Could Third-Party Presidential Candidate Hurt Democrat Nominee?

Progressive activist and former Harvard professor Cornel West announced Monday he is running for president with the People’s Party.

“I am running for truth and justice as a presidential candidate for the People’s Party to reintroduce America to the best of itself – fighting to end poverty, mass incarceration, ending wars and ecological collapse, guaranteeing housing, health care, education and living wages for all!” West wrote on Twitter with a video announcement.

“I have decided to run for truth and justice, which takes the form of running for President of the United States as a candidate for the People’s Party,” West said in the video.

“I enter in the quest for truth, I enter in the quest for justice, and the presidency is just one vehicle to pursue that truth and justice, what I’ve been trying to do all of my life,” he added.

WATCH:

I am running for truth and justice as a presidential candidate for the People’s Party to reintroduce America to the best of itself – fighting to end poverty, mass incarceration, ending wars and ecological collapse, guaranteeing housing, health care, education and living wages for… pic.twitter.com/u3NYGUbG1S

— Cornel West (@CornelWest) June 5, 2023

The Hill reported:

In the campaign video, West included a clip in which he referred to President Biden as a “milquetoast neoliberal” and referred to former President Trump as a “neofascist.” He explained his decision to run as a third-party candidate, saying, “neither political party wants to tell the truth about Wall Street, about Ukraine, about the Pentagon, about big tech.”

“Do we have what it takes? We shall see. But some of us are going to go down fighting, go down swinging, with style and a smile,” he said.

The People’s Party was founded in 2017 by Nick Brana, a former campaign staffer for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for the purpose of “building a major new progressive populist party in America.”

The progressive third-party candidate may pull votes from the Democrat presidential nominee should he make the ballot.

I wonder how many percentage points he will pull away from Democrats. https://t.co/DzsiyMeaxi

— An0maly (@LegendaryEnergy) June 6, 2023

Fox News noted:

While he is a long-shot candidate, the left-wing media personality’s third-lane campaign appears to be a clear knock on President Biden and the Democratic Party.

cont.

He swung at both Republicans and Democrats, continuing, “Neither political party wants to tell the truth about Wall Street, about Ukraine, about the Pentagon, about big tech.”

West announced his campaign the same day as former Vice President Mike Pence, another long-shot candidate.

The Paper Work Is In, Mike Pence Will Run For President