NJ Green Party's Governor Candidate Doesn't Make Ballot, Will Run Write-In Campaign

The Green Party of New Jersey’s new gubernatorial candidate is forging ahead with a write-in campaign after hundreds of her petition signatures in the 2025 election were challenged.

The party’s original candidate for governor, Stephen Zielinski, stepped down in August due to a health issue. Zielinski announced that he was passing the torch to his intended lieutenant governor running mate, Lily Benavides.

Benavides ran for a U.S. House of Representatives seat last year in the state’s 11th congressional district, losing to the Democratic nominee, Mikie Sherrill.

In order to qualify for the ballot as a replacement, Benavides raced to gather 2,000 petition signatures in less than a month – after having previously collected 4,000 to land Zielinski on the ballot.

Eventually, the effort was derailed when more than 400 signatures faced a legal challenge from the Morris County Democratic Committee.

According to Benavides, the issues included signatures and writing that didn’t exactly match. Benavides challenged that allegation, saying that some signatures may have come from older adults who may have a hard time writing. Meanwhile, many of the names that were stricken were those of people with “long, foreign names” – or who may have been seen as being Muslim or Latino, she claimed.

Benavides cast doubts on the assertations from an attorney who was hired to challenge the signatures.

“He went as far as to accuse us of fraud and forgery, without proof, when he noticed that people had moved, or changed their addresses, or used their married name,” Benavides claimed. “He even tried to make the judge believe that some of the signatures were of people who were deceased – a few of whom are people we know personally.”

Benavides said she plans to organize a “full-fledged write-in campaign.”

The Green Party claimed there are lots of reasons why a signature might change over time:

“Is your signature in 2025 the same as it was in 1973? Or in 1999? Or in 2020? Does your signature look the same every time you sign something? Would your signature, written in the quiet of your home look the way it does if you are instead signing someone’s clipboard in the middle of the summer on a boardwalk in Asbury Park? How does your electronic signature, you know the kind you write with your index finger on a screen, compare with the signature you write with a pen on paper?”

Elections chair Barry Bendar said the Green Party of New Jersey will continue to support Benavides as their candidate for governor, and will be campaigning “just as strongly as if she were on the ballot – as she should be.”

Bendar said anyone who thinks their signature may have been disqualified can contact electionschairgpnj@gmail.com.

‘WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SUBJECTED TO DISCRIMINATION’

The Green Party of New Jersey has repeatedly criticized balloting and debate requirements in the Garden State, claiming that their candidates haven’t gotten a fair shake.

“As an independent political party (not Democrat and not Republican) we have always been subjected to discrimination,” party spokespeople said.

“Earlier this year, after the GPNJ was able to field 14 candidates during the 2024 elections, the New Jersey Legislature increased the number of valid petition signatures needed from 800 to 2,000,” spokespeople continued.

“The new law was implemented during the election year and the more than doubling of required signatures, vastly impacts third parties more than the two mainstream parties,” spokespeople said.

Party spokespeople added:

“According to Ballot Access News, New Jersey is one of 11 states that allow candidates to be replaced should the original candidate have to end their campaign. However, New Jersey is the only state that requires repetitioning for that new candidate. As a result, the GPNJ submitted almost 4,000 signatures in June 2025, and then submitted almost 2,500 additional signatures by mid-August. We overcame the onerous election laws. Then, our candidate was subjected to a near line-by-line scrutiny of our signatures, eventually disqualifying many due to a perceived difference in signatures by people who are not qualified to make that judgement.”

Last year, a protest was held after Green Party candidate Tom Cannavo was excluded from a debate in New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district.

“This kind of exclusion is not only a disservice to the voters of New Jersey but an affront to democracy,” Cannavo said. “The Green Party has faced this undemocratic silencing for too long. We must stand up for democracy and political speech.”

• See Related: Green Party Plans Protest Over Exclusion From 2nd District Debate

When Madelyn Hoffman ran for governor in New Jersey as a Green in 2021, she blasted a $490,000 fundraising threshold that kept her out of the debates, calling it a “travesty.”

“It is not for the State Elections Commission or the media to determine who should participate in the debates and certainly, the amount of money raised should not be the deciding factor,” Hoffman charged.

“This country is in dire need of a diversity of voices and opinions, instead of an ever-narrowing selection of voices and points of view,” she added.

• See Related: $490K Debate Fundraising Quota Is A ‘Travesty,’ NJ Governor Candidate Says
• See Related: ‘Big Money’ Rules NJ Governor Debates, Third-Party Candidates Say

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