(The Center Square) – Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced Saturday that eight non-redundant Green Party candidates would run in the general election. The Green Party is an independent political party “affiliated with American social movements,” according to the Green Party website.
The Green Party currently has 100 elected officials across the country, but no Green Party candidate has ever been elected to federal or state office in Arizona. The ineligible candidates were not included in Arizona’s official primary due to a clerical error, according to an Aug. 17 Department of State press release explaining the process for electing a candidate who is not elected to office.
“A candidate elected for a newly recognized political party must receive a majority of the party’s votes for the office for which they are running,” the press release states. “A party with continuing representation requires at least as many votes as it would have received in petition signatures. The winning candidates in the primary will all receive their nomination certificates in the days following the vote count, and these Green candidates who won their party’s nomination are included.”
Green Party candidates entering the parliamentary election:
Eduardo Quintana, U.S. Senate – Eduardo Quitaro is running for Arizona’s vacant U.S. Senate seat against Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Ruben Gallego. According to Quintana’s campaign website, he is running with the Arizona Green Party to “offer a political alternative outside of our failed two-party system that is headed toward nuclear war and environmental catastrophe.”
Quintana’s priorities include ending the Israeli-Palestinian war, stopping the burning of fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy sources, and transitioning to an eco-socialist economy.
Vincent Beck-Jones, Congressman from the 4th U.S. Congressional District – Vincent Beck-Jones will run for Congressman from the 4th U.S. Congressional District. He will face incumbent Democrat Greg Stanton and Republican Kelly Cooper. According to Cooper’s campaign website, he is a firm Green Party ally.
“Our country was once founded on the ideals of freedom and choice,” it says on its website. “But for 237 years we have been trapped in a system of ‘us versus them.’ A political duopoly in which the two parties are merely opposite sides of the same coin. We must choose which option seems less harmful to us. That is not a real choice. Without choice, we have no freedom.”
Athena Eastwood, U.S. Representative for the 6th Congressional District – Green Party candidate Athena Eastwood will run in the general election as a candidate for U.S. Representative for the 6th Congressional District, facing Republican Juan Ciscomani and Democrat Kirsten Engel.
Tre Rook, State Representative from the 8th Congressional District – Tre Rook is running in the general election as the Green Party candidate. Two candidates are elected for each congressional district and Rook will face Republican Abe Hamadeh and Democrat Gregory Whitten in the general election.
Cody Hannah, 3rd District Representative – Student and activist Cody Hannah is one of the newest candidates for legislative office in Arizona. He is running for the Green Party and will face Republican Jeff Weninger and Democrat Brandy Reese in the general election.
“Cody is a committed advocate for people, planet and peace, and he is willing to work with and oppose both Democrats and Republicans in the Arizona Legislature to fight for the needs of working-class Arizonans and our environment,” Hannah’s campaign website states.
Scott Menor, State Representative for the 14th Congressional District – Scott Menor, an unregistered Green Party candidate, will face Republicans Laurin Hendrix and Khyl Powell in the general election.
Menor said that by running for LD 14 state House of Representatives, he hopes to “break the duopoly. I can represent you and give you an outsized voice as an independent voter in the Arizona State House of Representatives,” his campaign website states.
Menor’s other priorities include electoral reform, universal health care, education, basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, housing, mobility and autonomy, and access to abortion.
Mike Cease & Nina Luxenberg, Corporation Commission – Mike Cease and Nina Luxenberg are the Green Party candidates running for one of three open seats for Arizona Corporation Commissioner. Other candidates they will face include Republicans Rachel Walden, Rene Lopez and Lea Marquez Peterson and Democrats Ylenia Aguilar, Jonathan Hill and Joshua Polacheck.
For more information on the primary results and the other candidates, visit the State Department website.
