Democrats are sounding the alarm over Green Party candidate Jill Stein to avoid a repeat of the 2016 presidential election, in which Stein was accused of being a spoilsport in key swing states.
For months, Democrats had focused their ire on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then an independent candidate for the White House, and largely ignored the influence that Stein or other third-party candidates could have on the fight between Vice President Harris and former President Trump.
Now, less than three weeks before Election Day, the party is warning that Stein could again have damaging effects in a duel where every vote counts for the top candidates.
“The threat of Jill Stein’s candidacy is real and growing by the day,” said Doug Gordon, a Democratic campaign official and co-founder of UpShift Strategies. “Stein was instrumental in getting Trump a first term, and she could be the key to getting him a second term.”
The national Democrats’ crusade against third parties reached its climax as President Biden trailed Trump and Kennedy sought to participate in every state election. After he dropped out, the third-party threat seemed to fade, and fringe candidates like Stein and his left-wing colleague Cornel West faded into the background.
Kennedy, who has since endorsed Trump and become Trump’s top surrogate, posed a particular threat to Democrats because their party had a eminent name associated with it but he was politically on the right’s side on many issues. But Stein is to the left of most progressives and, according to Democrats, brings her own baggage with her.
This eight-year-long resentment has led to an upsurge in activity across the party, with Harris’ allies developing multiple strategies to deprive her of all support in states where 1 and 2 percent support could be crucial.
“The small number of votes she won in key battleground states in 2016 was the difference between Clinton’s victory and Trump’s victory,” Gordon warned. “And with this race getting even closer than 2016, the votes Stein receives will play an even bigger role in helping Trump.”
The Democratic National Committee is stepping up its opposition efforts against Stein, adjusting its messaging in battleground states to warn voters that she could cost Harris the election. Party officials have put up a series of billboards in Wisconsin and Arizona calling the doctor candidate a “spoiler.”
One ad currently showing overlooking West Glendale Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona features a mock image of Stein wearing Trump’s signature red “Make America Great Again” hat. While the former president didn’t pay much attention to Stein during the campaign, he briefly praised her ability to win Democratic support.
DNC organizers and liberal groups are feeling increasing concern this cycle and are working together to remind voters that Trump’s origin story was partly made possible by Stein.
“We are leaving nothing to chance and will do whatever it takes to remind Arizona voters that Jill Stein is a spoiler candidate who can help send Donald Trump back to the White House.” Don’t leave it to chance.” , says the DNC statement. “The only way to avoid a repeat of 2016 is to vote for Kamala Harris.” The Grand Canyon State ad was “authorized” by Harris’ campaign.
Stein is expected to appear on ballots in a dozen states, including safely blue California and New Jersey, Republican strongholds Louisiana and West Virginia, and even Republican Party-leaning states like Florida and Texas. But most of the states where she will run are the most closely watched battlegrounds, stretching beyond Arizona and Georgia and also including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump’s path to 270 electoral votes doesn’t rely as much on those three states as Harris’, but both candidates are heavily targeting Pennsylvania, which went for Trump in 2016 and voted for Biden again in 2020 as its home state.
According to a recent New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College poll, Stein has 1 percent support there. Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver has slightly lower support among voters surveyed. Election analysts widely agree that 1 percent — and even just half of 1 percent — is enough to make a difference in the states with the narrowest margins.
In Wisconsin, another battleground where the DNC has devoted resources to attacking Stein, the state Supreme Court rejected an appeal to remove her from the ballot before voters go to the polls. Stein will be joined in the Badger State vote by West, Oliver and even the now-suspended Kennedy, who has encouraged his supporters to vote for Trump but has still found unfamiliar avenues of support.
While some Democrats view Stein as politically irrelevant and even describe her multiple long-term bids as desperate attempts to gain attention, others paint a more alarmist view of her campaign, especially as many expect the race to be even closer than in 2020. Those , who take this stance, argue that Stein’s mere presence in the race for the White House poses a “threat” to proxy democracy.
“She is being funded, supported and co-opted by extremist Trump-MAGA supporters who know that she cannot win and that she only serves to make it easier for Trump to win,” MoveOn Chief Communications Officer Joel Payne said led the third campaign. Resistance efforts by the party along with the DNC.
“That’s why so many of us fighting to keep Trump out of the White House are making the effort to denounce Jill Stein, her MAGA supporters and her extremist ideas like defending white supremacists and January 6 insurrectionists,” Payne said.
Stein’s ideology couldn’t be further from Republicans, but like others in the third party, including Kennedy before his departure, she has received a boost from controversial GOP figures who want to see her aid defeat Harris in recent weeks . This week, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke offered his support to Stein in what was widely seen as an attempt to prop up Trump.
“A racist troll has ‘supported’ our campaign to gain attention, and certain smear mongers are happy to use this troll to attack us,” Stein wrote in response to unacceptable support from former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.
Establishment Democrats are receiving more support this year than in 2016 from juvenile voters, some of whom voted for Stein in protest against Clinton over differences on foreign policy and war. Aware that their age group has voted against the two-party system in the past, Generation Z voters, who are currently largely behind Harris, have formed a group called “Voters of Tomorrow” to blunt Stein’s momentum among youth. On TikTok, the group’s moderators called Stein a “cheater“to reach their target audience that lives on social media.
Most Democrats have refocused on Stein, but some are also warning about West, whose swing state slate includes Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina after he recently lost court cases to compete in Pennsylvania and Georgia.
North Carolina, where West successfully won his lawsuit to appear on the ballot, has become a major electoral obscurity as Hurricane Helene upended the voting process.
Harris is currently only slightly ahead of Trump there. She leads the former president 49 percent to 47 percent in the latest Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. Overall, third-party candidates in the state receive 4 percent of support — with West and Stein each at 1 percent and 2 percent supporting Oliver.
“Cornel West is on the ballot,” said Cynthia Wallace, executive director of the New Rural Project of North Carolina, who noted that there have been “a lot of lawsuits” among third parties–Party candidates are vying to play in the state.
But from Wallace’s perspective, the conversation focused exclusively on the Democratic and Republican Party candidates. As with any cycle, an fascinating – or worrisome – turnout does not necessarily mean that votes were actually cast.
“I have not heard any conversations about anyone other than Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as I travel in our rural counties or at the doors,” Wallace said.
