ATLANTA — Democrats are renewing efforts in the homestretch of this year’s presidential election to label the Green Party’s Jill Stein as a spoiler candidate who will only help Donald Trump, while Stein supporters are calling on Georgians to abandon Kamala Harris.
Polling at less than 1% support among Georgia voters, a small but vocal group of the electorate on Thursday criticized proposed policies from Trump and Harris, urging voters to cast their ballots for Stein. A co-chair of the “Abandon Harris” campaign in Georgia, Ibrahim Awad, said Stein is the only presidential candidate who will cut off military aid to Israel.
“The idea of witnessing a livestreamed genocide and still awarding a presidential nominee with the presidency is outrageous,” said Awad, a Palestinian American.
For Awad and voters alike, there is no lesser of two evils because their vote hinges on a cease-fire in the yearlong conflict in Gaza, something Stein has vowed to end if elected.
“We are not for Trump, and we are not for Harris,” Awad said. “We are for a better future, and that’s why we support Jill Stein and the Green Party.”
Stein landed a spot on Georgia’s ballot by way of a new state provision after facing Democratic-backed legal action to bar her and two other minor presidential candidates from the state ticket under the belief they could siphon votes away from Harris in a close election. However, the Supreme Court of Georgia disqualified the two other long-shot candidates — Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz — last month.
That’s why, with polls showing Trump and Harris neck and neck, Democrats are pushing a new message in the few remaining weeks of the race to shore up support from third-party voters: A vote for Stein is a vote for Trump.
Stein won’t win this year’s race, but she could play a role in deciding who takes Georgia’s 16 electoral votes. The Democratic National Committee wants to avoid a repeat of the 2016 election, when Stein was accused of contributing to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s loss to Trump in some swing states. This year, the DNC is telling supporters of the far-left candidate that Trump is not an option in the close race to the White House.
“We’re reminding voters that Jill Stein delivered the White House for Trump in 2016, she doesn’t regret it and she wants to do it again,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the DNC. “And this time, Trump and Republicans are propping her up. That’s what is so disturbing and why we are being so proactive to tell voters what the risks are, how close the election is and that their vote counts.”
