Five presidential candidates, representing various ideologies and parties, debated on February 29 in Manhattan, New York, at the Free and Equal Elections Foundation 2024 Presidential Election Debate. The Free and Equal Elections Foundation, reorganized under Christina Tobin in 2008, provides a platform for third party and independent candidates to debate.
According to Tobin, they plan to hold a debate every eight weeks leading up to the November 5 presidential election. The candidates at the debate included Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party’s nominee in 2012 and 2016; Claudia de la Cruz, this year’s nominee for the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL); Libertarian Party candidates Chase Oliver and Lars Mapstead; and Green Party candidate Jasmine Sherman. I had the opportunity to speak to four of the five candidates, and you can watch the video below:
Jill Stein — Stein is the former nominee of the Green Party in both 2012 and 2016, and has been involved in politics since 2002, advocating for progressivism. She is notable for being one of the first candidates to call for a Green New Deal.
Claudia de la Cruz — de la Cruz is an activist and community organizer, announced her run for president in September and is the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s nominee.
Chase Oliver — for Oliver, this is his third political campaign, first running for Congress, then in the Georgia senate election in 2022 where he received 2% of the vote and debated Senator Raphael Warnock. He is now running for the Libertarian nomination and has won three of their primary contests.
Lars Mapstead — Mapstead is new to the political scene and is a tech entrepreneur who has invested half a million dollars of his own funds and received thousands of dollars in donations to catapult his campaign to becoming one of the most popular Libertarian primary candidates.
Nathan S. is a student writer with an interest in politics, often covering the activities of 2024 presidential candidates across all parties. Readers of Independent Political Report can find more of his work on his NSSN News Substack. This article has been edited for formatting with the author’s permission by Independent Political Report.
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