The Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party, known as the Liberty Union Party (LUP) until 2021, is a political party active in the U.S. state of Vermont. It is a self-proclaimed "non-violent socialist party". The LUP was founded in 1970 by former Congressman William H. Meyer, Peter Diamondstone, Dennis Morrisseau and others, and was described by The New York Times as the cradle of progressivism in Vermont. The party is the fourth-largest in the state after the Democratic, Republican, and Progressive parties. History The Liberty Union party (LUP) was formed to contest the Vermont elections of 1970. In 1971, People's Party was formed as a national umbrella party for various socialist-oriented state parties including the LUP. Bernie Sanders joined Liberty Union in 1971 and became the party's candidate for several offices. At the first Party meeting he attended, in 1971, Sanders was nominated to be the Party's Senate candidate in the January 1972 special election; he placed third with 2% of the vote. Sanders was the party's candidate for Vermont governor in 1976 where he received 6.1% of the vote, which remains the best result for any LUP candidate for governor as of 2021. At the time of his resignation from the party in October 1977, he was party chairman. Sanders quit due to the inactivity of the party between elections. As an independent politician, Sanders became Vermont's congressional representative in 1991 and U.S. senator in 2007. He ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020. In 1974, political scientist Michael Parenti was the party's candidate for election to the House of Representatives; he placed third with 7.1 percent of the vote. Bernie Sanders ran again as the Senate candidate, but received 4.13% of the vote. In 1976, the party's Vermont lieutenant governor candidate John Franco took enough votes to force the election to the Vermont General Assembly's House. The party also lost the outspoken members, Nancy Kaufman and Martha Abbott before the 1978 election cycle. Despite Liberty Union co-founder, Peter Diamondstone, appearing biennially on the ballot from 1970 through 2016, none of the party's candidates were elected during that period. In local Vermont town elections in 2009 a Liberty Union and Vermont Progressive Party endorsed candidate, David Van Deusen, won a contested race for a seat on the Moretown Select Board. Van Deusen, at the time a District Vice President of the Vermont AFL-CIO active within