Yes, Jill Stein is aware of critics on the left who say her run for president on the Green Party ticket could tilt the election to Donald Trump. No, she won't be dropping out. The 74-year-old is on the ballot in battleground states, and the Democratic National Committee is worried enough that it launched the first-ever TV ad against a third-party candidate, notes USA Today. "Why are Trump's close allies helping her?" asks the ad's narrator. "Stein was key to Trump's 2016 wins in battleground states. She's not sorry she helped Trump win. That's why a vote for Stein is really a vote for Trump."
Even Stein's own son wants her out of the race. "For her political activities, she does not have the support of the family," one of her adult sons tells the New York Times. He asked for anonymity because he does not want to be linked to her. "When she told us she was going to run again back in October 2023, we asked her not to." Stein herself, though, rejects the spoiler label, telling the Times in an interview that none of her supporters would vote for Harris anyway. "Forget the lesser evil," is her common response. "Fight for the greater good."
Stein has gone after Harris aggressively over the White House's support of Israel and the devastation that has been unleashed upon Gaza—an issue that could, for example, factor into the results in Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population. The Hill also digs into all of this, noting: "Stein's ideology couldn't be further from Republicans, but, like others in the third-party lane, including (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) prior to his departure, she has gotten a boost from controversial GOP figures who want to see her help defeat Harris in the final weeks." As for Trump, he also has weighed in: "I like her very much," he said of Stein in June. "You know why? She takes 100 percent from them." (More Jill Stein stories.)