Progressive activist Cornel West said Thursday that he is no longer running for president under the Green Party banner. Instead, the high-profile African American thought leader will run as an independent.
“I’m running as an Independent candidate for President of the United States to end the iron grip of the ruling class and ensure true democracy!” West wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“People are hungry for change,” he added. “They want good policies over partisan politics. We need to break the grip of the duopoly and give power to the people.”
West faces long odds in his quest to become the first candidate not affiliated with a major political party to win the presidency. But Democrats are quietly concerned that he could make a significant impact in the 2024 contest by winning even a small portion of the vote in key states that would otherwise go to President Joe Biden.
Some Democrats are still upset about Green Party nominee Jill Stein’s presidential bid in 2016, when she won more nearly 1.5 million votes in an election that Republican Donald Trump won by the slimmest of margins over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, West may not be the only independent or third-party candidate positioned to influence the 2024 presidential contest. Current Democratic presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is widely expected to launch an independent or third-party bid next week. Also, the centrist group No Labels is actively securing ballot access for a yet-to-be-named candidate.
It remains to be seen whether West can gather the tens of thousands of signatures required to qualify for the ballot in crucial states. Without the infrastructure of a formal party, such signature gathering will fall largely to grassroots volunteers.
“As Dr. West’s campaign for president grows, he believes the best way to challenge the entrenched system is by focusing 100% on the people, not on the intricacies of internal party dynamics,” West’s campaign said in a written statement. “Our Constitution provides for Independent candidates to gain ballot access in all states, and Dr. West has begun seeking ballot access as an Independent, unaffiliated with any political party.”
In the statement, West’s campaign also acknowledged continuing to share the Green Party’s “values and commitment to justice.”
“It is long past time to stop ping-ponging between Republicans and Democrats while millions of our friends and neighbors lack housing, health care, decent jobs, clean air, clean water, nutritious food, and a healthy environment,” the campaign said.
(AP)
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3 Responses
He is known only among his fellow radicals, and could hurt the Democrats since he’ll take votes only from them.
As I understand it, the Democrats in the 2020 election managed to keep the Green Party off the ballots in certain *key* states. Yet the Libertarian Party had taken 4 times (or more) as many votes away from the Republican party (than the number of votes the Green Party took away from Clinton) in the 2016 election. And yet the Republicans never took the Libertarian party off the ballots. So why do all these articles that mention the Green Party ignore these facts?
“Our Constitution provides for Independent candidates to gain ballot access in all states
No, it doesn’t. The constitution doesn’t even mention political parties, because there weren’t any at the time and the framers didn’t anticipate that they would arise. (There had been parties before the revolution, but the revolutionaries were all Whigs, and they thought it would remain like that.)
Georgeg: Yet the Libertarian Party had taken 4 times (or more) as many votes away from the Republican party
That assertion has no basis in fact. What evidence there is suggests that the LP usually draws about equally from both major parties.
And yet the Republicans never took the Libertarian party off the ballots.
Not for lack of trying. They constantly do all they can to challenge LP petitions; but they don’t often succeed.