Cornel West survives Democratic challenge in Wisconsin, will remain on state’s presidential ballot
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Election Commission voted Tuesday to retain the independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the ballot, overruling an objection from a Democratic National Committee employee.
The commission has deposed one presidential candidate — independent Shiva Ayyadurai — an anti-vaccination activist who was born in India to parents who were not U.S. citizens. The U.S. Constitution requires presidential candidates to be natural-born U.S. citizens.
There will be eight presidential candidates on the Wisconsin ballot, including Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald TrumpSix other, lesser-known candidates will also be on the ballot: West; Green Party candidate Jill Stein; Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his campaign last week to endorse Trump; Randall Terry of the Constitution Party; Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party and Claudia De la Cruz of the Socialism and Liberation Party.
Kennedy’s campaign sent the Wisconsin Elections Commission a letter dated Friday asking it to remove his name from the ballot. While Kennedy has said he would seek to remove his name from the ballot in swing states, he made it clear that he would not formally end his bid and said his supporters could continue to support him in most states where they were unlikely to influence the outcome.
No one challenged Kennedy’s appearance on the ballot. The committee did not discuss his request to be removed.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday an attempt rejected by Democrats to remove Stein from the ballot.
The presence of independent and third-party candidates on the ballot could be a significant factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by a margin of between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.
In 2016, Stein received just over 31,000 votes in Wisconsin — more than Trump’s margin of victory of just under 23,000 votes. Some Democrats have blamed her for helping Trump win the state and the presidency that year.
Ayyadurai’s candidacy was challenged by Mike Hoffman, an employee of the Republican National Committee.
Ayyadurai was born in India, immigrated to the U.S. at age seven, and became a naturalized citizen at age 20, making him eligible to run for other offices, including the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in both 2018 and 2020.
Ayyadurai, who represented himself on Tuesday, did not deny that he was born in India, but instead argued that the Wisconsin Elections Commission did not have the legal authority to remove him from the ballot.
The committee voted 5-1 to dismiss him, without discussion.
An employee of the Democratic National Committee challenged West’s ballot status, claiming that his nomination papers had not been properly notarized. West argued that his nomination papers were substantially in accordance with the law.
The commission rejected the complaint by a 5-1 vote, siding with West.
West, a left-wing academic and progressive activist, is a hopeless presidential candidate. He is at the center of multiple legal and political battles as Democrats and Republicans try to leverage the impact of third-party candidates who could draw support from their opponents. A Michigan judge on Saturday ordered that West be placed on the ballot after he was disqualified.
Republicans and their allies have worked to get the West on the ballots in Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maine, all in the hope that West will boost former President Donald Trump’s chances of winning later this year by withdrawing Harris’ endorsement. West doesn’t have to win a state to be a spoiler candidate — a few thousand votes in swing states could be decisive.
Trump won Wisconsin in 2016 by fewer than 23,000 votes and lost the city in 2020 by fewer than 21,000 votes.