On election night the Green Party 2012 campaign may not have won the presidency, congressional races, or any state legislative races. But the Green Party did make some strides since the 2008 election. According to Ben Manski, Jill Stein’s campaign manager, between 750,000 and 1,250,000 people casted a vote for Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala. Along with that Stein’s campaign also gained public financing the first time since the Green Party been running presidential candidates.

There were other federal campaign gains in the Green Party as well. Paula Bradshaw, Illinois 12^th Congressional candidate and Illinois Nancy Wade, 5^th Congressional candidate, both received 6% in their respective congressional districts. That means, in Illinois, those two districts gain Green Party established party status under Illinois election law. For Wade, she gain 3% more than the previous Green Party candidate. For Bradshaw, she became the first Green Party candidate to run in her district.

The 2012 General Election was also the year many young candidates ran for office in the Green Party as well. Candidates like Asher Platts (29), Maine 8^th State Senate race, received 29%, and Drew Langdon (22), New York 123^rd State Assembly race, received 12%.

There was success in the Green Party that won races. Art Goodtimes of San Miguel, Colorado won his County Commissioner race for a 5^th term. Goodtimes has been the incumbent since 1997. Back in Maine both Kevin Donoghue and David Marshall got re-elected onto the City Councilor in Portland, Maine

Outside of the electoral races there was other successes that the Green Party participated as well. The Green Party is the only party that stands out front on the issues, and on election night showed that when states like Maryland, Washington, Maine passing marriage equality, states likes Washington and Colorado legalizing medical marijuana, and states like Illinois that voting against their state government to take away public service pensions are issues that Green Party activists got behind in order to advance those two issue-based campaigns.

The Green Party 2012 campaign may not have won federal or statewide electoral campaigns; however there success can be measured in how one does in a previous election. In every campaign the win is important, but to get that win you have to receive gains in a campaign to further advance one’s agenda.