Progressives aren’t quite sure how to deal with Jill Stein

The congresswoman’s argument, which has been endlessly litigated back and forth online in the two weeks since she first made it, was somewhat atypical for an elected Democrat. Rather than arguing that Stein’s goals were unrealistic, or that she’s a mere spoiler, or that she’s an unwitting tool of Russia, Ocasio-Cortez made a different charge: That the Green Party candidate is simply bad at politics.

It’s a case that Ocasio-Cortez is better positioned to make than other Democrats. After all, her politics largely align with Stein’s. The congresswoman played a key role in popularizing the notion of a “Green New Deal,” an idea that Stein had previously run on. On the war in Gaza, an issue that has galvanized support for the Green Party this year, both women have opposed military aid to Israel and used the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s conduct.

“To me, it’s not even about being anti-Green. I think it’s really about this moment,” Ocasio-Cortez told Business Insider, noting that she’s supported local Green Party candidates in the past and remains sympathetic to third parties, even as she’s climbed the ranks within the Democratic Party. “If someone legitimately thinks that a Trump administration would be identical to a Democratic one, that, to me, is a position that I think ignores the realities of so many people.”

Stein has argued in response that Democrats have sought to suppress her candidacy, pointing to lawsuits that the party has filed to keep Greens off of the ballot in some states. She’s also accused Ocasio-Cortez of “supporting genocide,” labeled the congresswoman “AOC Pelosi,” and accused the congresswoman of taking “marching orders” from the Democratic Party.

“Nobody needs talking points to know Jill Stein hasn’t won so much as a bingo game in the last decade,” the congresswoman retorted last week.

‘The margins are too small for us to be smug’

Stein’s candidacy appears to pose a similar threat to Democrats’ chances this year as it did in 2016, when the Green Party candidate’s vote share exceeded Donald Trump’s margin of victory in the crucial swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. There’s also the independent left-wing candidate Cornel West, whose name will appear on ballots in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina.

But not every progressive is on board with going after those candidates directly. Rep. Ro Khanna argued that merely criticizing them would backfire.

“If you have people who are upset at the system, attacking their candidate is probably just reinforcing their concerns about the system,” the California congressman said. “I think we have to earn people’s votes. I don’t think you go negative on third-party candidates.”

And Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who said that he’s “not very concerned” about the Green Party and mused about the “heat” Ocasio-Cortez had drawn, argued that his party benefits from leftward pressure.

“The Democratic Party has to do a lot more to become more progressive, and if we don’t have Green candidates or independent candidates, or the Squad, does the party do that? I would say no,” Bowman said. “If the Uncommitted movement isn’t doing what it’s doing in Chicago, does the VP mention a cease-fire in her acceptance speech? I don’t think so.”

One key difference between this year and 2016 — the last time the Green Party appeared to pose a significant threat to Democrats’ chances at victory — is that there’s now a crop of progressive legislators who are sympathetic to the goals of candidates like Stein and fight for them from within the party.

That’s put those progressives in a complex position — but one that also gives them more credibility to speak to constituencies that have been drawn to Stein and West’s candidacies.

“We have to be persuasive to those that might be leaning toward voting for them,” Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota said. “I think the margins are too small for us to be smug about it.”

In the eight years since Stein’s last campaign, the Democratic Party has seen the ascent of not just the Squad, but a broader array of progressive figures in Congress and offices around the country. President Joe Biden has often sought to cater to the progressive wing of the party, and many of their priorities were reflected in bills like the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.

But as is the case in any political coalition, it’s been a mixed bag. Progressives weren’t able to prevent the approval of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, and in recent months, they’ve largely been stuck defending the administration’s slow-moving efforts toward reaching a cease-fire in Gaza. Vice President Kamala Harris has also pivoted toward the right on border security and immigration, much to the chagrin of progressives who’ve long sought a more compassionate approach toward migrants, while largely continuing Biden’s approach on Israel. And the Squad is shrinking: In recent months, two of them — Bowman and Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri — were defeated by AIPAC-backed primary challengers.

If Stein’s 2016 campaign was fueled by disaffected supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders — and perhaps some overconfidence about Hillary Clinton’s chances — her 2024 campaign has capitalized primarily on Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. A recent poll from the Council on American-Islamic Relations found the Green Party candidate leading Harris among Muslims across three swing states, and Stein has campaigned multiple times in Dearborn, Michigan, the home base of the pro-ceasefire “Uncommitted” movement.

Lawmakers who largely align with much of Stein’s progressive platform — particularly those who voted against military aid to Israel in April and support a Green New Deal — haven’t yet settled on one answer when it comes to handling progressive third-party candidacies.

In interviews at the Capitol last week, they ranged from conciliatory to critical when the topic of the Green Party arose. Rep. Greg Casar of Texas even confessed that the Green Party “hasn’t been something that’s crossed my mind a lot.”

Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont charged that candidates like Stein and West are “ego driven” and “not reading the room.”

“The stakes are too high, and I don’t have a lot of patience for it, because it actually doesn’t seem focused at all on any kind of coalition building,” Balint said. “The way that I comfort myself in those moments when I worry about whether they will swing the election is… I often think the people that vote for them maybe wouldn’t have voted for anyone else.”