Green Party of Ohio

The Green Party of Ohio is the state party organization for Ohio of the Green Party of the United States.

Green Party of Ohio
Founded	Early 1990s
Headquarters	1021 East Broad Street Columbus, OH 43205
Ideology	Green politics
Political position	Left-wing
National affiliation	Green Party of the United States
Colors	Green
Seats in the Upper House	0 / 33
Seats in the Lower House	0 / 99
Website
www.ohiogreens.org
Politics of the United States Political parties Elections

History

The Green Party of Ohio grew out of a network of 5 Green "locals" associated with the Green Committees of Correspondence that were formed in the early 1990s. These included the Central, NW, NE, SW and SE Ohio Greens. These "Locals" made up the Ohio Greens and helped in the formation of The Greens/Green Party USA (G/GPUSA), the only national Green organization at the time.

Among other activities, this network of Green Locals formed the Ohio Greens Anti-Nuclear Organizing Committee (OGANOC) to fight against the creation of a multi-state low-level radioactive waste dump in Ohio. After several years of work, the Ohio Blue Ribbon Commission that had been formed to create the dump gave up their efforts due to the rising costs of doing so.^[1]

In the mid-1990s, and leading up to the 1996 US presidential election and Ralph Nader's minimalist candidacy, the Greens in Ohio were caught up in the strategic debate that found its expression at the national level in the competing GPUSA/Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) tendencies. Some Ohio Greens were decidedly non-electoral and did not support the ASGP effort for a Nader candidacy. The Green Party of Ohio's effort to put Nader on the ballot in 1996 fell about 315 signatures short.^[2]

In January 2000, Paul Dumouchelle convened a meeting of 11 prominent Ohio Greens and formed the committee that got Nader on the ballot in Ohio that year. Ohio sent four delegates to the Denver Convention that nominated Nader: David Ellison, Daryl Davis, and two others. Ohio had an active statewide Nader campaign and electoral results were similar to the national level. Logan Martinez ran for a State Representative seat in Dayton that year, as well.^[3]

Having won Minor Political Party status in Ohio through a lawsuit, the Green Party of Ohio ran its first candidates with Green Party affiliation on its ballots. In Cuyahoga County, David Ellison and Alan Crossman ran in the 2010 elections for County Executive and County Council.^[4]

In 2014, the party retained its place as a ballot-qualified party thanks to Anita Rios's campaign for Governor.^[5]

In April 2016, Cleveland City Councilman Brian Cummins switched from the Green Party to the Democratic Party.^[6]

The party helped its presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein fundraise for recounts in three states.^[7]

In June 2021, the Ohio Green Party announced the revival of their Youth caucus, the Young Eco-Socialists. A month later, they began reviving more state-wide caucuses. In July 2021, the Labor Caucus of the Ohio Green Party was formed, the first of its kind for a state party in the Green Party of the United States, focuses solely on labor organizing and supporting the labor movement. Since July 2021, the Black Caucus, Women's Caucus, Energy (Anti-Nuclear) Caucus, and Lavender (LGBTQIA) Caucus have been launched.

During the 2021 local elections, the Ohio Green Party ran K.A. Heard Jr. and Logan Simmering for City Council in Cincinnati. They also ran James Kushlan for Toledo City Council at-large.^[8]

In May 2023, Wood County Green Party co-chair Joseph DeMare declared his candidacy for Bowling Green mayor. He finished second of three with 26.32% of the vote.^[9][10]

Electoral performance

Ohio gubernatorial election, 2006^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ted Strickland	2,435,505	60.54%	+22.23%
	Republican	Ken Blackwell	1,474,331	36.65%	−21.11%
	Libertarian	Bill Peirce	71,473	1.78%
	Green	Bob Fitrakis	40,967	1.02%
	Write-ins		652	0.02%
Majority			961,174	23.89%	+4.44%
Turnout			4,022,928
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing

Ohio gubernatorial election, 2010^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Kasich	1,889,186	49.04%	+12.39%
	Democratic	Ted Strickland (incumbent)	1,812,059	47.04%	−13.50%
	Libertarian	Ken Matesz	92,116	2.39%	+0.61%
	Green	Dennis Spisak	58,475	1.52%	+0.50%
	Write-ins		633	0.02%
Plurality			77,127	2.00%	-21.89%
Turnout			3,852,469
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing

Ohio gubernatorial election, 2014^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Kasich (incumbent)	1,944,848	63.64%	+14.60%
	Democratic	Ed FitzGerald	1,009,359	33.03%	−14.01%
	Green	Anita Rios	101,706	3.33%	+1.81%
Total votes			3,055,913	100.0%	N/A
	Republican hold

Ohio gubernatorial election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Mike DeWine	2,231,917	50.39%	−13.25%
	Democratic	Richard Cordray	2,067,847	46.68%	+13.65%
	Libertarian	Travis Irvine	79,985	1.81%	N/A
	Green	Constance Gadell-Newton	49,475	1.12%	−2.21%
	Independent	Renea Turner (write-in)	185	0.00%	N/A
	Independent	Richard Duncan (write-in)	132	0.00%	N/A
	Independent	Rebecca Ayres (write-in)	41	0.00%	N/A
Total votes			4,429,582	100.0%	N/A
	Republican hold