The Green-Rainbow Party (GRP) is the Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party of the United States and a political designation in Massachusetts officially recognized by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Up until 2020, it was an officially recognized political party in Massachusetts, losing that status as the result of vote tallies in the November 2020 election. Originally the Massachusetts Green Party, it was formed in 1996 and recognized in 2000. It merged with the Rainbow Coalition Party in 2002 and rebranded as the Green-Rainbow Party. The GRP has supported Green Party presidential candidates such as Ralph Nader, David Cobb, Cynthia McKinney, Jill Stein and Howie Hawkins. It has also run candidates and pushed for political support at the state and municipal level. As of 2021, there were 9 Green-Rainbow Party elected office holders and a number of other appointed office holder in Massachusetts. As of October 15, 2018, the official party's membership ranks stood at 4,314 members. Political ideology Like most North American Green parties, the basis of the Green-Rainbow Party's platform stems from the 10 key values. The 10 key values are: grassroots democracy, ecological wisdom, social justice and equal opportunity, nonviolence, decentralization, community-based economics, feminism, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, and future focus and sustainability. Causes and initiatives For some years, the party was involved in co-organizing an annual March to Abolish Poverty. Like many small parties that view the Democratic and Republican parties as creating difficult ballot access laws, the party has also pushed for electoral reforms, particularly ranked choice voting and publicly financed campaigns. The party also champions universal health care and strongly supported marriage equality, long before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision to allow same-sex marriages within Massachusetts. The Green-Rainbow party supports having an economic bill of rights including a right to food, water, health care, housing and education. It supports a far bolder and faster transition from fossil fuels to safe, clean renewable energy than the Democratic and Republican parties. It sees climate change as an existential emergency. It supports racial justice and justice for documented and undocumented immigrants including an end to the incarceration epidemic and community control of the police. In 2019, the Green-Rainbow Party State Committee voted to support the elimination of the United States military. History Establishment of official party status Founded in 1996 as the Massachusetts Green Party, the party attained official political party