Third-party candidates will be on the ballot in all battleground states, and attention is growing on how this could affect the outcome of the presidential election in two weeks.
Vice President Harris and former President Trump are statistically tied in many of these battleground states, and a gain of one or two points for another candidate could change the outcome of the White House race.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein is currently the most likely third-party candidate, but other candidates are still in the running, including independent Cornel West and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver. Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has since withdrawn his support from Trump, is still expected to appear on several key ballots.
Here are the positions of third-party candidates in key swing states.
arizona
Election analysts expect Arizona's convocation to take place in November, earlier than last time, but two outsiders are on the ticket via Stein and Oliver. means that the results can still be confusing.
A new study from The New York Times and Siena College found that while Mr. Stein has a lead among Muslim-American voters in the Grand Canyon state, Mr. Oliver's presence in the race has lowered turnout for Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris. It is decreasing.
georgia
Trump's lead in Georgia (8 points, according to The Hill/Decision Desk average) has upset Democrats who saw long-term success beyond 2020 as imminent. . However, Georgia's tilt toward blue is less certain this time around. The surge in early voting began last week, with more than 1 million voters voting.
Opponents do not expect Mr. Stein, whose name will appear on the ballot, to play as big a role in Georgia as he did in states like Wisconsin and Michigan, where he won eight years ago. . But outside candidates could still tempt voters to cast protest votes, including Mr. Oliver, a native of neighboring Tennessee who ran in Georgia's 2020 5th House special election.
michigan
For those interested in third parties, Kennedy and Stein make for a powerful duo in Michigan. This is where Mr. Stein siphoned enough voters from Hillary Clinton to support Trump's first run for president, and where Democrats are determined to keep her.
Democrats believe supporting Stein in the Great Lakes state would hurt Harris' interests. Harris is struggling separately with the state's Arab-American population, who have defected in part over the Biden administration's handling of the war in Gaza. Mr. Stein is backed by a Muslim-American group called Abandon Harris.
Harris' allies have argued that a few thousand votes for Stein, who is anti-war, or Kennedy, who supports Trump but whose name remains on the ballot, could swing the country back to Trump. There is. The Democratic National Committee sent messages in Detroit and Saginaw reminding voters that in 2016, “Mr. Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes to Jill Stein's 51,463 votes.” We have invested in communication.
nevada
Oliver is the least well-known third-party candidate. He typically receives about 1% of the vote in national polls, but there is little certainty and much debate about whether he will draw more votes from the Democratic or Republican candidates.
Libertarians tend to stand close to Republicans, but many have expressed distaste for Trump and predictably do not support Harris, making Oliver a potentially game-changing candidate. It becomes.
He is the only third-party candidate in the Silver State and could influence a relatively small population. Stein was unable to appear on the ballot there, but Kennedy was successful in removing his name.
north carolina
If there's any place for West, a left-wing former campaign surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vermont), it's the Tar Heel State. Mr. West sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections to put his name on the ballot, building a small grassroots following of progressive and working-class voters across races and age groups.
A GOTV host in North Carolina told The Hill he doesn't see much interest in third parties among voters, but West's insistence on competing as a “Justice for All” candidate makes him more likely to have options. It was said to have been praised by fringe groups who believe it is important for democracy.
pennsylvania
The Keystone State is the most closely watched battleground state, with Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump each spending large swaths of the county to win 19 electoral votes.
Democrats are happy with the vice president's latest two-point lead, but understand the race is fluid, according to Monday's Washington Post Schar School poll. Indeed, another Emerson College poll conducted earlier this month showed Trump with a one-point lead.
Harris said she spent $500 million on advertising in the state. to multiple reportshas scored 20 touchdowns, including one tied with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Mr. Trump made headlines by appearing at McDonald's and has invested heavily there as well.
The move closer means more focus on third-party candidates. Mr. Stein and Mr. Oliver each hope to appeal to dissatisfied voters, and polls show that they collectively received between 1% and 3% of the vote, enough to sway the outcome, experts say. I'm looking at it.
wisconsin
Stein, Kennedy, Oliver and West will all appear on the Wisconsin ballot, making them perhaps the biggest wild cards among the seven key battleground states.
Candidates won various court challenges to the Democratic National Committee to appear on the Badger State's ballot, and the Wisconsin State Board of Elections certified their bids as legitimate.
The NDP has been keeping an eye on Mr. Stein, bringing back flashbacks to 2016, when Mr. Clinton lost the same election by 1%. But Mr. Kennedy, who has infuriated the Democratic Party throughout his presidential campaign, could steal votes from either party, even after ordering his supporters to support Mr. Trump.
