The Green Party of California and the Peace and Freedom Party are backing a shared slate of candidates for several statewide offices in California’s June primary election.
In a joint statement last month, the Peace and Freedom Party and Green Party of California said the two organizations “fully support” what they call a Left Unity Slate, which includes Alice Stek for lieutenant governor, Gary Blenner for secretary of state, Meghann Adams for controller, Glenn Turner for treasurer, Marjorie Mikels for attorney general, Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas for insurance commissioner, and Frank Lara for superintendent of public instruction.
“Every vote cast for them will be an effective action to push for the needs of the people, and an effective act of resistance to the billionaires,” the statement reads.
The full slate of candidates appear on California’s official certified list for the June 2 primary, though not all with the same party preference. Stek, Adams, and Vargas are listed with the Peace and Freedom Party; Blenner, Turner, and Mikels are listed with the Green Party; and Lara is listed in the nonpartisan race for superintendent of public instruction.
Under California election law, most statewide offices use a top-two primary system, with all candidates appearing on the same ballot regardless of party preference. The two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party and even if one candidate receives a majority in the primary. The state superintendent of public instruction race is an exception, with a candidate able to win outright in the primary by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote.
Notably absent from the slate is a shared gubernatorial candidate. The Peace and Freedom Party has a member on the primary ballot for governor in Ramsey Robinson, while the Green Party of California has backed Dr. Butch Ware, the party’s 2024 vice presidential nominee. Robinson is listed on the certified ballot as a Peace and Freedom candidate. Ware, however, will not appear on the primary ballot after the California Secretary of State’s office rejected his tax-return filings.
A Sacramento judge rejected Ware’s lawsuit in late March, concluding that he did not file the correct tax returns in time to qualify for the ballot. Ware argued that he had corrected the filings and accused state officials of creating arbitrary barriers to his campaign, while the Secretary of State’s office said his paperwork contained multiple inconsistencies. Ware has since said he will continue his primary campaign as a write-in candidate.
Robinson has also denounced Ware’s exclusion from the ballot, calling it “an attack on all third parties and progressive movements” in a statement shared by the Peace and Freedom Party.
“Weaponizing minor mistakes and legal technicalities with an army of well paid lawyers is a consistent tactic that the two billionaire-backed parties use to eliminate progressive choices for voters,” Robinson said. “To get on the ballot, any grassroots campaign needs to overcome many obstacles designed to keep working people out of the race.”
Be First to Comment