Green Party's Jill Stein campaigns in WI; impact on White House race
RACINE, Wis. - In a state with razor close elections, third party presidential candidate Jill Stein campaigned in Racine on Tuesday, March 12. Could her Green Party accidentally make Wisconsin red?
"Are you going to cost Joe Biden this election in 2024?" asked FOX6 Political Reporter Jason Calvi.
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"This is exactly the message they're trying to get out. Because they want to intimidate you against standing up and voting for a candidate that will really represent you, not continue to throw you under the bus," Stein answered.
Jill Stein
In 2016, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin by about 22,000 votes. That year, Stein got more than that margin – 31,000 thousand Wisconsin votes. Stein backs a liberal platform – which means she could pose more of a challenge to Democrats.
"There were all kinds of ways that Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin, like by not coming here to actually campaign," Stein said. "No politician owns your vote. Any politician who claims to own your vote should be disqualified from even consideration. Politicians have to earn your vote, they don't own your vote and if they think they're entitled to, they're absolutely not deserving."
In 2016, 1% nationally chose Stein, the same percentage she gained in Wisconsin. The Green Party did not make it onto the Wisconsin ballot in 2020 – the year Joe Biden won by about 20,000 votes. Now, Stein is hoping to have another shot in 2024.
"So we're saying we need some different choices. We need choices that will stand up for us, because of the crises we are facing can be solved, but we need the political representatives who are representing us, not the big donors, which unfortunately is the driver inside the Democratic and Republican parties," Stein said.
Jill Stein
"Is it a waste of a vote to vote for you when maybe you only get one to 3% in the United States?" asked Calvi.
"So the real waste of a vote is when you don't vote on your own interests, on behalf of your own interests, and you just give a stamp of approval to a political machine that is throwing you under the bus, that cannot raise your wages to a living wage," Stein answered.
Jill Stein
Jill Stein is a medical doctor and environmental activist. She calls for a Green New Deal – and promotes Medicare for All.
"If you simply expand Medicare so that it covers everyone comprehensively, and you get rid of the middle man, the profiteering insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, big pharma, if you take their profits out of the equation, then we save half a trillion dollars every year, at the same time we provide health care to everyone as a human right," Stein said.
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Stein also calls for cutting military funding.
Now she's campaigning in Racine, Milwaukee and Madison, urging Wisconsin voters to vote Green in a purple state.
The Marquette Law School Poll last month found former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden were tied, in a two-person race. However, when third party candidates were added, Trump took a three-point lead:
Donald Trump: 40%
Joe Biden: 37%
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: 16%
Jill Stein: 4%
Cornel West: 2%
The New York times reported one of those third party candidates, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was considering former Green Bay Packer Aaron Rodgers as a possible running mate.
The Gallup Poll last fall found 63% of American adults said "a third major party is needed."