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 February

PA Green Party Elects 2025 Leaders

On January 12, thirty-five Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) delegates and their friends from 10 counties chose a new Steering Committee. Faced with threats from conservative office holders on the national and state level, this growing socialist party will have much work in continuing their growth during 2025.

Green Party delegates elected Co-Chair Timothy Runkle (Lancaster), who had been an active Green Party leader since 2005 . . . . Runkle will join Co-chair Theron Gilliland Jr, who continues his term in office. Three new Steering Committee Members-at-Large were elected from Allegheny, Centre and McKean Counties.

Colleen Schmotzer, a new member of the Green Party of Allegheny County (GPOAC), had been a co-chair of the Abandon Biden (Harris) Campaign. She had also been active with Muslims and Allies for Palestinian Rights. Schmotzer told GREEN STAR, “I ran for the Steering Committee because the Green Party aligns with my values as a grassroots organization. I could no longer be a part of the Republican/Democratic duopoly. I want to offer new ideas, as well as upholding Green Party standards and values.”

In contrast, Barbara Laxon has been an elected delegate to two national Green Party Committees, and she was also an elected member of the GPPA Steering Committee during 2020. Laxon told GREEN STAR, “I was active in the Green Party of Broward County, Florida, before I moved to Pennsylvania in the fall 2016. Since there was no organized affiliate here, and I have been unable to organize an affiliate here in McKean County, being an at-large delegate is still the best way for me to participate at the state level where I can do the most.”




Erin King is a new member of the Green Party of Centre County. She has worked on voter registration, door-to-door canvassing and phone banking. King told GREEN STAR, "After a roughly 10-year hiatus from politics, I decided last summer to switch political parties and to learn more about the Green Party, especially after the better part of a yearlong genocide at the hands of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank being funded and encouraged by the U.S. and other Western nations. I also saw the obvious parallels between the doubling down of police-state oppression happening globally and here in the U.S. I want to spread the message that America is in serious need of a third party, such as the Green Party, which can effectively compete with our ruling duopoly of greedy, self-serving, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, racist, lying, white supremacist warmongers. I am proud to have been elected to the GPPA Steering Committee."


Newly elected Green Party Secretary Alex Casper (McKean County) had already served one year as a Steering Committee Member-at-Large. Casper told GREEN STAR, “It is an honor to continue serving the Green Party and stewarding democracy in Pennsylvania. I'm looking forward to holding the Steering Committee accountable and making sure we hold regular public meetings and disclose them to our members. Moving forward, attendance will be tracked, absent members will be reached out to, and internal leadership participation will be tracked and seats filled.”

Pennsylvania voters who would like to run for local or county office as a Green Party candidate should contact [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>. STORY LINK HERE <[link removed]>

PA Green News

Edited by Chris Robinson

Allegheny Greens to Elect New Leaders on 2/4

On February 4, members of the Green Party of Allegheny County (GPOAC) will hold their annual convention at the Swissvale Mennonite Church. At this convention they will elect their 2025 Steering Committee.

Philly Greens To Elect New Leaders on 2/25

The Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) held a social event for members at the Cresson Inn Bar in Manayunk on January 27.
The following evening GPOP held its monthly meeting via Zoom, At that meeting members nominated candidates for their City Committee offices (think, “Steering Committee”).
Election of those seven officers will take place on February 25. For more information, please contact GPOP Chair Belinda Davis at [email protected].

Catalyst Free to Begin Injecting Waste in Cyclone, PA

Catalyst Energy Inc. is free to begin pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic fracking wastewater down a Keating Township well [in Cyclone, PA]. The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board on Dec. 27 issued an order allowing the Pittsburgh company to truck more than 30 loads per day of flowback water into McKean County — wastewater that environmental agencies acknowledge “may be toxic, hazardous or radioactive.”
READ THE FULL STORY HERE <[link removed]>

Team Reports

Edited by Patrick O. McNally

The Green Party of Pennsylvania has four Action Teams.



Communication Team

The GPPA Communication Team is still handicapped by a shortage of volunteers. Too many tasks still fall upon a very few members. The ComTeam would be much more successful if a couple of Greens would volunteer to learn just one, monthly task, such as editing a page of GREEN STAR. To volunteer, please email Chris at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

Please join the Communication Team right here.
www.gpofpa.org/team_communications_join <[link removed]>

Finance Team

The Finance Team includes volunteers who help to manage and plan the finances of the Green Party. Team tasks include membership promotion, fundraising, merchandise, and state event/meeting planning. Our volunteers are spread across the state and perform their organizing remotely while connecting local Green Chapters with new membership and supportive organizations.

Please join the Finance Team right here.
[link removed]

Green Wave Team

The 2025 campaign season is now underway, and the Green Party of PA is actively seeking potential candidates for municipal offices such as township board of supervisors, borough council, or school board and county positions such as commissioner, clerk of courts, and sheriff.  An overview of available offices can be found on our Green Wave Website <[link removed]>. YOU CAN HELP by sharing this call for candidates with anyone you feel represents our Four Pillars and Ten Key Values. If you are considering approaching activists you know about running Green, please begin the conversation with them as soon as possible. Candidates who want to run as Greens must be registered as Greens 30 days before the primary election on May 20, 2025.

