Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently made headlines for calling perennial Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein “predatory” and “not serious.” AOC is right.
Giving voters more choices is a good thing for democracy. But third-party politics isn’t performance art. It’s hard work — which Stein is not doing. As AOC observed: “[When] all you do is show up once every four years to speak to people who are justifiably pissed off, but you're just showing up once every four years to do that, you're not serious.”
To be clear: AOC was not critiquing third parties as a whole, or the idea that we need more choices in our democracy. In fact, AOC specifically cited the Working Families Party as an example of an effective third party. The organization I lead, MoveOn, supports their 365-day-a-year efforts to build power for a pro-voter, multi-party system. And I understand third parties’ power to activate voters hungry for alternatives: I myself volunteered for Ralph Nader in 2000, and that experience helped shape my lifelong commitment to people-first politics.
But Stein isn’t interested in doing the heavy lifting of organizing at the grassroots level required to win substantive policy achievements for Americans of any political stripe.
Stein’s campaign is not only disingenuous but dangerous. In 2016, Stein’s vote tally was enough to make the difference in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, flipping the electoral college from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. Now, she could do it again, and Republicans are helping her — because they understand that Stein’s candidacy benefits no one but Trump.
Multiple reports have revealed a web of GOP lawyers, operatives and deep-pocketed donors aiding not only Stein, but also independent candidate Cornel West for this very reason. They’re funneling millions of dollars to their campaigns with a focus on getting them on the ballot in key battleground states. Stein and West are also darlings of MAGA talking heads like Steve Bannon. Even Trump himself has expressed his appreciation for the spoiler candidates.
In theory, the Greens were founded to advance environmentalism, social justice and peace. One might ask how those goals are achieved by playing spoiler to Democrats and aiding Republicans in amassing power, considering the last two decades of climate setbacks, wars and gutting of civil rights protections stemming from the Bush and Trump presidencies (and their Supreme Court appointments). Meanwhile, for all of Stein’s environmentalist talk, she personally benefits from oil and gas leases, including on the Keystone XL pipeline, and has millions invested in funds that hold significant stakes in fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron.
While Ralph Nader came from a respected background of advancing consumer protection laws, Jill Stein is better known for hobnobbing with Russian officials and spouting disinformation on behalf of Vladimir Putin. When she’s not recording anti-American talking points in Red Square, Stein spends her time making false claims about the Democratic record on immigration, healthcare and more.
And in 2016, after helping throw Trump a victory, Stein preyed on liberals’ false hopes that recounts could reverse razor-thin margins and turn the election around. She boosted her public profile by calling for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. She even pulled in $7.3 million from donors to fund recount efforts, spending it on things like advertising and travel and getting in hot water with the FEC.
That fits squarely within Stein's long pattern of “predatory” politics.
This election will be tight. The risk of a rerun of 2016, when Stein helped flip multiple battleground states to Trump, is very real. We all know how high the stakes are: Under the current all-bets-are-off Supreme Court, a second Trump administration will seek to enact most of the extreme right wing’s repressive Project 2025 plan, including a national abortion ban, deep cuts in health programs, tax cuts for billionaires and the end of climate and clean energy programs.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez understands that third-party pressure can help push America toward real change. But to have an impact, the parties and their leaders have to put in the work. Jill Stein is not the leader who will do that and doesn’t have a serious strategy to deliver results.
There’s a clear choice to make in this election, and it’s a binary one. To create positive change and defeat the dark future a second Trump administration would bring, it’s time for voters of every political stripe to unite behind Kamala Harris.
