GLENS FALLS, NY — Glens Falls has long been a stop on the campaign trail for statewide Green Party candidates.

This year, the party is fielding local candidates as well as supporting the state and national ticket. The Green Party has candidates in the local congressional race, two local state Senate races and a local state Assembly race. In two of the races, the Green Party is the only opposition to incumbents.

The success in fielding a full slate of candidates is one of the reasons Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein campaigned in Glens Falls and Fort Edward in June.

Local candidates have said their inspiration to run came when Green Party congressional candidate Matt Funiciello, broadened his focus from activist to candidate in 2014, and received about 11 percent of the vote in the 21st Congressional District race.

After the election, the Warren County Green Party, which had been inactive for several years, reorganized and set a goal of having a full slate of candidates this year.

Funiciello is one of four Green Party candidates among the state’s 27 congressional districts, and the party’s only candidate upstate.

Funiciello, a bread company owner and political activist from Hudson Falls, is running in the 21st Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, and Democrat Mike Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, in Clinton County.

Green Party Senate candidates Steve Ruzbacki and Joseph Levy are among 10 Green Party candidates in the state’s 63 Senate districts.

Ruzbacki, a political activist from Minerva, is running in the 45th Senate District against Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury.

Levy, a business owner from Saratoga Springs, is running in the 43rd Senate District against Sen. Kathy Marchione, R-Halfmoon, and Democrat Shaun Francis, a labor organizer from Wilton.

Green Party Assembly candidate Robin Barkenhagen is one of 12 Green Party candidates among 150 Assembly districts.

Barkenhagen, a retail shop owner and musician from Glens Falls, is running against state Assemblyman Dan Stec, R-Queensbury.

The Post Star
By Maury Thompson
November 6, 2016