Politico New York Energy: February 25, 2019

HAWKINS EYES PRESIDENTIAL RUN — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: Howie Hawkins, after his third gubernatorial run in New York and retiring from his job loading trucks, has bowed to what he called an "underground 'Draft Howie'" movement and is working to form an exploratory committee for a potential 2020 presidential campaign. "It took me a couple months to get my head around the idea of doing it," Hawkins said on Friday. "I've run so many times and it's not like I'm looking to run — it's people asking me to run." Hawkins is a Green Party stalwart, a self-described "eco-socialist" and helped develop an aggressive Green New Deal before Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ever ran for elected office. He said the focus for his campaign would be similar to what he's worked on in New York: building up local Green Party membership and training organizers, pushing eco-socialist policies into the debate and preparing a "political home" for progressives disillusioned with the Democratic Party. "Our assumption is Democrats are going to get power back on the national level but they're going to disappoint progressives," Hawkins told POLITICO. "Hopefully, we'll build a political home so when they're ready to come, we're ready for them and able to incorporate them and their energy. That's why it's so important for the Green Party to get better organized." Read more here.