Green Party’s Mark Miller Hopes for Victory in State House Race

The Green Party has a pair of very promising candidates on the ballot in special elections for state legislature today.

In Minnesota, national party co-chair Farheen Hakeem has a very real at finishing second in a 4-way race for state senate.  She has outraised the Republican nominee and seems to be waging a very active campaign.

In the Massachusetts city of Pittsfield, Mark Miller is running for a seat in the state house of representatives.  Miller is the Green-Rainbow Party’s nominee and was also their candidate in 2010, when he polled an impressive 45% of the vote in a one-on-one race with a Democrat for the same seat.   This time, he’s one of four candidates hoping to represent the district.

Pittsfield Democrat Christopher N. Speranzo won reelection to the House last November, but he left that job after Gov. Deval Patrick selected him to become clerk-magistrate of Central Berkshire District Court in Pittsfield.  It came out during his re-election campaign that Speranzo was up for the court appointment and that likely helped inflate the Green challenger’s vote total.

This time around, Miller has netted several high-profile endorsements, including the United Auto Workers and Planned Parenthood.   He’s funding his campaign with a $10,000 loan from his personal bank account, and that gives him about as much money to work with as the Republican in the race. 

A fourth candidate,  independent Pam Malumphy, trails the pack in fundraising.

Unfortunately for Miller, Democrat Tricia Farley-Bouvier is getting a surge of last minute help from the state Democratic party…

With the 3rd Berkshire District special election just days away, Democratic Party operatives from across the state are descending on the Berkshires to help make a final push for their candidate, Tricia Farley-Bouvier.  In addition to the influx of manpower, Farley-Bouvier said she plans to spend $20,000 on her campaign to become the city’s next representative in the Statehouse — twice as much as her nearest competitors.

The state Democratic Party is also pouring money into the district, running radio advertisements featuring Gov. Deval Patrick and providing boots-on-the-ground support to launch an intense door-to-door, get-out-the-vote effort.

Democrat Farley-Bouvier also snagged the endorsement of The Berkshire Eagle newspaper in this election, despite the fact that Miller used to be the editor of that publication.

Independent candidate Malumphy has been supported by City Councilor Melissa Mazzeo, who is being featured in radio ads promoting Malumphy’s campaign. 

Polls close tonight at 8pm.  We’ll be watching…