2016 Green Party candidate Jill Stein says she’s again running for president.
Jill Stein, who ran for president in 2016 as the Green Party candidate, said on Nov. 9 that she’ll seek her party’s nomination for president, potentially causing 2024 headaches for President Joe Biden and Democrats.
“The political system is broken,” Ms. Stein said in a video that announced her presidential bid. “The bipartisan establishment failed us, and we need a party that serves the people.”
The political system is broken. Over 60% of us now say the two-party establishment has failed us and we need a party that serves the people.
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) November 9, 2023
I’m running for President to offer a better choice for the people. Join us!https://t.co/sjGXNNSnmK pic.twitter.com/QkrugPGadb
She also said that “our democracy is on life support,” noting on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that she’ll kick off her campaign in earnest on Nov. 21.
“Belief in our political system is at historic lows and the number of Americans who feel that neither establishment party represents them is at a record high,” said Ms. Stein, a former doctor. “We need real choices on the ballot, because without freedom of choice in elections, there is no democracy.
“It’s time to revive the promise of democracy”
She’s running under the Green Party’s banner again after Cornel West switched his party registration to independent. Mr. West, a lecturer and activist, is still running for the White House in 2024.
Some Democrats in 2016 blamed Ms. Stein, in part, for Hillary Clinton’s loss to then-candidate Donald Trump. While she drew about 1.4 million votes nationally, according to The Washington Post, Democrats accused her of drawing votes from then-candidate Ms. Clinton in key battleground states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
In 2020, the Green Party’s candidate, Howie Hawkins, an environmental activist, drew only about half of the votes that Ms. Stein drew in 2016, the Post noted.
Any potential criticism from Democrats likely won’t faze Ms. Stein, her video suggests. She targeted Democrats for abandoning “working people” and claimed that they aren’t doing enough for the climate.
“Democrats have betrayed their promises for working people, youth, and the climate again and again, while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place,” she said on Nov. 9. “Both parties are a danger to our democracy—expanding censorship, criminalizing protests, throwing competitors off the ballot, suppressing debates, rigging their primaries.”
