As the election count continues nationwide, presidential candidate Howie Hawkins said it was a tough year for the Green Party.
Hawkins, who hails from Syracuse, was the national Green Party candidate for president this year and said the campaign mostly focused on Donald Trump and his divisiveness, making it harder for him to voice his platform.
Hawkins received point 2 percent of votes nationwide and 0.3 percent in New York, according to the Associated Press.
He believes he lost swing voters to Joe Biden.
The results will now make it harder for the Green Party to run for state elections next year, since the party didn’t meet the 2 percent needed to remain on the ballot.
Hawkins said they’re going to work extra hard to get the thousands of signatures needed and build from the bottom up.
“The Green has got to go back to the grassroots and start getting ready for local elections, expanding local organizations and in the long run, we’re not going to have a big impact on national politics until we have thousands of Greens in local office and state legislatures and Congress," he said.
Right now, Hawkins says he's focused on making sure this year's votes are counted correctly.