Let’s start with Baltimore, where Maryland Greens fielded close to a complete slate of candidates and clearly worked very hard. Their Mayoral candidate, Joshua Harris came in with 10% of the vote and only 24 votes behind the Republican. To the untutored this may not look good, but it shows that Baltimore Republicans have reached fringe status and that Baltimore Greens are positioned to become a contender for real power if they are willing to build in this year’s work. The most eye-catching thing in the results are the 47,598 write in votes, almost 25% of the total votes cast. Were they for the same person? What happened in Baltimore this year?

For US Senate Margaret Flowers received 3.2% of the vote, an astonishingly good showing for an emergent party candidate with zero name recognition. Clearly the voters of Maryland are ready for single payer health care. Flowers got her highest totals in Baltimore and the suburbs of Washington, DC, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Clearly Maryland Greens have set up organizations there of which they can be very proud.

Jill Stein got 1.3% of the vote statewide. This is about what you would expect. No one expected the Republican candidate for mayor of Baltimore or US Senate to win, so people felt safe voting their conscience. With Trump on the ballot for president many Maryland voters will have been inclined to put away their doubts about Hillary and vote for her.

So how can Greens in Maryland and elsewhere build on this year’s work? Well, to be immodest, they should buy and read my book, The precinct captain’s guide to political victory. They don’t have money to do training in 435 congressional districts, but at $4 a download, everyone could read my book and put its methods into action.