© 2024 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Hawkins says Green Party is making strides in New York

Karen Dewitt
/
WRVO
Howie Hawkins ran for governor this fall as a Green Party candidate. (file photo)

After Tuesday's election, gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins declared that the Green Party is now the "third party" in New York state politics.

Hawkins, who is from Syracuse, earned about five percent of the vote statewide, but did the best in Tompkins County where he received more than 16 percent of the vote.

Opposition to the natural gas drilling process known as hydrofracking is a big part of the Green Party's platform. Hawkins says in the months to come the party plans to build on the momentum of what he called a big Green vote.

"As I was saying during the campaign, the election was one event, but politics is a process," Hawkins explained. "And the process continues."

Hawkins says the Greens want to build an organization in every county in the state, so they can get more candidates on ballots in 2015 and 2016. But Hawkins, who has been a perennial candidate for local and state offices, says he doesn't particularly want to run again and he will let the party make that decision.