(Wall Street Journal) Some Republicans are supporting Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s long-shot bid for the presidency, attempting to bolster a campaign that could siphon liberal voters from Vice President Kamala Harris.
The support, including from allies of former President Donald Trump, has Democrats worried Stein will be a spoiler for Harris in places such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Stein is very unlikely to win any of them or reach the White House, but the Democrat’s path to victory is greatly diminished if Harris loses any of the three, where she is locked in a tight race with Trump. The prospect of Stein taking some of Harris’s support in those states causes heartburn for Democrats still smarting over Hillary Clinton’s loss there in 2016, when Stein was also on the ballot.
All that is beside the point, according to Stein. She says her candidacy represents a legitimate moral challenge to America’s two-party system, and she pitches herself as the change agent sought by millions of voters—not just liberals. She rejects the notion that her presence in the race could help Trump.
POLLS INDICATE THAT JILL STEIN IS DRAWING SUPPORT FROM 1% OF THE ELECTORATE AND SLIGHTLY MORE IN SOME BATTLEGROUND STATES.
“It is a propaganda campaign intended to tell the voters that resistance is futile, that you just need to accept being thrown under the bus,” Stein said in an interview. “There is no lesser evil in this race.”
Federal Election Commission records show Stein paid $100,000 in July to a consulting outfit that has worked with Republican campaigns, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential bid. The firm, Accelevate, is operated by Trent Pool. The Intercept reported that he appeared to be part of the mob that breached the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6., 2021. The Journal hasn’t independently verified the reporting.
Pool and his lawyer didn’t return a request for comment.
Stein spokesman Jason Call said the campaign paid Pool for signature-gathering services and that the campaign was unaware of any participation in events surrounding Jan 6.
The Green Party is poised to be on the ballot in most battleground states and at times accepted help from Trump-affiliated lawyers to secure ballot access.
Former Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, who worked on the defense team in one of the former president’s impeachments, was among those representing the Green Party in efforts to get Stein back on the Nevada ballot after she was removed because of incorrect petition forms. The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Nevada Green Party’s bid to restore Stein to the ballot.
