Cornel West Is Too Big a Risk for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Since his announcement of a 2024 presidential bid in June, supporters of third-party candidate Cornel West have framed his longshot campaign as a historic opportunity to elevate progressive ideals they felt establishment figures like President Joe Biden have long ignored.

However, even close allies like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are appearing reluctant to step behind him, saying the temptation of a left-wing challenge to Biden is not worth the risk of a second Donald Trump presidency.

Speaking to The Hill over the weekend, the progressive New York congresswoman and close philosophical ally of West, expressed reservations about his campaign after a recent decision to change his affiliation to the Green Party—a reprise of former candidate Jill Stein's ill-fated run for the presidency in 2016 that helped Trump win the White House.

"I think he has a very long record of service and academic thought leadership," Ocasio-Cortez said of West. "I think just right now, given the Electoral College, it's very difficult to square the very real threat of a Republican presidency...[with] the risk of giving up the very small margin of electoral votes needed to ensure that President Biden wins."

Newsweek reached out to West's campaign via email for comment.

While West—an academic and philosopher with no experience in elected office—has always been considered a longshot, his candidacy comes amid a highly polarized electoral environment in which experts say a third-party candidate could draw a sizable share of the independent vote, denying Democrats the swing votes they have traditionally needed to win.

The environment is so fraught that groups like Third Way, a center-left think tank that has pushed for both parties to return to the ideological middle, have criticized efforts by other groups like No Labels to promote a third-party effort for the presidency, arguing that any additional candidates in the race would serve only as spoilers to Trump's benefit.

While West's boosters have argued that his support would likely come exclusively from voters on the progressive left—which are predominantly focused in larger cities in states that rarely have implications on the Electoral College—analysts with Third Way told Newsweek even that reasoning is dangerous, citing the small margins of victory reported in other battleground states like Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.

"Once you get to the general election, this is going to be a razor-thin race," said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way. "Joe Biden can't afford to lose votes in Atlanta, or in Phoenix, or Philadelphia, or Milwaukee, or Detroit. There's no margin in those states. Joe Biden won six states by less than two points last time."