Green Party presidential candidate Cornel West responded to complaints about his candidacy, mainly from the left, which sees him as a potential 2024 spoiler who could help land a Republican back in the White House.
West, a civil rights activist and former Princeton African-American studies professor, told Fox News that neither party owns the voters they appear to align best with — and that he plans to campaign to both political wings regardless of his progressive politics.
As of Wednesday, West and the Green Party have made the presidential ballot in 15 states plus Washington, D.C., and are either in progress or litigation on that account in a handful of others.
On "The Ingraham Angle," West was asked about his chances as a third party candidate given the fact he hasn't made it to half of the states' ballots.
"Oh, no. We are on the move," he said, adding some states do not begin their balloting processes in this regard until January — and faulted the Democrats and GOP with making it difficult for outsiders to navigate or even access the electoral system.
"Unfortunately you've got major impediments because both parties make it difficult for third parties, which is very sad. It shows that a two-party system is an impediment for American voices to come to terms with the 63% of fellow citizens living paycheck-to-paycheck."
Host Laura Ingraham noted Democrats are wary of his candidacy given polls and conjecture contrasting how President Biden could defeat a Republican challenger like Donald Trump in a two-way contest, but the addition of his own name to the ballot might throw the election to the GOP.
One Politico report from earlier in August claimed Democrat insiders are concerned about West, given how 2016 Green Party candidate Jill Stein reportedly received more votes than Trump's margin of victory in a trio of states, which could have otherwise led to a Hillary Clinton win.
CORNEL WEST CALLS OUT BIDEN'S PAST CONNECTIONS TO SEGREGATIONISTS
A Biden-2020 pollster told the outlet West is a "formidable" figure, and that there is separate concern about the nonpartisan group No Labels, led by former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman that has connections to potential presidential candidates like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and former Govs. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Jon Huntsman of Utah.
Ingraham asked why West wouldn't run as a Democrat instead.
"I would say that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are not entitled to any votes. They have to earn those votes," West said of claims he'd play spoiler or that his candidacy could affect either party's tally.
West added that he believes he can receive support from both the left and right, saying he will also pursue the more than one-third of Americans who do not regularly vote.
"You've got to earn it."
While rare, third party candidates have played proverbial "spoiler" in a handful of presidential elections.
Most recently, Texas tech industrialist Ross Perot, who ran as a populist independent in 1992, was accused of helping Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, a Democrat, upset incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush.
Segregationist Alabama Democratic Gov. George Wallace embarked on a populist American Independent Party candidacy in 1968, winning most of the Deep South and helping hand victory to Republican Richard Nixon against Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey.
In 1912, former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt ran as a "Bull Moose" Progressive nominee in 1912. He won more than 10 times the number of electoral votes than incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft, which led to Democratic New Jersey Democratic Gov. Woodrow Wilson winning.
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