Candidates associated with the Libertarian and the Green-Rainbow Parties will officially be on the upcoming Massachusetts general election ballot.
Tuesday afternoon was the last day for federal and statewide candidates not affiliated with one of the two major parties to file nomination papers with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Candidates appearing on next week’s Republican and Democratic primary ballots were required to file nomination papers in June.
Four Libertarians will appear on the ballot this November for statewide positions. Candidates include Kevin Reed and Peter Everett for Governor and Lt. Governor, Cris Crawford for Treasurer, and Daniel Riek for Auditor. Gary Multer originally submitted the required number of signatures to appear on the ballot for Secretary of the Commonwealth; however, he had to withdraw after using a PO Box on his paperwork.
A Libertarian will also be on the ballot for Congress. Mark Tashjian, a local businessman who owns the Boston Polo Club, is running for Congress out of Massachusetts’ fifth congressional district. Tashjian is the first Libertarian to run for office in the fifth congressional district since Dan Fishman in 2012.
All five statewide candidates are publicly involved with or have campaign team members with the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts, one of two competing Libertarian organizations in the state. While not formally associated with either organization, Tashjian has been given an endorsement by the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Libertarians held two competing state conventions earlier this year due to an internal schism. The schism drew from several ongoing factors, including national affairs, a proposed code of conduct by the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts State Committee, and the expulsion of over 45 party members.
Supporters associated with the members discharged from the Party organized a special state convention in February. They initially identified themselves as the “Legit Libertarian Association of Massachusetts” but recently rebranded as the Unified Libertarians of Massachusetts, which they will formalize at their 2023 state convention. The Libertarian Association of Massachusetts, the original organization, continued to hold its regularly scheduled convention on April 23. Unified Libertarians of Massachusetts, under their previous name, met again on April 24 and had what they regarded as the regularly scheduled convention.
The outcome led to the election of two separate State Committees and two Libertarian National Convention delegations competing for recognition. The Libertarian National Committee voted in June to recognize the Unified Libertarians of Massachusetts as the official state affiliate. The Libertarian Association of Massachusetts has since voted to disaffiliate from the Libertarian National Committee.
Cris Crawford, the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts treasurer and a party candidate in a two-way race this November, told Independent Political Report that the two sides have been unable to work together.
Crawford said that John Dixson, chair of the Unified Libertarians of Massachusetts, offered to put his name forward as one of five committee members responsible for finding a replacement gubernatorial candidate in the event Kevin Reed couldn’t run, but that the Unified Libertarians of Massachusetts offered little else. She additionally said that the Reed campaign invited the communications director of the Unified Libertarians of Massachusetts to join his team but was turned down.
Unified Libertarians of Massachusetts has not returned Independent Political Report’s request for clarification or if they are running additional candidates on a legislative level.
The Green-Rainbow Party will also be fielding two candidates for statewide office.
The Green-Rainbow Party is the recognized state affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. It owes its unique name to the 2002 merger between the original Massachusetts Green Party and the older Rainbow Coalition Party created by prominent Boston community organizer Melvin King in the 90s.
Party Co-Chair Lois Gagnon confirmed with Independent Political Report that the Green-Rainbow Party would be on the November ballot. The Party is running Gloria Caballero-Roca for Auditor and Juan Sanchez for Secretary of the Commonwealth. Caballero-Roca previously ran for Mayor of Holyoke in 2021, falling short in the preliminary mayoral election. Sanchez is also an experienced candidate, earning 3.6% of the vote in his first run for Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2018.
Gagnon additionally confirmed that the Green-Rainbow Party has a candidate on the ballot for state representative. Michael Lavery is running in the third Berkshire district against incumbent Democratic Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier. Lavery is the first Green-Rainbow Party candidate to challenge Farley-Bouvier since 2011, when Mark Miller came within less than 200 votes of defeating her in a four-way election.
For both parties, ballot access is a serious goal. Massachusetts currently recognizes the Democratic and Republican Parties; however, that will expand if any of the six third-party statewide candidates secure over 3% of the vote in their race. Independent Political Report is awaiting clarification from the Massachusetts Election Division on how major party status would impact the situation related to Massachusetts Libertarians.
The Massachusetts general election is on November 8, 2022.
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Disclosure: The author of this piece was selected to be a delegate to the LNC at the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts April 23 convention.
Editor’s note: Nick Giannone confirmed with Independent Political Report that he also filed nomination papers and received enough signatures to get on the ballot as the Workers Party candidate for Auditor. 9/6/2022
In Pennsylvania, 9% enrolled would make them a minor party, without automatic ballot access of any kind, and governed by the same rules as Greens, Libertarians etc.
Massachusetts voters mostly see candidates running unopposed. Republicans are running candidates for 5 of 6 statewide offices, 8 of 9 Congressional seats, 4 of 8 on the Governor’s Council, 19 of 40 in the State Senate, and 55 of 160 in the State House. The precedent is that several of the Republican State Senators or Representatives are probably running unopposed. Of course, only 9% of registered voters have enrolled as Republicans.
Thanks Jordan! Looking forward to the further article.
Editor’s note: Nick Giannone confirmed with Independent Political Report that he also filed nomination papers and received enough signatures to get on the ballot as the Workers Party candidate for Auditor. IPR will revisit the Workers Party for a separate article.
Hello, Peter! I didn’t hear anything confirming that their candidate made the statewide ballot, which is what I primarily focused on when writing this article. The information on the additional legislative candidates was offered to me. Unfortunately for Massachusetts third parties, strong legislative and local showings don’t contribute the same toward major party status.
I know that their state senate candidate was successful in making it on the ballot. I need confirmation on their other legislative candidate. I intend to revisit the Workers Party for an additional article!
Did the Workers Party of Massachusetts succeed in getting its statewide candidate (for Auditor I believe) on the ballot? They were also running one candidate each for state senate and state house, but the MA board of elections office doesn’t seem to have info on general election candidates yet.