Green Party: Stein Won’t Simply Step Aside to Let Bernie Run

Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s campaign said Saturday that it has asked repeatedly to meet with Bernie Sanders to discuss collaborating to “build a progressive revolution” in the United States, but it denied ever having Stein step aside to give Sanders the presidential nomination.

“We have said we were willing to discuss a variety of cooperative approaches, including the possibility of creating a united ticket,” campaign co-chair Gloria Mattera said in a statement through email. “At no point, however have we simply offered that we would just step aside and give the presidential nomination of the Green Party to Senator Sanders without serious discussions of issues and strategies.”

However, Sanders is expected to end his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination within days. Earlier this week, Stein told The Guardian newspaper that she would be willing to step aside and let him take her place.

But on Saturday, Mattera’s statement indicated that the decision over the eventual nominee ultimately rests in the hands of the delegates at the Green Party’s convention, being held in Houston from Aug. 4-7, and most delegates are already pledged to Stein.

Comments

Green Party: Stein Won’t Simply Step Aside to Let Bernie Run — 11 Comments

Clay on July 10, 2016 at 2:57 pm said:

I think this is a complete waste of time. Has Bernie Sanders done anything to help the Green Party in Vermont?
Phil Sawyer on July 10, 2016 at 5:14 pm said:

While this makes for interesting reading, it seems to me that this topic might well fall into the false problem department. Senator Bernie Sanders has been saying since he first started his campaign that he would not be a candidate for president as an independent or as the nominee of one of the smaller political parties. I have never heard or read anything that would indicate he might change his mind about this.
Austin Cassidy on July 11, 2016 at 5:49 am said:

Sanders is endorsing Hillary Clinton today, this is all Green Party fantasy land stuff.
John Anthony La Pietra on July 11, 2016 at 8:38 am said:

It’s a continuation of an honest effort to reach out to Sanders, and (perhaps more importantly) his supporters, to keep their revolution going — apart from the Democratic Party organization.
Demo Rep on July 11, 2016 at 1:15 pm said:

Which gangster gang will donate the most to the LP or Greens to DIVIDE and CONQUER in the EVIL rotted Electoral College ???

i.e. Elephant zillionaires to the left Greens — to DEFEAT Clinton.
i.e. Donkey zillionairies to the right LPs — to DEFEAT Trump.

—-
Abolish the SUPER time bomb Electoral College N-O-W.

P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
Demo Rep on July 13, 2016 at 11:10 am said:

For the historical record —
Sanders endorsed Clinton on 12 July 2016 —

showing only that he has ZERO principles —
i.e. is one more robot party HACK.
Jeremy Siple on July 13, 2016 at 12:23 pm said:

Richard, I saw a news story that said Jill is now on the ballot in Georgia. True? I always wait for BAN to confirm.
Richard Grayson on July 13, 2016 at 6:45 pm said:

Bernie Sanders understands that a vote for Jill Stein is, at best, a protest vote in those states that will go safely Democratic or Republican in November, and at worst, a vote for Jill Stein will help Donald Trump win “swing” or “battleground” states. Unlike the most moronic of his idiotic supporters, Sanders can count.
Timothy on July 14, 2016 at 11:35 am said:

Sanders would be barred from appearing on the ballot as a Green Party candidate this election cycle in some states anyway, as some have “sore-loser” laws that prevent primary losers from subsequently running as independents or candidates of a different party.
Richard Winger on July 14, 2016 at 2:53 pm said:

Sanders would not be barred from the November ballot if he were the Green Party nominee. No one has ever been barred from the general election ballot on the basis that he or she had run in a major party presidential primary, except Gary Johnson in Michigan in 2012. Gary Johnson was on the Republican presidential primary in 2012 in eight states. John Anderson in 1980 ran in 20 Republican presidential primaries and he got on the ballot in November in all states. Thirteen individuals in U.S. history have run in major party primaries and then appeared on general election ballots for president that same year. One is Ron Paul, who ran in 2008 Republican presidential primaries in Louisiana and Montana, and yet appeared on the November ballot in 2008 as a minor party candidate. Lyndon LaRouche set similar precedents in many states, as well as Theodore Roosevelt, Robert La Follette, Jacob Coxey, Douglas MacArthur, and Eugene McCarthy in 1968.
Timothy on July 15, 2016 at 9:13 am said:

Thanks for the correction, Richard. So, these sore-loser laws apply only to lower offices then?