Democrats go after Jill Stein, Cornel West in digital ads aimed at young voters

PHOENIX — Democrats spend about $500,000 on a last-minute effort to convince voters in battleground states to reject third-party candidates Jill Stein And Cornel Westwarning that a vote for them will help Republicans Donald Trump.

The Democratic National Committee said Monday that the digital ads will appear on Instagram and YouTube, targeting younger voters and college campuses. They use video of Trump from a June rally in Philadelphia when he said, “Cornel West. He’s one of my favorite candidates, Cornel West. And I like her too, Jill Stein, I like her a lot. Do you know why? She takes 100% of them. He goes for it 100%.”

Stung by narrow losses in 2000 and 2016, which they blame in part on support for Green Party nominees, Democrats have great emphasis this year on discouraging left-wing voters from supporting third-party candidates. They pushed back aggressively No labelsan emerging third party movement, and the independent candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before turning the attention to Stein and West.

Stein was a Green Party nominee in 2016, winning 132,000 votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Democrat Hillary Clinton lost in those states by a total of 77,000 votes. This year, Stein has broadened the Green Party’s traditional environmentalist base to include Israel and his military attacks in Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere.

Criticism of Israel and support for the Palestinians made up most of her 45-minute appearance Monday at a coffee shop in suburban Phoenix.

Stein urged dozens of supporters not to be intimidated by pressure to vote for the ‘lesser evil’ between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harrisclaiming that both “ genocidal candidates” because of their support for Israel.

“If we want to be a democracy, we have to stand up for what we want,” Stein said. “We have to vote for what we want.”

“There is absolutely nothing to be gained by voting for either one and everything to be lost,” she added. She called the Democratic campaign against her a threat to freedom of expression.

Her campaign manager, Jason Call, was more blunt.

“We want them to lose,” Call said of the Democratic ticket. “Genocide deserves loss.” He added that “no one wants Trump to win,” but argued that the consequences of sending another Democrat to the White House “will be worse than Trump.”