Opinion: Far-right Republicans are propping up third party candidates. We should ask why.

In a concerted effort to divide left-leaning voters, a Republican super PAC is making calls in battleground Wisconsin to tell voters to choose Green Party candidate Jill Stein over Democrat Kamala Harris for President. With the presidential race in a dead heat in North Carolina, we can expect these calls to come here.

It may be that we are becoming all too accustomed to dirty tricks and will just roll our eyes at this ploy, but in this case, we should stop and ask why.

In this election, we are facing two very different futures. In one future, billionaires’ agendas will be put first while our freedoms are gutted and womens’ and workers’ rights are pulled back. In the other future, Kamala Harris is our president, building out an economy and government that tries hard to leave no one behind, where we can fight for the things we want and deserve. 

I’m one of the people who will likely get that Republican-backed call when they come to North Carolina. I’ve always been registered as unaffiliated, but that doesn’t mean I’m not strategic with my vote. I very much want to see plausible third party options on our ballots, have tremendous admiration for Cornel West, and have supported Jill Stein in the past. Our democracy is better and stronger with more voices in the room.

But when it comes to those voices, I want third parties to be able to speak for themselves, not have the Republicans speak for them. The fact that the Republican Party is putting their money into messaging for third party candidates (instead of their own message) tells me all I need to know about how they view West and Stein not only as fools, but ones that could usher in the future most of us fear the most. 

They also, clearly, see independent voters, like me, as fools. 

Stein’s support hovers around one percent —  not enough to have any logical path to victory, but potentially just enough to allow the billionaire-backed MAGA future to take hold. I won’t do it.

The truth is, this election isn’t really about Trump or Harris, Stein or West. This election is about us – everyday, hard working people. We are teachers and truck drivers, store clerks and grandparents — regular people who pick up their kids from childcare and stop at the grocery store on their way home from work. 

We are the ones who get to choose which future we want, not the parties, not the candidates. Voting for the Harris/Walz ticket gets us one step closer to that reality. The policies Harris is promoting are policies that working people have set forth: investments into childcare, a federal ban on grocery price gouging, support for small businesses, and down payment assistance. She may not be promising us the moon and the stars, but her agenda is doable, actionable, and, most importantly, shaped by us.

So, if you get that call from the Republicans asking you to vote for Jill Stein, remember: They think that by spreading misinformation and confusion, they can help usher in another Donald Trump presidency, where they will be free to curtail freedoms, rollback regulations, and give handouts to billionaires. 

We can refuse to be used like that and work towards our future, together.