GOP Funds Third-Party Candidates in Key Midwest States Hoping to They'll Attract Harris Vote

Third-party candidates for President could siphon off enough of the Democratic vote in key Midwest battleground states to throw election to Trump

Third party candidate, Jill Stein, Green Party Candidate is in part blamed by Hilary Clinton supporters for Clinton's loss in 2020 electionPhoto byScreen Capture/Youtube Video [Creator]

While it is practically unheard of for a third party candidate to win a presidential election, they can sometimes alter the outcome by pulling votes away from one of the major candidates. With several Midwest states being battlegrounds including Wisconsin and Michigan, the focus on trying to lock up the vote in those areas has been intense.

Across the country, Republican politicians, lawyers and allies are attempting to influence November's presidential election to favor Former President Donald Trump. Their intention is to support third-party candidates who atract voters with an alternative candidate who will take votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

Some believe that third-party candidates could decide the 2024 presidential election, in favor of Trump. It is said that the third-party vote ended up costing Democrats two of the last six presidential elections and that the third-party candidates running this year have stronger support than they did in the last two elections.

Trump is supporting two third-party candidates in particular. He has referred to Cornel West as "one of my favorite candidates." Another favorite third=party candidate of Trump's is Green Party candidate Jill Stein. He like both of these candidates for the same reason. "I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100% from them. He takes 100%."

One third party candidate to keep an eye on is Cornel West a philosopher and civil rights activist, who has taught at various US universities including Harvard. He refers to himself as a "non-Marxist socialist."

In Wisconsin, Blair Group Consulting organized West’s petition signature drive to gather the signatures necessary to qualify for inclusion on the ballot in the state. The firm’s president, David Blair, served as the national director of Youth for Trump during the former president’s 2016 campaign and as a spokesman for the Trump administration.

Originally, West was ruled ineligible by the Michigan Bureau of Elections to be added to the ballot due to problems involving an affidavit he filed in the state. However, on August 24, West’s name along with his running mate Melina Abdullah were ordered by Michigan Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford to be added to Michigan’s presidential ballot. The judge said both candidates had fulfilled the requirement of obtaining at least 12,000 eligible signatures.

Though West has been polling at 1% or less in Michigan and nationally, Republicans hope that would be enough to impact what is expected to be a close election between Harris and Trump, possibly being enough to win specific states and throw the election to Trump.

West and his running mate are on three Midwest state ballots including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.

Jill Stein a physician and activist, was the Green Party's candidate in 2012 and 2016. She is running again this year with Butch Ware, a University of California Santa Barbara professor as her running-mate. She has recently claimed that the

Hillary Clinton supporters believe Stein contributed to the Democrat's narrow defeat in the 2016 presidential election, ass in three crucial states, Clinton lost to Trump by fewer votes than those received by Stein.

While not likely to receive more than than 2% of the vote, that number could still hurt Harris in several key states. She is currently on the ballot in three Midwest states including Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Chase Oliver was nominated by The Libertarian Party, the third biggest political party in the country, to be their presidential candidate, with Mike ter Maat as his running mate.

While Libertarian candidates usually pull support away from the GOP, as the third candidate in Georgia’s 2022 US Senate race, he took enough support away from Ralph Warnock the Democratic incumbent who had been heavily in the lead to force a runoff between Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. It is believed that, similar to the Georgia election, any votes that Oliver siphons off will be mostly from the Democrats. He is included on four Midwest state ballots including Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana.