Cris Ericson (born May 16, 1952) is an American marijuana legalization activist and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

for public office in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. She has unsuccessfully run for the governorship of Vermont nine times and for a seat in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

eight times.

Early life

Cris Ericson was born in Washington, D.C., on May 16, 1952. From 1970 to 1971, she attended

Goddard College Goddard College was a Private college, private college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle. The college offered undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor ins ...

. In 1976, she graduated from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

with a bachelor of arts degree.

Career

Vermont elections

During the 2002 Vermont gubernatorial election Ericson was one of four independent candidates and ran under the Make Marijuana Legal party line. In the general election she placed fourth behind

Jim Douglas James Holley Douglas (born June 21, 1951) is an American politician from the U.S. state, state of Vermont. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he served as the List of governors of Vermont, 80th governor of Vermont from 2003 to 2011. ...

, Doug Racine, and Cornelius Hogan. During the 2004 Vermont gubernatorial election she ran as an independent under the Marijuana party line. In the general election she placed third behind Douglas and Peter Clavelle. She ran for

governor of Vermont The governor of Vermont is the head of government of the U.S. state of Vermont. The officeholder is elected in even-numbered years by direct voting for a term of two years. Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold guberna ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. In 2020, she ran for the gubernatorial, lieutenant gubernatorial, attorney general, treasurer, secretary of state, and auditor nominations of the Vermont Progressive Party. The Vermont Progressive Party sought volunteers to run in the primaries and for party members to write-in David Zuckerman in the gubernatorial primary and Doug Hoffer in the auditor general primary to prevent Ericson from winning. She was able to appear on the ballot due to lower ballot access requirements instituted due to COVID-19. She was defeated by Zuckerman, who won as a write-in candidate, in the gubernatorial primary. However, she won the Progressive nominations for lieutenant governor, auditor, secretary of state, attorney general, and treasurer. Ericson called for a recount in the gubernatorial primary.

United States Congress

During the 2004 United States Senate election in Vermont Ericson ran under the Marijuana party line and placed third behind

Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph Leahy ( ; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who represented Vermont in the United States Senate from 1975 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he also was the pr ...

and John A. McMullen. During the 2006 United States Senate election in Vermont she ran for the Republican nomination, but was defeated by Richard Tarrant. In the general election she ran as an independent and placed third behind

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

and Tarrant.

Electoral history

Notes

References

External links