The Green Party of Alaska (GPAK) was a political party in the U.S. state of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

. It was the Alaska affiliate of the Green Party of the United States from its founding until 2021. The Green Party of Alaska was the first state to gain Green Party ballot access, in 1990, when

Jim Sykes James L. Sykes (born April 8, 1950) is a producer and elected official in the state of Alaska notable for being one of the founders of the Green Party of Alaska. Early life and career Jim Sykes was born in Rapid City, South Dakota and moved to A ...

ran for governor. Sykes had previously filed a ballot access lawsuit, citing an earlier case, '' Vogler v.

Miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...

''. In 2020, the leadership of the Green Party of Alaska refused to place Green Party nominees

Howie Hawkins } Howard Gresham Hawkins III (born December 8, 1952) is an American trade unionist, environmental activist, and perennial candidate from New York. A co-founder of the Green Party of the United States, Hawkins was the party's presidential nomin ...

and Angela Nicole Walker on the ballot and instead draft-nominated a ticket with Jesse Ventura for president and

Cynthia McKinney Cynthia Ann McKinney (born March 17, 1955) is an American politician, academic, and conspiracy theorist. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first African American ...

for vice-president. McKinney accepted the vice-presidential nomination. Because of this, the Green Party of the United States national committee voted in January 2021 to decertify the GPAK.

Issues

The Green Party of Alaska is opposed to industrial oil development in the

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildli ...

. It supports the development of alternative fuels and energy sources such as

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...

and

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

. The party supports a national single-payer healthcare system.

History

Early history (1990–2020)

Ballot status

The Green Party first gained ballot access in 1990, but lost its Recognized Political Party status in 2002. Ballot access was regained in 2003 based on a court order, lost again in 2005, and regained in February 2006 when Superior Court Judge Stephanie Joannides issued a preliminary injunction against the State of Alaska, preventing the state from denying access to the Green Party. On June 3, 2007 a lower Alaska state court upheld Alaska's new definition of "political party" and the Green Party of Alaska was removed from the ballot. The judge wrote that she had to uphold the new definition of "political party", because the Alaska Supreme Court had upheld the old definition of "political party" on November 17, 2006. In 2005, the party sued the State of Alaska over the issue of joint primary ballots and won in the Supreme Court of Alaska. In 2012, the Alaska Green party put forth a statewide petition, seeking status as a "limited political party" which would allow them to put names on the ballot for presidential and vice-presidential candidates. A total of 3,273 signatures is needed in Alaska to qualify as a limited political party. The Alaskan Greens submitted approximately 4,500 signatures.

Decertification by GPUS (2020–present)

In late 2020, the Alaska Green Party broke from the Green Party of the United States and nominated former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura and former U.S. Representative and 2008 Green Party presidential nominee

for president and vice president respectively, instead of

and Angela Nicole Walker. The Ventura–McKinney ticket received 2,673 (0.74%) votes. In January 2021, as the result of breaking with the GPUS, the GPAK was officially decertified, and as a result is no longer the Alaskan state party chapter of the GPUS. The GPUS has begun the process of replacing it with a new GPAK.

Organization

Elections

The Green Party of Alaska has gained more than 10% of the votes in past presidential and congressional elections. The most notable example was in 2000, when Alaska voters gave presidential candidate

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the Un ...

his highest state percentage. Nader made headlines when he carried the Girdwood precinct, located at the extreme southern end of

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

corporate limits. In 1996, the party's U.S. Senate nominee Jed Whittaker came in second, out-polling Democratic nominee Theresa Obermeyer, who had been disowned by her party. The first election victory associated with the Alaska Green party was in 1991, when environmentalist Kelly Weaverling was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Cordova, then a town of about 2,500. Weaverling had previously drawn national attention for his work in the aftermath of a March 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Prince William Sound. Municipal elections in Alaska are nonpartisan, though Weaverling's association with the party was highly publicized at the time.

References

Sources

*Alaska Division of Elections

*Green Party Election Results
Wayback Machine

External links

GPAK statewide blog
*

Social media

* * {{United States state and local political parties Political parties in Alaska