Third-party candidates played a major role in Donald Trump’s election in 2016, siphoning off voters from Hillary Clinton and helping Trump eke out wins by the narrowest of margins in enough swing states to hand him a victory — even as he lost the popular vote by three million ballots.
Four years later, with Trump down in the polls and facing the possibility of defeat, Republican operatives are making a last-ditch effort to try to recreate that same third-party effect, and are playing a behind-the-scenes role in numerous states to get Kanye West and Green Party presidential nominee Howie Hawkins onto state ballots.
Report after report shows that Republicans are helping West and Hawkins navigate the process of getting on the ballot. And they’re fighting legal battles to make sure they stay on the ballot. Continue reading.