Ballot Access News reports:
The Pennsylvania Green Party, and the Pennsylvania Libertarian Party, both had legislative candidates in 2010 who set new records for each of those parties in legislative campaigns in that state.
The Green Party nominee for State House, 194th district, Hugh Giordano, received 18.50% of the vote in a race that also included a Democrat and a Republican. Giordano almost outpolled the Republican, Timothy Downey, who got 19.77%. The district is partly in Montgomery County and partly in Philadelphia County. Giordano is a 26-year-old organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). He won the endorsement of one of the Democrats who had sought the Democratic nomination for this seat. Giordano’s share of the vote is the highest for any Green Party nominee (who was not simultaneously the nominee of the Democratic Party) for Pennsylvania legislative races. The previous Green Party best percentage for a Pennsylvania legislative race had been 17.43% in 2006, but that was a race with only one major party nominee.
The Libertarian Party nominee for State House, 120th district, Tim Mullen, received 14.91% of the vote in a race that also included a Democrat and a Republican. The district is in Luzerne County, which contains Wilkes-Barre. Mullen is a health care professional and a veteran of both Iraq wars. He knocked on the doors of a majority of the voters in the district. He was endorsed by the Luzerne County Controller, as well as the Republican nominee for the 120th district from the 2006 election. He is the only Libertarian for Pennsylvania legislature (running against opponents from both major parties) who has ever exceeded 8.81% of the vote.
Minor party candidates in Pennsylvania, especially for an office that is not close to the top of the ballot, suffer from that state’s straight-ticket device. The last time a minor party elected anyone to the Pennsylvania legislature was 1934, when the Socialist Party re-elected its two legislators from Reading.
I understand that a very good candidate and LP member from Ohio, just moved to Pennsylvania. He got record votes as Treasurer candidate in Ohio and endorsement of the largest major newspaper in Ohio. Is Pennsylvania LP reaching out to this opportunity??? His name is Matthew Cantrell.
Don’t squander the opportunity LPPA
From BAN comments on this article:
# In memory of lost liberty … Says:
January 15th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
That is the purpose of “top-two.” It will not only wipe out 3rd parties, it will eliminate independents and lead to a single, state-controlled party, an amalgamation of the powers that control the Democrats and Republicans joined together in a single entity.
# Paulie Says:
January 15th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
right again!
Too bad their statewide candidates were kept off the ballot by some of the most ridiculous barriers ever invented.
good 4 them, hurray!