Six Maryland Greens have announced their candidacy for the 2004 U.S. Senate and House of Representatives congressional races. On Friday, July 23, 2004, at 2:30 p.m. several of the candidates will introduce themselves to members of the press at 49 West Café, 49 West St., Annapolis MD (410-626-9796). Several Maryland Greens who are running for Baltimore City Council will also speak at the event.

The Maryland Green Party’s Electoral Committee and Coordinating Committee formally approved nomination of the candidates this weekend. Having candidates on the ballot for Congress marks significant growth for the Maryland Green Party (MGP) and an historical turning point for progressive politics in the state. Because of the Green Party’s constitutional victory one year ago in Maryland’s highest court, nominated Green Party congressional candidates will appear on the ballot without having to obtain petition signatures.

The Green Party emphasizes values that include nonviolence, social justice, ecology and grassroots democracy. All MGP candidates share the goals of ending the U.S. occupation in Iraq and instituting desperately needed reforms to the American electoral process such as serious campaign finance reform and Instant Runoff Voting (see www.fairvote.org). These six races will complement the eight Baltimore City Green Party campaigns for Baltimore City Council, signaling the arrival of the MGP as a viable player in local, state and federal politics.
In the U.S. House of Representatives races, Keith Salkowski is running in Maryland’s 2nd district, Patsy Allen is running in the 3rd district, Theresa Dudley is running in the 4th district, Bob Auerbach is running in the 5th district, and Greg Hemingway is running in the 6th district. Maria Allwine is running for U.S. Senate.

Candidate for the U.S. Senate, Maria Allwine of Baltimore City plans on making Iraq the central issue of her campaign, stating that she would like “to move the discourse in this country beyond thinking in sound bites to real debate.” She believes that voting for Green candidates is a vote against corporate interests and for true individual representation, pointing out that too many of our representatives are “in the grip of special interests.”

Keith Salkowski of Towson, MD, is the Green candidate for Maryland’s 2nd Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He also believes strongly that a just and prosperous society begins with individuals, not special interests. Salkowski sees himself as a regular guy, an “everyman” who wants to represent the citizens of his district. In addition to the issues of campaign finance and the war in Iraq, Salkowski is pushing for single-payer universal healthcare and an energy policy that discourages American dependence of foreign oil while encouraging the shift to clean, renewable energy sources.

In Maryland’s 3rd Congressional district, Patsy Allen of Towson, MD, is running on a platform for raising the quality of public education, providing a living wage and having an open, public electoral process that includes a voter-verified paper audit trail. A working mother of a teenage daughter, Allen would like to restore voters’ confidence in American politics.

Public schoolteacher and longtime community activist Theresa Dudley of Landover, MD, is seeking to represent the voters of Maryland’s 4th Congressional district. She too will be campaigning to end the U.S. occupation in Iraq, stop the “corporate takeover of government,” and institute a voter-verified paper audit trail. A leader in the fight against FedEx stadium and best known for working to prevent rampant overdevelopment in Prince Georges County, Dudley wants to stop the control that “developer dollars” have over her district’s neighborhoods and its inhabitants’ lives. Dudley ran as a Democrat for Prince George's County Council three times, narrowly missing a victory in her most recent attempt by 500 votes. Dudley says she is “ecstatic” about her Green Party candidacy because she “felt embraced” by the party and that the “Greens represent what Theresa Dudley believes in.”

Bob Auerbach of Greenbelt, MD, is an 84-year-old lifelong peace activist and founding member of the Maryland Green Party who will be on the ballot in Maryland’s 5th Congressional district. Auerbach firmly believes in ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Auerbach’s campaign will also continue his advocacy for proportional representation and preference voting, issues he has been working on since the 1930s.

In Maryland’s 6th district, Greg Hemingway, a certified public accountant, is running to oppose the war and to highlight social justice issues such as opposition to the death penalty and support of gay rights. Hemingway is running to offer voters a progressive choice and believes that a multi-party, representational government is preferable to the current two party system.

In the coming weeks and months running up to General Election, candidates and party activists will be holding various campaign events to inform Maryland voters across the state that they have numerous progressive choices at the polls this year.

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