Greens spring forward in 2019 elections

Sixteen of 33 Greens elected in local Spring races
By Mike Feinstein, California

Greens are often known as ‘thinking globally and acting locally. In Spring 2019, many Greens acted locally by running for municipal and county office, with almost half of them winning election, including eight of nine incumbents.

In Illinois, environmental scientist and Alderman Peter Schwartzman (Galesberg, population 31,000) was re-elected to his third consecutive term on the City Council.

In Wisconsin, Barbara Dahlgren was re-elected to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress from Milwaukee County in a two round run-off after the first round ended in a tie.

The Wisconsin Conservation Congress is a statewide statutory advisory body to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on how to responsibly manage Wisconsin’s natural resources for present and future generations. Interviewed by Milwaukee’s National Public Radio station on election night, Dahlgren said about her campaign “I really want to keep public spaces public and keep as much land open to the public as possible. The other thing that I said two year ago that I’m still in favor now is science-based techniques to figure out how to man-age the land and the resources”

Edward Tar Larner

With an affordable housing crisis raging across the country, three Greens were elected to three Housing Authority seats, including incumbents Annie Chambers to the Baltimore Housing Authority in Maryland and Edward Tar Larner, to Concord Housing Authority in Massachusetts

In Missouri, Ed Williamson was elected as a write-in candidate for the Board of Trustees, Health Board, Texas County. An Associate Professor of Education at Drury University School of Education and Child Development, Williams filed as a write-in after being approached by community members after no one filed for the seat.

In Los Angeles, eight out of 12 Green candidates for Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils were elected. Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles are advisory to the City Council on issues like development, homelessness and emergency preparedness; and are similar bodies to Advisory Neighborhood Councils in Washington, DC. and to Planning Groups in the City and the County of San Diego.

Since 2003, at least 47 Greens have won Neighborhood Council seats, with many others appointed to vacancies. Offices like these are especially important entry points for Greens in local government in cities where city council and county supervisor districts are very large and populous.