Please join the Green Wave Team right here.
www.gpofpa.org/team_greenwave_join <[link removed]>

Core Team

The Core Team is looking for new members to help us kick off 2025. Our mission is to create structures that allow the state party to maximize the productivity of its members. If you think of yourself as a “techie,” we can use your skill set on the Core Team to help make GPPA function at its best.

Please join the Core Team right here.
[link removed]

National ‌Green‌ ‌News

Edited by David Ochmanowicz Jr.

Green Party Victories

At least 160 Greens hold elected office <[link removed]> in 21 states as of the November 2024 elections. Greens have been elected at least 1,580 times <[link removed]> in history in the U.S. — and over 6,800 times Greens have run for public office in the U.S., with 62% for county, municipal, educational and special district offices and 38% for state and federal partisan office.  READ THE FULL STORY HERE <[link removed]>


Kansas and Wichita Green Parties Condemn Criminalization of Homelessness

The Kansas Green Party <[link removed]> and the Wichita Green Party <[link removed]> condemn the Wichita City Council’s decision on December 17, 2024, to pass a city ordinance which amends . . . the Wichita City Code relating to camping on public property without a permit. The ordinance not only retains excessive fines for individuals who are found to have violated the law by being homeless, but it also eliminates an exception which previously allowed homeless individuals to camp on public property . . . . Instead of tackling the exploitative housing policies which have led us to this homelessness crisis, the City Council would prefer to sweep away the blight of homeless encampments, so the public does not see it . . . . The Kansas and Wichita Green Parties believe all people have a right to a home and to be secure in their tenancy and demand economic security and the promise of prosperity for all people in the U.S., instead of economic power and affluence for the privileged few. We demand that the City Council reconsider the new law and vote to reverse their previous vote.  READ THE FULL STORY HERE <[link removed]>

Andy Ellis to Launch Campaign for Governor of Maryland

Andy Ellis is the first candidate to announce his intentions to win the Green Party nomination for 2026. Ellis is a Baltimore resident, former member of the Baltimore City Charter Commission, and recent chair of the ballot committee Baltimore for Democracy. Ellis is seeking the nomination of the Maryland Green Party. <[link removed]> As a result of its 2024 ballot access petition and the performance of its 2025 Presidential nominee, the party is guaranteed ballot access and a Gubernatorial nomination for 2026. The Green Party will determine its Gubernatorial nominee with a primary election in the summer of 2026. READ THE FULL STORY HERE <[link removed]>

Global Green News

Edited by Hal Brown

Scottish Greens Call for End to Unpaid Trial Shifts

Unpaid trial shifts are a ‘shocking exploitation of workers’, the Scottish Green Party co-leader Lorna Slater MSP has said. She went on to call for the practice to be banned . . . . “Many people moving to hospitality and retail jobs are subjected to unpaid trial shifts, which have become commonplace across the industry. These shifts continue to generate profit for these businesses and are a clear-as-day example of workers’ exploitation. It is shocking.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE <[link removed]>

New Poll Shows Greens are Second Most Popular Party for Under 25s

A new opinion poll has found that one in five people aged 18-24 would currently vote Green. The poll <[link removed]>, conducted by YouGov, found that 22 per cent of voters under 25 currently say they would back the Greens if an election were held imminently. That places the Greens as the second most popular party among this age bracket. Meanwhile, it also found that the Conservatives are the least popular of the five biggest parties among under 25s...


READ THE FULL STORY HERE <[link removed]>

GPPA Meeting Dates for 2025

All State Web Conferences will begin promptly at noon.
Sunday, March 9
Sunday, June 8
Sunday, September 14
Sunday, November 9



GPPA Communications Team
Issue Credits

Editors: Hal Brown, Patrick O. McNally, David Ochmanowicz, Jr and Chris Robinson

Contributors: Alex Casper, Theron Gilliland Jr, Erin King, Barbara Laxon, Chris Robinson, Timothy Runkle, Colleen Schmotzer and Jay Ting Walker

Layout: Hal Brown, Sherri Miller and David Ochmanowicz Jr

Graphic Arts: Kevin Richardson



Everything we do is based on our Four Pillars <[link removed]>andTen Key Values <[link removed]>. If you find that you share these ideals, come and join the movement.

Join us <[link removed]> and help bring about a future where people and planet are valued over profits. We have a new, tiered membership structure that allows you to determine your level of commitment and support. And if you want to get more directly involved, consider joining an action team <[link removed]> Work with other committed progressives and activists in activities such as planning events, developing media content, or helping with campaigns.  

The GREEN STAR is an official publication of the Green Party of Pennsylvania Communications Team * 2025.



Green Party of Pennsylvania
[link removed]



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