Cornel West 2024 presidential campaign

On June 14, 2023, West announced he would also seek the Green Party's nomination in their primaries.^[7][8] On October 5, West announced he would instead be seeking to run an Independent campaign and thus dropped out of the Green Party primaries, beginning the process for ballot access.^[9]


On January 31, he created and ran with the "Justice for All Party".^[10]


Aligning with his socialist positions,^[11] West's campaign centers on support for Medicare for All, public housing, action on climate change, and drastically cutting the US military budget.^[12]


West has averaged in the mid-single digits in most general election polls,^[13] and is widely considered to be a long-shot candidate.^[14][15] Several Democratic analysts say that he could draw votes away from Joe Biden in a general election,^[16] leading to concerns of vote splitting.

Background[edit]

West is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual,^[17][18] who focuses on role of race, gender, and class in American society.


West has held many professorships and fellowships, and has written books on these subjects such as Race Matters, and Democracy Matters. West is a self-described "non-Marxist socialist"^[19][11] and an outspoken voice in left-wing politics in the United States. West has dabbled in political activism in the past.


After serving as an advisor to Bill Bradley in 2000, who failed to make it past the Democratic primaries, West became a prominent and active supporter of Green Party nominee Ralph Nader, speaking at several Nader rallies.^[20] West backed Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries^[21], but criticized him heavily after he became president.^{[22][23][24][25]}


He backed Bernie Sanders in 2016,^[26] and after Hillary Clinton won the nomination, he endorsed Green Party nominee Jill Stein despite being on a board of the Democratic National Committee.^[27]