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A Green Party first: contested primary in race for Emanuel's seat
by Alex Keefe
Jan 21, 2009
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Although he started off running blue, Matt Reichel switched parties because he said the Democrats weren't really progressive...
...but added that he was more "in tune" with Green Party ideology.
Now, the donkey is gone.
That’s because Reichel, a 27-year-old Chicago activist, decided to jump the fence and run as a Green Party candidate in the race to fill Rahm Emanuel’s vacant seat. He’s one of five Greens in the crowded Mar. 3 primary, which will be the Illinois Green Party’s first-ever contested run-off outside of a presidential election.
“Ideologically, I’m a lot more in-tune with the Greens,” said Reichel. “Initially, I didn’t want to do it because I figured, ‘[The Greens] have their candidate, I don’t want to run against a Green [in the primary]. I’d much rather run against Democrats.’”
Candidate Deb Gordils unsuccessfully ran as a Green for Chicago Ald. Dick Mell’s 33rd Ward seat in 2003. She’s registered as a Green Party candidate once again for the upcoming primary.
“I’ve always been an independent, and I’m very bipartisan, so it is very difficult for me to choose Democrat versus Republican,” Gordils said. “I began to do some research on the Green Party, and it just seemed like it was the right mix for me.”
But both Reichel and Gordils said their decisions to go Green also came down to campaign calculus.
Because the party’s candidate won more than 5 percent of the vote in the 2006 gubernatorial race, it’s now a lot easier for Greens to get on the ballot in Illinois.
In order to run in the upcoming primary, for example, Green Party candidates had to gather 30 signatures; independent candidates must collect at least 12,586.
“That’s ridiculous, to collect that in three weeks,” said Illinois Green Party Representative Patrick Kelly. “There’s just no way. I’m not even sure Ralph Nader could do that.”
Having the ballot petition requirements lowered has helped the Greens in their quest to become Illinois’ go-to alternative party, Kelly said.
“It does make sense, if you’re any kind of a grassroots campaign, to look into running as a Green,” said Illinois Green Party Representative Patrick Kelly. “Any kind of upstart campaign is just going to get washed up in the March 3rd primary.”
But having Greens face off against each other in a primary election could hurt the party, said Dick Simpson, head of the political science department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“It is very odd that the Green Party would be having so many candidates,” Simpson said. “You would think that they would agree on who would be their best candidate.”
Still, Reichel said the upcoming primary contest will only do good for the Greens.
“By drawing people into this primary process, I think it draws attention to the party,” he said. “Because if, on that primary day, our vote tally is in the thousands—if [it’s] comparable to what the Democratic vote tallies are—all of the sudden, we’re taken seriously in the general election.”
Also running for the Green Party spot on the April 7th ballot are Alan Auguston and Mark Arnold Fredrickson, both of Chicago; and Simon Ribeiro, of Evanston.
