Origins In the lead-up to the
2000 United States presidential election, numerous groups across the state of
Mississippi formed in support of the candidate from the
Green Party,
Ralph Nader. In December 1999, the first such group appeared in the town of
Oxford, with more appearing the following year along the
Mississippi Gulf Coast and in
Cleveland,
DeSoto County,
Hattiesburg,
Jackson,
Starkville, and
Tupelo. The state office for Nader estimated the total number of volunteers in Mississippi to be 235. Nader received over 8,000 votes from Mississippians. Volunteers for Nader, particularly from the Gulf Coast's "Gulf Coast for Nader" organization, announced their intention to formally seek the formation of a Mississippi Green Party, recognized by the
Secretary of State. In order to run candidates under a state party name, the organization had to form an executive committee with officers and members from each of
Mississippi's congressional districts, among other requirements. and the
Iraq War. During the
2003 Mississippi elections, the party ran one candidate:
Sherman Lee Dillon, a local folk musician, for
governor. The first Green to hold office in Mississippi was elected on November 8, 2004, when
John M. Wages Jr. ran unopposed for election commissioner in the third supervisor district of
Lee County. During the
2007 Mississippi elections, the party faced scrutiny when Governor
Haley Barbour, Attorney General
Jim Hood, and Secretary of State
Eric Clark called for the removal of Melvin Brown, a Green Party candidate for the
Mississippi House of Representatives, after the party did not submit Brown's letter of intent. Brown remained on the ballot for the general election, however.
Recent years In 2011, the party campaigned at the
Mississippi State Capitol in support of
net metering, a mechanism which gives homeowners who produce
renewable energy credit for the electricity they produce. Campaigners said that Mississippi had fallen behind other states on this policy. In October 2016, Green Party presidential candidate
Jill Stein visited Oxford at an event sponsored by the state chapter. ==Presidential election results==