US presidential election: who are these “small” candidates struggling to exist against Trump and Harris ?

In addition to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, three other candidates are in the race to reach the White House. Here are their profiles.

As you will have understood, the American presidential election pits two main candidates, well known to the general public, against each other: former President of the United States Donald Trump, for the Republican camp, and the country's Vice President, Kamala Harris, for the Democratic party. And the two personalities are neck and neck in the latest polls. So much so that the result may not be given on the evening of the vote, November 5, but a few days later, as has already been the case. the case in America.

The very high number of participants coupled with the minimal difference in votes in certain states, notably the Swing states – these key states in the American election, which change political color from one election to the next and which decide the fate of the vote – could well delay the announcement and plunge the country into a rather unbearable wait to know the name of its future president. But did you know that other candidates have also tried their chance to reach the White House, although their chances are almost nil against the two behemoths that are Trump and Harris ? Here are these three candidates, two men and one woman, relatively unknown to the general public who are also in the race to try to lead the greatest world power. 

Cornel West

Cornel West is running without a political party behind him. He is said to be “independent”. He is an American philosopher and academic. He taught at Harvard University (Massachusetts, USA), in the Department of African-American Studies, at Yale University (professor of American History), and was professor of religion at the University from Princeton, specializing in black Americans. In his philosophy classes, he talks about Afro-American baptism (an evangelical Christian movement), Marxism, pragmatism, and transcendentalism (a literary movement that believes that political and religious institutions corrupt human purity).

A true figure in the anti-racist struggle in the United States, he participated in demonstrations for civil rights equality as a teenager. He admires “the sincere militancy of Malcolm X, the provocative rage of the Black Panther Party and the theology of black liberation of James H. Cone,” he states in one of his books, The Cornel West Reader. While he was a professor at Yale University, he participated in a demonstration against Apartheid in South Africa, which led to his imprisonment.

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He strongly supported Barack Obama's campaign in 2007, before criticizing him: “He presented himself as a progressive and turned out to be a fraud. We ended up with a Wall Street presidency.” Regarding the war in Ukraine, he considers that the Russian invasion is criminal, but that it is due to a provocation by NATO. He wants Ukraine to make territorial concessions to its Russian enemy to calm the conflict. He announced his candidacy for president in June 2023, first on behalf of the People's Party and then in the Green primary, but ended the race as an independent. During his campaign, he spoke about health care, wages, housing, democracy, the environment and reproductive rights.

Chase Oliver

Chase Oliver is the candidate of the Libertarian Party. This party advocates for minimal legislation and taxation, free trade, and strong individual freedoms. He worked for 13 years in the restaurant business before starting his political career. He initially supported the Democrats and Barack Obama in 2008, but with Obama supporting the Iraq War, Chase Oliver turned to the Libertarian Party in 2010. He participated in several election campaigns in Georgia: the House of Representatives in 2020 and the Senate in 2022.

His candidacy for the American election was made official in April 2023. He won the Libertarian primary after seven rounds of voting at the National Convention. Regarding his political positions, he is for abortion, does not want to force companies to limit their carbon footprint so that they do it themselves, and is against the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentences. He wants education to be legislated state by state and not nationally as it is today. Regarding the conflicts ravaging Europe and the Middle East, he is in favor of ending military aid to Israel and Ukraine. He also describes the Israeli offensive on Gaza as genocide. Chase Oliver positions himself in favor of carrying weapons, assuring that “armed homosexuals are more difficult to oppress and “put down”. He has a progressive vision regarding LGBTQIA+ rights.

Jill Stein

Jill Stein is the Green Party candidate in this election. She was the candidate in 2012 and 2016. A physician, she describes herself as agnostic, which is unusual for American presidents who swear in the Bible at their inauguration. She practiced internal medicine for 25 years and taught at Harvard Medical School. She became an activist in 1998 against the construction of coal-fired power plants in Massachusetts. She received several awards for her commitment to public health. Indeed, she considers that public health is linked to the local environment.

Jill Stein was a member of the Democratic Party before leaving for the Greens. She was critical of Barack Obama in 2012, saying that “Romney (Republican candidate) is a wolf in wolf's clothing, Obama is a wolf in sheep's clothing, but they both have essentially the same agenda.”

She is accused of colluding with Russia during the 2016 election. She is criticized for having dinner with Vladimir Putin in 2015 and for speaking highly of Julian Assange. Hillary Clinton, who lost this election to Donald Trump, even blames him for her defeat. Jill Stein has always defended herself against these accusations, calling them slander.

She defends environmentalist ideas, such as a “Green New Deal”, which would promote job creation in renewable energy. She wants to finance this plan by limiting the military budget and increasing certain taxes on speculation and tax havens. She assures that she wants to put an end to independence of the Federal Reserve, wants free college, and the buyout of all student loans in the country.