Third Parties Discuss Need for Alternative to Democrats, Republicans in 2024

Former President Donald Trump attends UFC 290 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 8, 2023. Steve Marcus/Getty Images

A growing number of Americans are becoming dissatisfied with the two-party system that dominates politics in the United States, and some say it could open the door for a realistic third-party challenger in the 2024 presidential contest.

A rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the front runners in their respective parties, is something that Americans don’t want to see happen again, according to several polls (pdf).

“Third parties, multiparty systems, are the norm around the world. The U.S. is the exception, the aberration, with two parties that have essentially locked down the electoral system and monopolized it,” Nick Brana, national chairman of the People’s Party, told The Epoch Times. “And the U.S. is also one of the biggest countries in the world, which makes it the most ironic because in countries like Denmark and Holland, of a few million people, have half a dozen, a dozen parties. Yet here in the United States with 330 million people, we’re supposed to believe that two parties—both of them controlled by Wall Street and the military-industrial complex in Silicon Valley—can represent everybody in the country. And I think that’s ridiculous.”

Mr. Brana, who was the former national political outreach director for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign in 2016, believes the Democratic Party rigged the primary against Mr. Sanders to favor Hillary Clinton.

He says the same nearly happened to President Trump.

“Bernie and Trump both represented a populist revolt inside both of the major parties, the Democratic and Republican parties. And both of them, interestingly, were not truly associated or active, so to speak, with the party that they ran for in the primary. Trump has been kind of all across the map. He’s never run for office, of course, and then he came into the Republican Party and took it over. He defeated the Bush dynasty, beat Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz along with all the rest of them in the primary [and] came out on top.”

According to its website, the People’s Party is dedicated to “building a major new independent party that will guarantee health care, housing, and living wages to all.”

Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party is the third largest party in the country, with ballot access in nearly every state and territory in the United States.

Gary Johnson, who was the Libertarian Party candidate in 2016, won over 3 percent of the vote in that election, making him one of the only third-party candidates in recent years to get that much traction.

Ross Perot, who ran as an Independent, received over 18 percent of the vote in the 1992 race for president.

“You hear all the time in the media and from talking heads, people saying we really need a third party. We need a third choice. The reality is that already exists,” Angela McArdle, chair of the Libertarian National Committee, told The Epoch Times.

“The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United States by a large margin,” she said. ”I think what people mean when they say they want a third party is they want to sort of curate and pick and choose their political representation based on their personal preferences and beliefs. Right now, they don’t feel politically represented by anything, at least that they’re familiar with, and certainly not Republicans or Democrats.”

Third Parties Are About Freedom

Ms. McArdle says the reason having a competitive third party is so important is because having the freedom to cast a vote that will realistically make a difference is what the country was founded on.

“Isn’t that why we’re here? It’s because we were dissatisfied with our previous system of governance, which was a monarchy under England,“ she said. ”That’s why we broke apart and we set up something that we like. So for the majority of the American people to be dissatisfied is really alarming. Like, we absolutely need to get back to our roots and have a political system that makes people feel represented.”

She says the Libertarian Party has grown in popularity and has the opportunity to be a spoiler in the upcoming presidential election if the race comes down to the wire.

“Can we play kingmaker? Absolutely. Can we move the Overton window in the direction of liberty? I think we already have,” she said.

“At Freedom Fest and PorcFest recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy both made appearances and did a lot of work to do outreach to Libertarians—Libertarians in the party and also just like, small ‘L’ libertarians at large, people who agree with us ideologically. And that shows that this is going to be a tight race,” Ms. McArdle said.

PorcFest is the annual Porcupine Freedom Festival in Lancaster, New Hampshire. The festival is hosted by the Free State Project, a movement to encourage libertarians to move to New Hampshire and establish a libertarian “free state.”

“This is going to be a highly competitive presidential year and smart candidates know that they need our votes, or they at least need us to not go to war with them,“ Ms. McArdle said. ”There’s also been a lot of talk about candidates from the two major parties trying to jump onto our ticket at the last minute.”

Green Party

Behind the Libertarian Party in terms of the number of registered voters is the Green Party.

In 2016, the Green Party’s presidential nominee, Dr. Jill Stein, received just over 1 percent of the vote in the general election.

Dr. Stein’s run for president in 2016 caused a lot of anger within the Democratic Party. Many believe that she cost Ms. Clinton the election by taking away votes in states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

The Biden campaign reportedly fears the same thing could happen in 2024, as the presumptive Green Party nominee for president, Cornel West, has been actively campaigning across the country and could become a spoiler for the Democrats.

Rick Lass, ballot access director for Mr. West’s campaign, told The Epoch Times he does not accept that argument.

“I think most of the people that vote for Green Party or Libertarian Party or Constitution Party or Working Families Party candidates would probably not vote at all if there wasn’t an option because people want to vote for somebody [who reflects their values],” Mr. Lass said.

“The majority of the people that are voting for the Green Party and other parties I mentioned would probably not participate at all,” he said. “I think that the biggest problem in our democracy right now is that close to half of the people that are eligible to vote, don’t vote, because they don’t see anyone to vote for. And Cornel West and the Green Party and these other parties are offering an alternative, and that’s very, very valuable.”

There are dozens of third parties in the United States that are active but have restricted ballot access. The Epoch Times chose to interview representatives for the main alternative choices to the Democrat and Republican parties for this article.

Neither of the two major parties responded to a request for comment.