In an email sent to supporters on Thursday afternoon, author and 2024 hopeful Dr. Cornel West announced his departure from the Green Party and his decision to launch an independent presidential campaign “unaffiliated with any political party.”
“We stand at a crossroads in our nation’s history, where our corporate-funded system is unable and unwilling to solve the critical problems poor and working people face,” West opened in his correspondence, “I am in this race to challenge the hegemony of the two ruling parties, the never-ending dance between Republicans and Democrats that leaves millions of our friends and neighbors without housing, health care, decent jobs, clean air, clean water, nutritious food, and a healthy environment.”
West also stated that the Constitution “provides for Independent candidates to gain ballot access in all states” and confirmed that he was pursuing ballot access as an independent candidate unaffiliated with any other organization.
In addition, he briefly acknowledged his former party, recognizing their “shared values and commitment to justice.” However, he alluded to challenges from within the party and stressed that his presidential campaign “belongs to the people.”
“I nod in solidarity to the Green Party for their shared values and commitment to justice. But my quest for the presidency belongs to the people. I believe the best way to challenge the entrenched system is by focusing 100% on the people, not on the intricacies of internal party dynamics.”
This is Cornel West’s second major announcement regarding his partisan affiliation in this election cycle.
Initially, when West announced his presidential run in June, he did so as a candidate of the People’s Party. “In these bleak times, 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,” he said in a video at the time.
However, less than two weeks after that announcement, West unveiled his plan to pursue the Green Party’s nomination. “In the spirit of a broad United Front and coalition strategy, I am pursuing the nomination of the Green Party for President of the United States,” West said shortly after that launch. “I thank the volunteers of the People’s Party for the initial launch!”
West also appointed former long-time Democratic activist and progressive blogger Peter Daou as campaign manager early last September.
Daou, who previously worked as the campaign manager for Democratic hopeful Marianne Williamson, replaced former two-time Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein as campaign manager for West. While there was no mention of Stein in the release then, she remarked on social media in the days leading up to the announcement that she was transitioning to a senior advisor role and would focus on ballot access for the campaign.
Following West’s shift to an independent candidacy, Jill Stein and former Green Party vice presidential nominee Ajamu Baraka announced their departure from West’s campaign team on social media. Stein further stated that she is actively involved in conversations with former Green Party candidates about an alternative choice entering the 2024 election.
“While we share Dr. West’s formidable commitment to peace and justice, we are respectfully parting ways at this juncture, as we are committed to building an independent people-powered party as an indispensable vehicle for challenging empire and oligarchy for the long haul,” Stein said in her post, “In light of Dr. West’s decision to run independently, we are in discussion with several former candidates about potentially entering the race to carry the Green Party’s anti-war, pro-worker, climate emergency agenda into this critical election.”
https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/1709982608904339651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1709982608904339651%7Ctwgr%5E40a7da2591a23bcf147911f967b9ba883d91f6fd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocraticgadfly.blogspot.com%2F2023%2F10%2Fis-cornel-west-daft-peter-daou-both.html
Editor’s note: The article has been updated to reflect comment from Dr. Jill Stein regarding her role as senior advisor. With thanks to SocraticGadfly for providing information regarding the statement by Jill Stein.
Ryan: Some sort of version like that sounds correct.
My questions are: Was this entirely Cornel’s idea, or was it in part Peter Daou’s, since this is just a week or so since Daou became his new campaign chair and Stein moved into a “senior advisor” role. If it was in part Daou’s, why? He’s a political operative of experience. Another angle is that West was hoping for a “clear the field” sort of help from the GP, which would tie to No. 3. (Sidebar: I have argued / discussed off and on for years with Jeff St. Clair of Counterpunch the Nader 2004 issue. I was further away from his stance originally, then got closer without totally agreeing, and since, have moved further away again. Nader’s move of a couple of weeks ago hasn’t helped the stance of a St. Clair, that a pristine Nader was robbed by the GP in 2004.)
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Now, what’s the over/under on number of states where he gets on the ballot? I’ll put it at 25 and that may be generous. (I think Bob Jr. hits 40, even if not all 50.)
Taking all comments at face value:
1. Green Party wanted to have input/insight/staff on the campaign of some sort and Cornel West did not want this.
2. Cornel West wanted the party to have all its focus on his campaign and the Greens disagreed.
3. Cornel West wanted to do the Ralph Nader 2004 of “I can be the candidate of the Green Party but I am not the Green Party candidate” and the party told him no.
My guess is the Greens wanted West to while having his own issues be a Green issues candidate and West thought no.
If he wants to place a lawsuit and argue the Constitution guarantees him universal ballot access, hey, knock your socks off. In the 1% chance it succeeds it’s a huge long-term benefit for every other ballot access-challenged party out there…at least until the Republicans and Democrats agree the 14th does not apply to political parties and amend the Constitution.
Cornel West would have a difficult time getting on the ballot for Democratic Party primaries. Some of them require gathering petition signatures and/or paying filing fees.
This is such a puzzling decision. This is his 3rd change in affiliation since announcing his candidacy. Part of the reason he swapped from the People’s Party to the Green Party was motivated by ballot access. Now this decision seemingly out of nowhere?
Richard Winger of Ballot Access News is saying this decision was made due to a misunderstanding on West’s part concerning paid petitioners? I don’t know. At any rate, all the changes are just bizzare and it’s starting to feel like this is just a vanity project.
I’m going to pass on West as a candidate
NF – ,more likely than dropping out, watch for an announcement from Dr West about entering the Democrat primary. He can claim to be an Independent like Bernie Sanders and see if they allow him in.
Swing: Oh? Where does the Constitution provide for ballot access?
me: I sure am unaware of any such provision. I sometimes wonder if Article IV, Section 4,
“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government” might be an area where high barriers to ballot access could be challenged, although I doubt it….
That fellow sure does seem to have problems making up his damn mind.
But he’s the only candidate whom I know to have appeared in a Matrix flick, so he’s got that going for him anyway.
Again, paying petitioners is allowed in every state as well as DC. If only SG took more time to read and less to opine he would already know this.
I expect an announcement of him dropping out entirely in the relatively near future.
I changed my mind. One blog post about the announcement for right now, another for next week, the original one, edited.
Per the question in the post? Jill Stein is MOST DEFINITELY not following him. She and Ajamu Baraka are beating the bush for new candidates, perhaps recognizing they didn’t have a stellar crop outside of West.
Her long tweet is linked in my blog post.
https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2023/10/is-cornel-west-daft-peter-daou-both.html
Cornel West will have an extremely difficult time getting ballot access in many states as an independent. The Green Party already had ballot access in a bunch of states, plus the Green Party has enough organization to gain ballot access in more states. I do not think Cornel West will be able to raise anywhere near as much money as RFK Jr. can raise, so RFK Jr.’s chance of success with ballot access are a lot higher than that of Cornel West.
Can’t see Stein following him. (And maybe there’s some inside baseball there.)
Otherwise, he does NOT have RFK Jr.’s money to pay for signature gatherers where allowed, and while not an unknown, does not have RFK’s name recognition to help in states that don’t.
Nor does he likely have RFK Jr’s experience with political petitions.
Warmonger Joe has just gotten two boosts in the last week.
I had been planning on dropping a blog post about Cornel as a Green today, but pushed it back a week due to having a plate full already. I’ll update it and it will be out next week.
Given that official printed ballots were a century later than the Constitution, how is this possible? Did Ben Franklin build a TARDIS to find out? Or is West getting his information from the 1619 Project folks?
West also stated that the Constitution “provides for Independent candidates to gain ballot access in all states…”
Oh? Where does the Constitution provide for ballot access?