Pennsylvania Democrats have won a series of legal challenges keeping the Party for Socialism and Liberation from the presidential ballot in late August. A PA Commonwealth Court judge agreed with Democratic Party challenges, ruling that the paperwork filed by Party for Socialism and Liberation was fatally flawed and ordered the party’s candidate, Claudia De la Cruz, from the ballot. In addition, independent presidential candidate Cornel West has lost a legal bid which would see his name on the state’s ballot, with the Secretary of State’s office saying that West’s campaign lacked affidavits for 14 of the required 19 presidential electors.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation said it will appeal the removal and accused the Democratic Party and its allies of seeking out “any and every bureaucratic technicality conceivable that can be used to ban their opponents from competing.”
Matt Heverstick, a lawyer with ties to Republican candidates, went to court to argue that the Secretary of State’s decision, under Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, was wrong to reject West’s paperwork, saying “I see no good reason for Mr. West to be kept off the ballot.”
West, an American public intellectual and progressive activist with ties to the Democratic Socialists of America, initially said he would run with the People’s Party, a third party led by Senator Bernie Sanders. Later, he said he would try for the Green Party’s nomination before finally running as an independent. When asked about the support received from Republican-aligned lawyers and attorneys, West said “so much of American politics is highly gangster-like activity. I have no knowledge of who they are or anything—none whatsoever. We just want to get on that ballot.”
These cases are among several instances of political maneuvering around third-party and independent candidates seeking their names on Pennsylvania’s ballot, as supporters of Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris look to hinder any candidates which might siphon their own support in the important battleground state. Republicans and Democrats certainly view third-party candidates as a threat to their own voter base and will increasingly attempt to sideline these campaigns or use them against their political opponent.
In late August, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a suspension of his campaign. However, Kennedy’s name will still appear on the ballot in some of the states he has qualified for.
“If you live in a blue state, you can still vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris,” Kennedy said. “In red states – the same applies.But in about ten battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I will remove my name and urge voters not to vote for me.”
Pennsylvania is one of those battleground states. Kennedy described how censorship, legal blockades and the fact that several of his core issues have been adopted by Donald Trump all contributed to this suspension and declared his intent to join the Trump team to address them.
The November election is expected to be close in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes, tied with Illinois, are highly coveted by the presidential candidates. In 2016, a slim margin of tens of thousands of votes won Trump the state, and it was this same slim margin which Democrat Joe Biden used to win in 2020. Kennedy, and other third-party candidates’, inclusion on the state’s ballot would have certainly affected whether the Republican or Democratic nominee took home these 19 electoral votes. It is important to note, however, that Pennsylvania has voted Democrat in seven of the past eight presidential elections, only voting Republican in 2016 when Trump won by a 0.7 percent margin.
Currently, the Democratic Party’s Kamala Harris and Republican Party’s Donald Trump, along with the Green Party’s Jill Stein and Libertarian Party’s Chase Oliver, will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
