Preliminary election returns show that Jesse Johnson, Mountain Party nominee for West Virginia Governor, polled 4.5% of the vote. That is the highest percentage for a minor party candidate for Governor of West Virginia since 1912, when the Socialist Party polled 5.6%.
The Mountain Party is affiliated with the Green Party nationally. It is the only ballot-qualified party in West Virginia, other than the two major parties. The only way for a party to become ballot-qualified is to poll 1% for Governor.
West Virginia has a tradition of great legal hostility toward minor parties. No minor parties appeared on the ballot for Governor in all the years 1936 through 1976.
Great job, Jesse!
Glad to hear he did well.
Awesome.
Are there any other third parties really active in West Virginia?
And for the record, the three Constitution Party candidates running on the county level ALL recieved far more votes than any Mountain (Green) Party candidate in the same county, between 90 and 370% more!
BERKELEY COUNTY:
Jeff Becker (CONST Party – cnty. surveyor): 2,888
Jesse Johnson (MTN Party – governor): 1,523
Klaus Heitman (MTN Party – county comm.): 1,501
WETZEL COUNTY:
Denzil Sloan (CONST Party – state house ): 893
Jeff Jarrell (CONST Party – sheriff): 711
Jesse Johnson (MTN Party – governor): 243
STATE LEVEL:
Chuck Baldwin (CONST Party – president): 2450
Cynthia McKinney (GREEN Party – president): 2,351
(Nader bested both collecting 7,168)
Way to go Jesse! You kept our ballot line in West Virginia and you were the first Green statewide candidate to get the endorsement of the Sierra Club.
Let’s hope it will free things up a little bit for all third parties.
Congratulations on a job well done!