Republican allies back underperforming candidate Jill Stein as Democrats try to remove her from ballots in crucial states

Jill Stein, now on her third run for president with the Green Party, is seen as an outsider for the White House and is often seen as a spoiler candidate who will steal votes from the Democratic side.

While Stein argues that her candidacy offers a legitimate path to victory without relying on what she calls “war machine” dollars, her campaign has received support from Republican allies as she works to gain access to the ballot box in several states, including key swing states like Nevada and Wisconsin, where CBS News poll shows a close race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

In Nevada, where the Green Party was removed from the ballot earlier this month because of improper petition forms, the party is seeking reinstatement, according to the Nevada Supreme Court. It is represented by Jay Sekulow, an attorney. who represented Trump during his impeachment trial.

“In case you missed it, the @NVSOS gave the campaign the wrong forms to get on the ballot. Then the dirty Dems used that formality to get us off the ballot – we won in lower courts, but lost in the Nevada Supreme Court,” Stein wrote on X last week. “Our lawyers have said we have a case that could go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which would create a national stir.”

On Friday, the Nevada Green Party asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency intervention to review the Nevada Supreme Court ruling under Sekulow’s pro bono guidance, Stein’s campaign team told CBS News.

In Wisconsin, where the state Supreme Court ruled to keep Stein on the ballot after declining to hear an objection from the Democratic National Committee, Stein accepted legal representation from Michael D. Dean, a Wisconsin attorney who has been involved in lawsuits seeking to overturn the 2020 election results on Trump’s behalf, according to an ethics complaint filed by the bipartisan group The 65 Project.

Democratic Party allies argue that Stein’s collaboration with lawyers ties to Trump disqualifies her, but her campaign claims it is simply a response to efforts to keep them off the ballot, leaving them no choice but to accept support wherever it comes from — even if it comes from Trump allies.

“If the Democrats put us in a position where we have to respond to a legal challenge, we will take whatever help is available to us,” said Jason Call, Jill Stein’s campaign manager. “And so the fault begins and ends with the Democratic Party in this regard. We understand that Republicans want to help us for their own reasons, but our reasons are for democracy.”

Stein’s campaign learned over the weekend that another lawsuit had been filed against the third-party candidate in New Hampshire. In response, the campaign said it would accept assistance from partisan lawyers if necessary to gain ballot access.

While there are no laws prohibiting a third-party candidate from accepting pro bono support from another major party in any state, Democratic allies opposed Stein’s efforts to gain access to the ballot box.

“These third-party candidates are being presented to voters without a full picture of their positions, their financial backers and the impact they would have on the election,” said Joel Payne, chief communications officer for MoveOn, a left-leaning political activist group. “They also need to be held accountable in good faith or within the bounds of the law, just like major-party candidates.”

The tug-of-war between Republican and Democratic Party allies to influence the outcome of the election extends to other third-party candidates. Recent Associated Press reporting shows that Cornel West has a network of GOP operatives supporting his campaign, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his presidential bid last month and his support for Trump, he is now trying to remove himself from the ballots in states where he believes his candidacy could siphon votes away from Trump.

“It seems like unity is only useful to some people when it fits perfectly with their agenda,” said Edwin DeJesus, spokesman for the West campaign. “But when advocates with certain political leanings support Dr. Cornel West, who has consistently spoken out against genocide, it’s suddenly a problem.”

Both Stein and West have had to deal with numerous legal challenges by allies of the Democratic Party, with the aim of removing them from the ballots in several states.

“Jill Stein doesn’t have a path to win the presidency, but just like in 2016, she can help Trump win,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Matt Corridoni. “That’s why the GOP is doing everything it can to put third-party candidates on the ballot as killjoys in key swing states. Voters need to see this cynical effort for what it is. The fact remains: Only two candidates have a path to 270, and the only way to stop Donald Trump is to vote for VP Harris.”

According to experts, it is not new for both parties to try to influence the outcome of elections in multiple states through third-party candidates.

“It’s smart politics, on Trump’s part, to try to steal votes from Harris,” said John Geer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University. “Politics is not for the faint of heart, and you have to be prepared for a lot of ‘unfair’ things to happen because it’s a war, it’s a winner-take-all contest, and coming in second is no consolation.”

Trump, who considers Kennedy an ally, has previously spoken highly of both Stein and West.

“Cornel West, he’s one of my favorite candidates,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Philadelphia in June. “I like her too, Jill Stein, I like her a lot. You know why? She takes 100 percent of them. He takes 100 percent.”