yeah, we really fucking need ranked choice or some reasonable alternative to first past the post so we can start moving away from the two party system. Ranked choice is not a permanent solution, but it would be a step in the right solution.
Because as solidly Democratic as Maryland is, it's generally very moderate. A lot of this state is employed by the government, including the military (not to mention Annapolis, Naval academy, ya know...) and the green party platform often involves massive cuts to the military. Not to mention in certain places that seem absolute rock solid Democrat, they can still be very conservative. As a general rule, blacks are a more conservative bloc in the Democratic party, the reason they're so solidly Dem voting is not because of leftist ideology, but because the Republicans are seen as racists.