What Green Party Voters Really Think About Cornel West

• Green Party activists are generally excited about the prospect of West's nomination
• While realistic of his chances in the 2024 election, they are hopeful he will shape the presidential debate
• Both party members and West have rejected the "lie" that a strong Green candidate could rob Joe Biden of votes

Early in June, Cornel West, an academic and civil rights activist, who has been an unflinching critic of leading political figures, announced his candidacy for president—first under the People's Party banner, before seeking the endorsement of the Green Party.

Party members who spoke to Newsweek said that, though a nominee will not be chosen until a convention is held next year, activists are already excited by the prospect. But support for West is not unanimous, with fringe debates from across the political spectrum influencing some views of the candidate.

Hopeful that his voice will shape the election debate and Joe Biden's message, they remain realistic about his chances of sitting in the Oval Office, critical of an electoral system they feel is set against third-party candidates.

West's candidacy for a party that is viewed as predominantly focussing on environmental issues may raise a few eyebrows, but members argue that the party stands for much more than stopping climate change—and have no qualms with West campaigning on issues important to him.

"Cornel West definitely knows what has to be done, and will focus on that," David Mulinix, co-chair of the Green Party in Hawaii, said. "He has a life history of walking his talk."

A charismatic orator and impassioned speaker, the philosopher is already reportedly stirring worries from some in the Democratic Party who are fearful he may draw votes away from an incumbent president who has struggled in recent years with public speaking.

But Green Party activists in states where presidential candidates have previously performed well strongly refuted the idea that they could split the left vote, describing it as a "lie" to induce tactical voting, and arguing that a strong third-party candidate can entice people to vote who otherwise would not.

Who is Cornel West?

A professor of philosophy at Princeton and Union Theological Seminary, an author of 20 books and a hip hop artist, West, 70, grew up watching the civil rights movement unfold in real-time and has proved an outspoken—if at times provocative—proponent of racial equality and socialist ideals.

In his 2004 book Democracy Matters, he argued that 9/11 "gave white Americans a glimpse of what it means to be a black person in the United States," and after initially supporting Barack Obama's presidential bid, in a 2012 interview described the first African American president as "a Rockefeller Republican in blackface."

West has also previously called Donald Trump a "neo-fascist" and Biden a "milk toast neoliberal," but has said he did not harbor hate for either.

Announcing his presidential bid, West said: "I care about the quality of your life, I care about whether you have access to a job with a living wage, decent housing, women having control over their bodies, healthcare for all, the escalating destruction of the planet, the destruction of American democracy."

"He's someone who has an established reputation and who is respected in the Green Party," Ken Adams, Oregon Green Party treasurer, said. "I just feel that this is something that's going to get people a little bit more energized."

He compared West to Ralph Nader, the Green Party's candidate in 1996 and 2000—the latter of which he won 2.74 percent of the vote—whose campaign Adams worked on in California, adding that the younger generation in the golden state "seem to be excited about the possibility" of his nomination.

"I don't know anyone who isn't excited about it," said Mulinix. "It's a win-win for everyone."

"Cornel is kind of the epitome of what the Green Party stands for, and he does it with love and compassion," Jacqui Deveneau, a long-time Green Party member in Maine, said. "For me and for the majority of us that have been building this party for years, he is definitely somebody [who] we would want to have as our nominee."

For Nathalie Paravicini, co-chair of the Oregon party's coordinating committee, West's candidacy is positive because "when you have a high-profile person, then the media really covers you more, and then we can get that alternative view that there is a new, different world [that] is possible out."

But there is some opposition to West within the party. In an email sent to Paravicini and Newsweek, Chuck Fall, another coordinating committee member in Oregon, wrote that "one serious problem West must resolve" was "his sanguine attitude towards Dr. [Anthony] Fauci."

He added: "West needs to revisit his position on the truth about the federal Covid response, the origins of SARS Cov2 and the alleged 'safety and effectiveness' of the MRNA vaccine technology."

The origins of the coronavirus pandemic and the safety of the jab have been the subject of ongoing conspiracy theories. While medical professionals have overwhelmingly affirmed the safety of the vaccine, the true origins of the virus remain a matter of debate.

Newsweek approached the West campaign via email for comment on Thursday.

