Vote Jill Stein for President
If you’re a progressive in California, you can vote for Jill Stein this election and have no fear that you’re helping Trump. In fact, it is vital that you vote Stein to make clear that the Democratic Party’s current policies (including the ongoing genocide in Palestine) are unacceptable to progressives. By voting Green we can build towards better policies and better candidates in 2026 and beyond.
What is the value of your vote if you vote Harris?
California is such a deep blue state that the individual votes of Californians in the general election have no meaningful impact in selecting the next president. California is so deeply blue that even if every person who had voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary had switched their vote to Jill Stein in the general, Hillary would have still beaten Trump by millions of votes in California and received all 54 of California’s electoral college votes. The same is true of 2020: if every person who’d voted for either Bernie or Warren in the primary had switched to Green in the general election, Biden still would have won California by millions of votes.
There are several important reasons why you should support Stein.
Jill Stein is unequivocally against the genocide in Gaza, whereas both Trump and Harris support the continuation of Biden’s policy of unconditionally arming Israel. As a progressive, you must make your opposition to the genocide clear, which is precisely what a Stein vote does.
Only Jill Stein takes a strong position against fossil fuels. Harris has recently boasted about her role in increasing our domestic fossil fuel extraction to all-time record highs and has refused to support a ban on fracking. Harris supporters claim she must support fracking in order to get elected, but polling data shows fracking is unpopular both nationally and in Pennsylvania.
Stein supports a single-payer healthcare system similar to the program championed by Bernie, but she also goes a step further in advocating for a public healthcare system like the UK’s NHS. Harris and Trump, on the other hand, both support the continuation of our private system that costs far too much and gives some of the worst outcomes amongst wealthy nations.
By voting for Stein, progressives can create pressure on the Democratic Party to halt its race to the right. The Democratic Party believes that the progressive vote is guaranteed for them, allowing them to abandon progressive positions in pursuit of “moderate” and “conservative” voters. Progressives must make it clear that we will walk away if our core principles are violated.
A vote for Stein is also more than a way to send a message; it is a way to build a viable alternative. If the Green Party can get more than 5% of the popular vote nationally then in 2028 the Green Party will be eligible for a public grant of about $10 million. Stein 24 has raised only about $1 million, much of which has gone towards ballot access. A public grant would allow the Green Party to devote resources to running a more serious campaign in 2028.
A vote for Harris in California is effectively meaningless. A vote for Stein signals opposition to genocide and pushes our political system left.