Leid Stories—The Greening of Election 2016—08.08.16

The Green Party ended its four-day national convention in Houston, Texas, yesterday with resounding endorsements of their standard-bearers in the general election—physician Jill Stein for president, and human-rights activist Ajamu Baraka for vice president. The convention was one of the latest to be held in the current political season, just three months before Election Day. But the newly launched Stein-Baraka ticket has deep roots in nonmainstream activism and politics, Stein said; their nominations formally gave them permission to represent the party and its constituent base in an election in which an alternative to the duopoly is urgently needed.

The Greens are targeting 13 million voters who had supported Bernie Sanders’ “revolution” before he capitulated to the Democratic Party and endorsed Hillary Clinton. The Greens believe that the party’s stark contrast with mainstream politics—in ideology and practice—should give it the lift it needs to break from its also-ran, splinter-party label and earn its bona fides as a viable political contender.

Leid Stories looks at the impact of the Green Party on the 2016 presidential election, and especially on independent politics.