Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, April 12, 2018
A former UPS worker from Syracuse, Hawkins is the Green Party's pick for governor.
ALBANY - Howie Hawkins, whose 2014 run for governor cemented the Green Party on New York's political ballots, will run again this fall.
Hawkins, of Syracuse, launched his gubernatorial campaign Thursday near the state Capitol, vowing to push a liberal-leaning agenda in hopes of forcing other candidates to the left.
"Progressives need to raise our expectations and demand more," Hawkins said. "We are demanding a change to the system."
With the Green Party's support, Hawkins will be on the ballot this fall, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, hopes to seek a third term.
A frequent candidate for office, Hawkins picked up more than 180,000 votes in the 2014 election, vaulting the Green Party to the fourth line on New York ballots for the next for years. He ran in 2010, as well.
Each party's candidate for governor must get at least 50,000 votes in order for the party to keep an automatic position on New York ballots.
At his campaign kick-off Thursday, Hawkins called for a ban on new fossil-fuel infrastructure, passage of a bill that would create a single-payer health care system and a quicker shift to renewable energy.
Cuomo, meanwhile, is facing a Democratic primary challenge from Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon. Republicans Marc Molinaro, John DeFrancisco and Joseph Holland are seeking their party's nomination.
Howie Hawkins won 170,000 votes four years ago, a total that helped position the Green Party as the fourth on the ballot. | Getty
ALBANY — Howie Hawkins, who will run for governor for the third time as the Green Party candidate, says his campaign will help make a ban on new natural gas infrastructure, full funding for schools and single-payer health care a reality in New York.
"What our little Green Party does in New York matters," Hawkins said in Albany as he announced his candidacy on Thursday. "You don't have to win the office to make the difference."
Hawkins won 170,000 votes four years ago, a total that helped position the Green Party as the fourth on the ballot, ahead of the Working Families Party, which is currently mulling whether to endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo or his challenger, actor Cynthia Nixon.
Read moreWHAM Radio, Rochester, April 12, 2018
The field in the race for governor is getting a little more crowded.
Howie Hawkins is running again as a Green Party candidate. He is calling for a more progressive agenda for the state. This is his third run for governor. He finished third in the 2014 election with more than 150-thousand votes.
WHCU News/Talk Radio, WHCU 870 AM 95.9 FM, Ithaca, April 12, 2018
PHOTO: WHCU
SYRACUSE– Howie Hawkins of Syracuse announced his intention to run for New York Governor yesterday.
Hawkins says he’s running to quote, “demand more progressive reforms and system change”. Hawkins finished 3rd in the 2014 Gubernatorial race via the Green Party ticket. He says he’ll campaign as an eco-socialist, and that its time to quote, “clean up the corruption in Albany”. Hawkins, a recently retired Teamster, will ask for the Green Party nomination at its state convention in Albany May 19th.
City and State New York, April 12, 2018
Liberals were, I think, concerned with idea that he wasn't moving to ban hydrofracking, that he wasn't enthusiastic about a minimum wage increase. All of a sudden, you saw him after Zephyr Teachout challenged him in 2014, he adopted the Howie Hawkins Green Party candidate platform, of the $15 minimum wage and a ban on hydrofracking.
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Read moreCNY Central (CBS, CS, NBC - Syracuse), April 12, 2018
Howie Hawkins / file photo
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Howie Hawkins, a two-time Green Party candidate for New York governor who finished third in the 2014 election, plans to announce that he's again seeking the party's nomination to run in the November election.
The 65-year-old retired Teamster from Syracuse plans to launch his campaign Thursday at a news conference in Albany.
Hawkins was the Green Party candidate for governor in 2010 and 2014, when he garnered more than 184,000 votes to finish third behind incumbent Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and then-Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican. Hawkins received nearly 60,000 votes in the 2010 race won by Cuomo.
Hawkins' strong showing in 2014 moved the Green Party up to the fourth line among ballot-qualified parties.
Syracuse Post-Standard, April 12, 2018
Syracuse political activist Howie Hawkins plans to launch his campaign for governor today, seeking the Green Party's nomination to take on Gov. Andrew Cuomo in November.
For Hawkins, 65, it will be his 22nd campaign for public office and his third consecutive bid for governor against Cuomo. Hawkins said last month that he was assembling a campaign team and would likely enter the governor's race to promote the Green Party's agenda.
In an interview Wednesday night, Hawkins said he plans to campaign as an "eco-socialist" and tout reforms that include a single-payer healthcare system, a ban on new fossil fuel plants and pipelines, and a switch to 100 percent clean, renewable energy within 15 years.
Hawkins said he also wants to promote public financing of political campaigns to curb corruption in Albany.
In the 2014 election, Hawkins received 184,419 votes, or about 5 percent of the statewide vote for governor. His vote total pushed the Green Party onto the fourth line of the New York ballot this year, surpassing the Independence and Working Families parties.
For immediate release: April 12, 2018
Howie Hawkins of Syracuse announced today that he is running for Governor to demand more progressive reforms and system change. Hawkins finished 3rd in the 2014 Gubernatorial race. His 184,419 votes moved the Green Party up to the 4th line among ballot qualified parties.
"Progressives need to raise our expectations and demand more," Hawkins said. Topping his list of winnable reforms are single-payer health care, fully-funded public schools, a ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure, and 100% clean renewable energy within 15 years.
Hawkins will campaign as an eco-socialist. "We are demanding more than piecemeal reforms. We are demanding system change. Capitalism's blind, ceaseless growth is devouring the environment. As long as workers are bound to a fixed wage and capitalists take the remaining value that labor creates as profit, the rich get richer and the rest of us struggle to make ends meet. We need more social ownership and democratic planning to provide a decent standard of living for all that is ecologically sustainable," Hawkins said.
Read moreThis event will consist of a panel discussion including cofounder of the US Green Party Howie Hawkins, Rochester community organizer and Kurdistan solidarity activist Cresczenzo Scipione, IWW Organizer and Adjunct Professor of History Brendan Dunn, a veteran of the YPJ militia who volunteered to fight in the revolution, and a Kurdish refugee.
Read moreThe Alt (Albany), March 28, 2017
A popular quote states that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. Howie Hawkins, Green Party Gubernatorial candidate, is set to mount his third challenge to incumbent Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The average voter, if aware of Hawkins’ bid at all, probably regards his previous two bids as failures.
Hawkins lost both general-election contests by huge margins. Hawkins, however, believes his two gubernatorial bids paid off in spades. Hawkins crossed the 50,000 vote threshold in both elections, guaranteeing the Green Party automatic ballot status in the next election cycle.
Hawkins believes that campaigning on major progressive issues like the $15 minimum wage, a ban on hydraulic fracturing and free college tuition forced Cuomo to the left in search of larger vote margins to tout to boost his rumored presidential bid.
“Our plan is to get on the ballot line, and leverage our performance to secure real reforms,” said Hawkins in a recent phone interview. Under Hawkins, the Green Party outperformed the Working Families Party and the Independence Party on the gubernatorial ballot in 2014. This won the group a higher spot on the ballot line.
It isn’t insanity to do something over and over if it gets you exactly what you want.
Read moreSearch Howie's website and previous campaign archives here:
