After a short breather, the Bloomington Green Party is ready to get back to work on the 2018 election.
Party co-facilatator Dakota Hudelson said he could not talk specifics, but the local party is in the process of finding candidates to run in the upcoming elections.
“There is no date and timeline, but we still have a mission and a vision,” Hudelson said. “We intend to advocate for people who have not had their interests represented.”
However, the party’s energy and efforts are divided. It is looking for potential candidates to run in 2018 and 2020, but as a new, developing party, there is a lot of work to be done on party infrastructure, Hudelson said.
There are many barriers to third parties in Indiana and the United States in general, so the Bloomington Greens must spend extra time working with candidates on regulations and paperwork, Hudelson said.
Hudelson said the primary goal of the Green Party during the offseason is to work on passing ranked-choice voting, a system in which voters rank up to three candidates in order of preference.
Many other third parties, including the Libertarian and Constitution Parties, are interested in passing ranked-choice voting as well, so Hudelson said he thinks there may be potential for collaboration among the third parties.
The Democratic Party dominates Bloomington and Monroe County, which is a big obstacle, but the Greens still intend to take them on, Hudelson said.
Both the Democrats and Republicans do the opposite of what they claim and instead represent the views of the economic elite, so they cannot be trusted to advocate for the interests of everyday people, Hudelson said.
On the other hand, the Green Party does not accept corporate funds or any political action committee donations, he said. Campaigns are entirely funded by small donations.
“It creates a real grassroots movement,” he said.
Jenny Donegan, co-facilitor alongside Hudelson of the Bloomington Green Party, said her main goal post-election is to fortify the relationship between the Young Greens and the main Green Party.
“We’re hoping to work in tandem with the Young Greens and make sure their voices are represented,” Donegan said.
Kristy Haunn, an IU 5th-year student studying art and president of the Young Greens, said in the coming months the organization will be working on establishing a community garden, ideally in People’s Park or Seminary Square, and arranging hiking trips, documentary screenings and community discussions.
“I really want the community to connect more in nature,” Haunn said.
Donegan said the people should know above all else the time for the Green Party is now, especially in Bloomington.
Donegan is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, and she said Bloomington is similar to the early days of Berkeley, California. She said she recently attended a local poetry reading and she felt like she was with the Beatniks, young people from the 1950s and 1960s who were part of the beat generation.
This is the kind of community that will want to be a part of something like the Green Party, Donegan said.
“It’s politics that engages with the human spirit,” Donegan said. “I hope people realize that.”
