The National Committee of the Green Party of the United States has announced the election of four new co-chairs, Joy Davis, Margaret Flowers, Anita Rios, and Violet Rose Zitola, and the re-election of treasurer Hillary Kane. Davis, Flowers and Rios were elected July 21 to replace steering committee members whose terms had ended, Kane was re-elected July 21, and Zitola was elected July 1 to fill a vacancy after a resignation.

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
August 2, 2018

Contact:
Ann Link, Co-Chair, Media Committee, [email protected]
Justin McCarthy, Co-Chair, Media Committee, [email protected]

The co-chairs, who form the party's Steering Committee, are elected by the 152 delegates of the Green Party's National Committee, which consists of delegates from state Green Parties and Green caucuses. They serve as the spokespersons of the party and execute the day-to-day administration and operations. The newly elected Steering Committee members and treasurer join four continuing members, Andrea Mérida Cuéllar, Jody Grage, Gloria Mattera, and Tony Ndege.

PROFILES of three of the new co-chairs with quotes

JOY DAVIS is a past Co-chair of the Green Party National Outreach Committee and the National Women’s Caucus. She represents the National Black Caucus on the National Committee, and also serves as Co-Chair for the Green Party of Texas. She is a Steering Committee Member of the Harris County Green Party.

She is on the steering committee for the Women’s March on the Pentagon https://www.marchonpentagon.com/team, and put forth a proposal to sponsor the first-ever March for Black Women in Houston, which was sponsored by her local Green Party.

Davis recently worked with other allies to help prevent a charter takeover of 10 Houston Independent School District Schools that were majority African-American and Latinx schools in Texas.

She has coordinated with other organizations for travel to Brownsville, Texas to the detention centers to protest the family separations of families legally seeking asylum. She is currently organizing an immigration forum with immigration rights activists and organizations to educate the public about immigration and the processes people have to go through to seek citizenship.

“As someone who lives in and organizes in frontline communities, our platform would alleviate a lot of the problems we are facing now, if enacted. The Green Party must continue to engage people from poor, marginalized, and oppressed communities in order to build stronger relationships within those communities. The Green Party is the party for the 99%.  This is why I will continue to advocate and work hard to strengthen the Green Party,” said Davis.

MARGARET FLOWERS is a mother of three and pediatrician who ran for U.S. senate in 2016. She is active in her Baltimore City and state Green Party. She also co-directs Popular Resistance, where she writes about and works on a broad range of issues.

Flowers is a national leader in the movement for National Improved Medicare for All as an adviser to the board of Physicians for a National Health Program, co-chair of her state chapter of PNHP, a co-founder of the Maryland Health Care is a Human Right campaign and national coordinator of the grassroots campaign Health Over Profit for Everyone (HOPE).

"The next decade is full of potential for transformative changes as multiple crises peak and the current power structure is unable to address them adequately. People are looking for an alternative party that is aligned with their values and advocates for effective solutions. The Green Party is that party and I look forward to strengthening and growing the party so we can put our solutions, such as the Green New Deal and single payer healthcare, solidly on the table," said Flowers.

ANITA RIOS joined the Green party in 2000 and worked to get Nader on the ballot in Ohio. In 2001 she was elected one of three co-chairs of the entity that would become the Green Party National Committee, and was part of the leadership team that obtained National Committee status for the Green Party.

Since 2000, Rios has been on the central committee of the Ohio Green Party and was recently elected to a two-year term as Co-chair. In 2004 she helped with the Ohio vote recount and was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Ohio Secretary of State, to prevent the certification of the 2004 election. In 2008 she participated in the legal action that gained official party status for the Ohio Green Party. In 2014 she ran for Governor of Ohio and maintained political party status for the Ohio Green Party for four years by receiving over 3% (over 100,000 votes) of the votes. She was the Green Party candidate for Toledo city council in 2011 and got over 30% of the vote. In 2006 and 2010 she was the GP candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Ohio.

“The Green Party has the potential to create a political revolution. The same greed that is behind America's ability to accept poverty as inevitable is also behind our indifference to climate change and the destruction of the natural world. Poverty is not a lifestyle choice; it is imposed by an economic system that picks winners and losers and by a society that has failed its most vulnerable members. It is my belief that the Green Party is the right tool for fighting both social and ecological injustice,” said Rios.