Build the Green Party and Run for Local Office

By Michael Bagdes-Canning

I am a Green running for re-election as Mayor of Cherry Valley Borough in northern Butler County. I have asked the Green Party of Pennsylvania to endorse my candidacy at their next State Committee meeting. I became a Green after 42 years of settling for less as a Democrat. I have remained a Green these last 15 years because I want to be part of a party that stands for something.

As a Green Mayor of a tiny borough, I have worked hard to build trust with my neighbors. Our rural borough has watched for the last 50 years as jobs have left the region and our children have followed. We have been ignored and ridiculed by the Democrats and patronized and hoodwinked by the Republicans. Both corporate parties do the bidding of the plutocrats and spit on the people who elect them.

When Karen, my wife, and I arrived in Cherry Valley 43 years ago, our neighbors saw us as the hippies on the hill, transplants from Pittsburgh (even though we had never lived a day of our lives there), some urban interlopers. We have worked at becoming part of our community. We have built relationships and trust.

I have held elected office in the Borough since 1989. One thing I am most proud of during my time in local government is overseeing its revitalization. For several years prior to my becoming Mayor, we had trouble making a quorum. Like many boroughs and townships, we struggled to find people with time to engage with things like Council, election boards, and auditor. We recruited.

During the last election cycle, I sent a letter to every Borough resident explaining how important it was to have a functioning Council. I also worked the polls on Election Day to make sure the write-in campaign we were running for the Council elected five members and an auditor. We now have a functioning government; the slate we recruited was elected. And the Green candidate for Mayor – me -- got 94.44% of the vote.

The fruits of that are now playing out. We have applied for and will likely receive a $50,000 grant from the county to fix the roads and bridges in the Borough. This investment will solve a problem that has plagued Cherry Valley since I moved here -- a yearly battle to patch, not fix, our roads.

I am a Green because of our 4 Pillars and 10 Key Values. Everything I do is shaped by that framework. However, we need to remember that we don’t win with ideas; we win with relationships. We need to think of ourselves as organizers first. We aren’t working to win elections; we are working to build power. Green values are meaningless if they are divorced from relationship building and Green action.

If all we stand for is a seat at the table, legitimacy, or minor party status, then we don't stand for anything; we are no different than the Democrats and Republicans who embrace genocide and a war on the working class if it will get them elected. We can’t endorse fracking and the drug war because they are popular, while saying we value ecological wisdom and social justice. We don't gain credibility by espousing ideas that run counter to our values because we will start to exude the same stench that drives people away from politics.

Green ideas are not meaningless. Green ideas must be articulated as we build the movement through our relationships. They must be reflected in our words and deeds. My commitment to building grassroots democracy has helped shape local government. The hippy on the hill is now a trusted neighbor, the community is coming together to build sustainable infrastructure, and we have a functioning government.

I have asked the Green Party of Pennsylvania to endorse my candidacy, and I call on Greens across the state to work at building the Party by engaging in the work of organizing. Talk with your neighbors, build the movement, be seen being Green. When the time is right, run for office in your town or borough.

Follow Michael Bagdes-Canning
https://x.com/bagdescanning
https://www.facebook.com/mikebagdescanning

Michael Bagdes-Canning was first elected as a Green Party candidate to the Cherry Valley Borough Council in 2011. Bagdes-Canning has also campaigned as a Green Party candidate for PA Lieutenant Governor (2022), PA Representative District 64 (2016 and 2020) and Butler County Commissioner (2015).