In a response seen by Newsweek, Bob Zanhiser, a further committee member, told Fall: "The fact Cornel West isn't an anti-vax fanatic doesn't disqualify him in my eyes, or in the eyes of most Greens who do not share your bias."

"He's somewhat problematic in his opinions about things," Adams said. "I kind of tend to disregard what he says altogether."

Platform or Personal Policy?

While West is a prominent figure on the left, climate change has hardly been the main focus of his life's work. On his campaign website, "saving the planet" is listed as third of three key policies, where he calls for a resurrection of the Green New Deal and a shift to renewable energy.

But asked whether there were any worries West might use the party as a platform for issues close to his own heart, activists are unfazed.

"The Green Party is not just about environmental conservation," Paravicini said, adding that it "is also fundamentally about non-violence—particularly the huge militarization of so many economies—and the Green Party stands very strongly for social justice. And in that respect, Cornel West is, like, the perfect candidate.

"There are few people out there who have walked the walk in terms of social justice, grassroots democracy, speaking truth to power than Cornel West."

"Cornel really speaks to a lot of the issues that I find important," Adams commented. "I do see a lot of racism, and I've lived in different parts of the country and I've seen this play out—and I really think the country needs to address these issues."

He added that the candidate will usually "set the tone" of the campaign, and suggested local parties run candidates that "emphasize the issues that are important in those areas." But he also stressed the Green Party is "not just environmental."

Splitting the Left Vote?

An accusation that is often leveled at third parties is that they will cost their larger counterparts votes and, potentially, an election. This was said of Nader—and is already being said of West.

David Axelrod, the former Obama campaign strategist, tweeted in July that Jill Stein, the Green Party's candidate in 2016, who received one percent of the national vote, played an "outsized role in tipping the election to Donald Trump" and that West "could easily do it again."

But this is an assertion both West and party activists have denied. West told The Atlantic in July: "I would say that most of the people who vote for me would not have voted for Biden. They would have probably stayed home."

"Forty percent of voters are independent voters—they don't want to be part of the Democratic Party or the Republican Party," Mulinix said. "If there was a really good candidate that those voters would be attracted to, they will come out and vote. Bernie Sanders, Ralph Nader—they brought millions of new voters into the system."

He added: "If Cornel West gets a fair shot and he gets whatever-million votes he gets, he'll have earned those votes. And if they're not gained by Joe Biden, well he didn't earn those votes and that's on him."

Deveneau, meanwhile, argued the spoiler argument was a "lie" on the part of Democrats, noting: "We have run a presidential candidate every single [election] and there's been Clinton and there's been Biden and there's been Obama."

She added of the 2016 election: "Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, and the popular vote is the only thing the Green Party can affect."

Newsweek approached the Biden campaign via email for comment on Thursday.

West in the West Wing?

The last time a third-party candidate won second place in a presidential race was in 1912 when already two-term president Theodore Roosevelt split with the Republican Party and formed the Progressive Party.

The last time one won the presidency was even further back, in 1864, when the incumbent president Abraham Lincoln ran under the National Union Party, comprising of Democrats and Republicans, during the American Civil War.

These may be slim historical pickings, but Green Party members are hopeful but not expectant. Noting Lincoln's 1864 win, Mulinix said: "It has happened before in the past; it can happen again. So if Cornel West sticks to what he has been talking about for decades and focuses on that, he has a good chance of [having] a good showing nationwide."

But, he added, "The system is set up to destroy third-party candidates."

This is a sentiment shared by others in the Green Party. "In the United States, the electoral system is extremely difficult to break through, it's a two-party system that's extremely ingrained," Paravicini said.

Even though a vision of West sitting in the Oval Office may be an elusive one, party members hope his candidacy will help shape the 2024 debate.

"He'll get more noticed. People in the media will be covering him, and so his statements will have an impact," Adams said. He added: "I think he'll outperform Jill Stein and some of the others we've had over the last few years, and I think that won't even be a question."

"If there's no threat to the Democratic Party or to Biden, he's just going to do what he's doing," Mulinix remarked, suggesting West "could have a major impact." He added: "We need to scare these guys, they need a scare."

Paravicini said she was "optimistic and hopeful that some things are going to change" but "not unrealistic either." However, she said she could see the Green Party moving "being considered a spoiler to being an actual political force in the United States."