Staff Reports
The Wisconsin Elections Commission has made headlines by voting to keep independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the ballot, despite a desperate challenge from the Democratic National Committee. The DNC, supposedly the champions of democracy, should probably update their resume to include “party of convenient loopholes” instead. After all, if democracy means anything, it certainly means letting voters decide for themselves—unless, of course, it’s someone who might siphon off a few precious votes from their favored candidates.
This is not just any election; Wisconsin’s last six presidential races have seen margins as thin as a Wisconsin cheddar slice—between 5,700 and 23,000 votes. The Democrats, clearly rattled, decided that if they can’t win the hearts and minds of voters, they will simply remove any options that threaten their power. They must be sweating bullets as they realize that independent and Green Party candidates like Jill Stein could tip the scales in a state where every vote counts. Her performance in 2016, where she garnered over 31,000 votes, proves that third-party candidates can be more than just footnotes in the election lore—they can literally change the outcome.
Breaking News: Swing State Elections Commission Rules Against Democratic National Committee in Major Ballot Dispute: The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted on Tuesday to keep independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the ballot. An employee… https://t.co/F9IKaHu4v4 pic.twitter.com/HJztBwfcbB
— ZBreakingNewz (@ZBreakingNewz) August 28, 2024
Meanwhile, current polling shows Kamala Harris with a slight lead over Donald Trump, but the Democrats can hardly break out the party hats just yet. Harris struggles with voter sentiment, particularly among Black voters, who seem to be slipping through her fingers faster than voters in a red state ditching their Democratic registration. The internal strife within the Harris campaign is evident, especially after West revealed that she tried to convince him to abandon his campaign and back her up, as if he were a backup dancer rather than a legitimate candidate.
In a bizarre twist of fate, while West and Stein are scratching and clawing for their rightful places on ballots, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has taken a different route entirely. After endorsing Trump and insisting that his supporters back the former president, Kennedy has made it clear that he’s not just waving goodbye to his campaign—he’s waving goodbye to the realm of serious contenders in the race. This sort of maneuver could signal good news for Trump in states like Wisconsin, but with Kennedy’s name still lingering on some ballots, it’s a mixed bag for the Republicans.
So while the Democrats are frantically trying to secure their edge by keeping certain candidates off the ballot, the real question remains: what happens if those undecided voters decide to get a bit kooky and back something outside their party lines? As West’s campaign centers on foreign affairs, primarily focusing on the conflict in Gaza, he opens himself up to debates Democrats might prefer to avoid. With messages that challenge their narratives, he remains a wild card, and it’s a role that the DNC seems increasingly anxious to eliminate.
In the grand theater of American politics, it appears that some Democrats are quite fearful of genuine competition. Keeping independent candidates off the ballot may seem like a great strategy in the short term, but it also illustrates a terrible miscalculation about voters in swing states. With Trump poised to capitalize on any disaffection swirling around the Harris campaign, the battle for Wisconsin—and potential electoral votes—has truly only just begun.
