Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashes out at "predatory" Jill Stein

presidential candidate Jill Stein Ocasio Cortez labeled Stein as predatory criticizing her for running for president multiple times without really growing the green party at the Grassroots level back in 2016 Stein played a significant role in some key Battleground States her vote count in Wisconsin Pennsylvania and Michigan was actually higher than Donald Trump's margin of Victory there this led to a lot of backlash from Democrats and political commentators Hillary Clinton who was the Democratic nominee back then even accused Stein of being a Russian asset Ocasio Cortez argues that Stein and the green party which has been around since 2001 focused too much on presidential elections and not enough on building up from the ground level so far no Green Party candidate has held a federal office and only a few have been elected to state legislators in response to an Instagram followers question about Stein Ocasio Cortez didn't hold back she said this might be a bit spicy but I have some thoughts she pointed out that if you run for president repeatedly without growing your party or winning any local or State offices it shows poor leadership Ocasio Cortez added if you've been the party's nominee for 12 years and haven't made any progress it doesn't come across as authentic it feels more predatory Stein will appear on the ballot in a lot of States like Arizona California Florida and many others according to bipia she'll also o be on the ballot in Montana Utah Nevada and more as confirmed by Stein's campaign manager Jason call the green party meanwhile is also on the ballot in States like Mississippi South Carolina and Hawaii the reason Stein is on the ballot in some states and the green party in others is due to different ballot access procedures according to the green party's website they have about 144 members holding elected office across 20 States as of mid-February 2024 this includes various local positions and a few city council roles Ocasio Cortez noted that Stein had been the green party presidential candidate for 12 consecutive years though Howie Hawkins ran as the nominee in 2020 Ocasio Cortez mentioned that if someone has been the party's nominee for so long without any growth it doesn't seem serious it feels predatory she said she also clarified that she's not against third parties in general in fact she's supported some thirdparty candidates even against Democrats what I have a problem with is that if you're running for president you're the leader of your party this isn't about criticizing the two-party system she added Stein's campaign responded through social media with Stein accusing Democrats of pretending to work for peace while arming conflicts she also criticized democrats for trying to block green party candidates from ballots and debates the Democratic party has indeed made legal efforts to challenge third party candidates before independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr suspended his campaign Democrats had already managed to remove him from the ballot in New York and tried unsuccessfully in North Carolina and New Jersey on Monday the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a bid to remove Stein from the state's ballot Michael White co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party said the complaint was a sign of fear from the Democratic party in her 2017 book what happened Hillary Clinton mentioned that Stein's voters were enough to sway the results in some states nationally Stein got 1% of the vote in 2016 and in 2020 Green Party candidate hoe Hawkins received just 0.2% of the vote Stein responded to concerns about being blamed for Trump's victory in 2016 saying that the accusations don't affect her the exit poll showed that most of our voters in 2016 were people who hadn't voted before she said emphasizing that her Focus remains on climate issues economic hardships and ending endless Wars looking ahead Democratic nominee kamla Harris might also face competition from Cornell West the justice for all Party candidate who could draw votes away from her according to the Associated Press some Republican strategists are trying to influence the upcoming November elections by supporting thirdparty candidates like West to potentially benefit Trump although the funding for this effort is unclear it could impact key states where the margins were tight in 2020 Trump has praised West and Stein saying he likes Stein because she takes 100% from them he takes 100%