Third party and independent candidates for the 2024 United States presidential election
This article lists third party and independent candidates, also jointly known as minor candidates, associated with the 2024 United States presidential election.
Early polling for third party candidates in this election cycle has suggested the highest level of support for such a candidate since Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996.[1] Polls were especially high for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who withdrew his candidacy in the Democratic Party primaries in October 2023 to run as an independent.[2]
The following notable individual(s) announced and then suspended their campaigns before the election:
Debates and forums[edit]
The Muslim Civic Coalition hosted a forum featuring Green Jill Stein and independent Cornel West on February 3 in Oak Brook, Illinois. The organization claimed all presidential candidates were invited to attend.[168]
The Libertarian Party of California hosted two multiparty debates at their state convention February 24–25. The first night featured Libertarian candidates Michael Rectenwald and Mike ter Maat and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Green candidate Jill Stein was advertised as attending but ultimately did not.[169] The second night featured Libertarian candidates Charles Ballay, Lars Mapstead, and Jacob Hornberger alongside independent candidate Cornel West.[170]
Free and Equal hosted a multiparty debate on February 29, 2024, moderated by the foundation's chair, Christina Tobin. Candidates were chosen via a point system style voting through the organization's "block-chain voting app" with an audit process after the fact. Socialism and Liberation nominee Claudia De la Cruz, independent candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Libertarian candidates Chase Oliver and Lars Mapstead, and Green candidates Jill Stein and Jasmine Sherman were invited, although Kennedy and West declined to attend.[171][172] The two hour debate was broadcast on YouTube, Rumble, and CSPAN among various other platforms. At one point, co-moderator Jason Michael Palmer remarked on the five candidates’ relative agreement on social issues, although the debate became more combative towards the end.[173] Jasmine Sherman won the organization’s post-debate ranked choice voting poll.[174]