The vast majority of Green Party candidates run for local office. Thirty-five percent of them win. This webinar introduced three Green candidates who were recently elected to city/town council positions. Hear the stories they tell about both their successful campaigns and their contributions to their communities as elected officials. Ask questions, learn, and be inspired by their determination and example.

Joyce Palmer-Fortune
Select Board (Chair) - Re-Elected 2021
Whately, MA

Joyce Palmer Fortune currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Selectmen in Whately, a small town in Western Massachusetts, where local government is done in the New England Town Meeting style. Joyce has lived in Whately since 1994,and has served on the Selectboard for a total of 12 years in the period 2009-present. Prior to serving on the Selectboard, Joyce was active in the local school parent teacher organization, helped establish the public access CATV station and led an override campaign to support our school and library (2006). Joyce has been with the Green Rainbow party since 2002.

Joyce was born and raised in the Great Lakes region (Erie PA and Rochester NY) before moving away from home to attend university in Austin TX and later in Cambridge MA. She earned her Bachelor’s, Masters and PhD in Electrical Engineering. After graduating she worked for 5 years in Japan as a visiting researcher. Upon returning to the US in 1994, Joyce worked as a technology consultant for 8 years before joining the Physics department at Smith College in 2003, where she teaches a variety of physics laboratory courses, and a course on the physics of climate change and renewable energy.

Tony Del Plato
Village Trustee - Re-elected 2021
Interlaken, NY

Tony is a Trustee for the Village of Interlaken (NY), first elected in March 2017 and re-elected in 2021. The village of 600+ sits on unceded lands of the indigenous Gayogohono people, who are Cayuga People of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Peoples. Tony and his fellow trustees have been allies to the Gayogohono struggle for self-determination, working closely with others to re-establish a nation-to-nation relationship between the US government and indigenous nations based upon treaties.

He and his partner operate a 3-room B&B and are an active part of the Finger Lakes Tourism community. They run their business as sustainably as possible.

Tony also serves as the Water Commissioner for the village. He is currently on the Executive Committee of the Cayuga Lake Watershed Intermunicipal Organization; is a member of STEPS (Seneca Towns Engaging People for Solutions); works on securing grants from DEC & the Central NY Regional Planning & Development Board to mitigate flooding threats; and is currently transforming a 2-acre old water tower site into a village park.

Cam Gordon
City Councilor - Re-Elected 2017
Minneapolis, MN

Cam Gordon is a founding member of the Green Party of Minnesota. He has been involved in many Green Party local, state and national campaigns and is a past state party chair and current state Green Party Coordinating Committee member.

In 2005, he was successfully elected as a Green Party endorsed candidate to the Minneapolis City Council. He was subsequently re-elected 3 times and served 4 terms, or 16 years, as the only Green Party member of the Minneapolis City Council from January 2006 to December 2021.

Cam is most often recognized for leadership on issues of racial equity, violence prevention, workers’ rights, housing, civic participation, public health, environmental sustainability, transportation, and youth development. In his time in office, he worked to shift institutional culture, implement policies and reallocate resources to make the city a leader in environmental sustainability, and supporting racial, social and economic justice. On the council, he served as minority leader and, during different times, as chair of the Health, Energy & Environment Committee and the Housing Committee.

Prior to taking office, Cam operated a small business, wrote for several smaller newspapers, authored the book Together with Montessori, and taught in a variety of Montessori and early childhood education programs.

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