A court’s decision in Wisconsin, a key swing state in this year’s election, to keep Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein on the ballot in November could hurt Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of defeating former President Donald Trump.
On Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected an attempt by a Democratic National Committee (DNC) official to exclude Stein from the state’s ballot this year, ruling that “plaintiff is not entitled to the relief he seeks.”
Republican Party lawyers supported efforts to keep Stein on the ballot, likely hoping that her appeal to some left-leaning voters will drain enough support from Democratic candidate Harris to ensure victory for Trump, the Republican nominee, this year.
Stein had previously run as the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2012 and 2016. In 2020, when President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by just over 20,000 votes against Trump, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins was not on the ballot.
Some blame Stein for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016 – the Green Party candidate received over 31,000 votes in Wisconsin and Trump won the state by just under 23,000 votes.
In 2020, Hawkins received barely more than 1,000 votes as a candidate in Wisconsin. It is not clear how many Biden voters would have supported Hawkins if his name had been on the ballot.
While it is unclear how many potential Stein voters would support Harris if she were not on the ballot, if the outcome this year is as close as in past elections, a relatively small number of votes could have decisive implications.
Newsweek reached out to the Harris team via email on Monday evening for comment.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP; ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP
An average of recent polls from FiveThirtyEight showed Harris with a 3.6 percent lead over Trump in Wisconsin as of Monday evening. None of the polls that included Stein as a possible option showed a lead of more than 1 percent.
In 2016, Stein received about 1 percent of the vote in Wisconsin. While support for third-party and independent presidential candidates tends to decline as Election Day approaches, a similar result this year spells trouble for Harris’ campaign if it is coupled with a decline in support for the Democrat.
Earlier, a judge had delivered more potentially bad news to Harris by reinstating independent presidential candidate Cornel West in Michigan, another swing state that could prove decisive this year.
West, who like Stein is polling below 1 percent, previously ran as the Green Party candidate with Stein’s backing. Republican lawyers are supporting his efforts to appear on ballots across the country.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign last week and endorsed Trump, while announcing that he intends to remove his name from the ballot in swing states to avoid being seen as a “killjoy” candidate and damaging the former president’s chances of re-election.
Stein said Newsweek Shortly after Kennedy Jr. endorsed Trump, she declared that she would stay in the race and never endorse Harris, despite concerns that she might help secure a Trump victory.
