VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO?

thoughts on voting third party in 2024

lucille elliott | january 31, 2024

Social media has been flooded as of late with discussions of the 2024 election. Of course at this point in the campaign cycle, that's expected. The New Hampshire primaries have just ended, and now we're waiting out for South Carolina. Unfortunately, the primaries have so far only confirmed what we already knew: Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be the major 2024 presidential candidates. No matter who you are, that's probably enough to make your chest tight. But even regardless of candidates, this election is a tense one. The much-discussed Project 2025, the Gaza genocide, inflation, climate change, and a million other things constantly loom over everyone's heads.

At the same time, it seems dissatisfaction with the American two-party system is skyrocketing. Perhaps that’s just the social media echo chamber I’m in… but to be fair, a record number of voters — at least 49% — are now registered as independents. Hardly anyone you meet these days will wholeheartedly identify with either party. You hear a lot of libertarian, progressive, centrist, leftist, moderate, and not a lot of Democrat or Republican. But how does this translate into voting?

Truth: I’m not an elections expert. I’m not even a poli-sci student or anything. The following is not my earnest attempt to make you vote a certain way, or a well-backed statistical analysis of possibilities. I just need to put voice to my trepidations, and hopefully reach some other folks with the same worries. This is not about vote-shaming. Vote how you’re going to vote, for who you think will keep you safe — if that’s Biden to avoid a Trump win, okay. If that's a third party to stick it to Biden, okay too. There’s a lot of messy emotions and situations flying around right now. This topic deserves a thoughtful, compassionate discussion.

Vote Blue No Matter Who?

Ah, the old slogan. To be frank I’m not sure who coined it or when it came into existence, but I definitely started hearing it get thrown around a lot in 2020. Oh 2020… who remembers all the jokes about You’re really gonna make me vote for Joe Biden? What a rocky way for his presidency to have started!

And it looks like a lot of people are repeating that sentiment this year. Because, yes, the Democrat party seems to just be banking on us all to stick with vote blue no matter who. They certainly haven’t put anyone else forward. In fact, any time another candidate tries to put themself forward, the Democrat party immediately starts hitting them with You’re spoiling the election! You want Trump to win!

Technically speaking, there are Democratic primaries happening. But despite not even being on the ballot, Biden just won the New Hampshire vote, with someone I have barely even heard of (Dean Phillips) coming in second by a large margin. And every major Democrat continues to spout that they will put absolutely no one up except Biden, lest they be unable to defeat Trump.

But can Biden beat Trump? I mean -- Biden's popularity is low. Low, low. Lower at points than Trump's was. And he's polling abysmally on the economy, something that most voters are saying is starting to preoccupy their minds far more than social issues, such as abortion. He's losing voters rapidly.

And honestly, it seems the only thing Biden is campaigning on is… beating Trump. Every single message from his campaign team is basically just, “It would be a disaster if Trump were in office!” Which, like, it would. A Trump presidency, especially if combined with a Republican congress, could entail threats to abortion rights, worsening relations with China and Mexico, a complete pullout from Ukraine, threats to queer rights, tax cuts for the wealthy, funding cuts for schools, enhanced detention of asylum-seekers, no improvement or even cuts to federal minimum wage and SSI, further court takeover by MAGA judges, etcetera. And, of course, he’d probably be even more involved in Gaza than Biden is.

A Trump presidency would be catastrophic. Not just for the actual policy and the court appointments, but for the rhetoric. Under Trump, far-right rhetoric seeped far into the water of this country and stayed there. America has always been a country of manufactured social division — that’s what the two parties are — but in the Trump era, the violence of that division surged. This started with the rise to (further) prominence of groups like the Proud Boys and the 3 Percenters, then conspiracy theorists/theories like Alex Jones and QAnon. It reached a breaking point on January 6th, 2021.

As a queer woman — especially an openly gender nonconforming queer woman — I worry for the danger I’m in. Not just due to policy, although that’s always a concern. But for the fact that our politicians, including folks like Trump and Desantis, spread rhetoric which causes violence against myself and my queer loved ones. Many voters say that their first concern is the economy, and social issues come second. But for queer folks, or people of color, or religious minorities, can we afford to put “social issues” second?

In November of 2022, you might remember a Colorado gay night club, Club Q, being shot up. (Shot up, in fact, by the grandson of a Republican California assembly member.) It seems the fact that an all-ages drag show was going to be hosted at the venue the next morning was enough for this person to take five lives and traumatize dozens more. For most queer folks, this was not even a wake up call. We were already sounding the alarm on anti-queer rhetoric in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, or the ever-rising violence against transgender women (especially trans women of color). To me, and I think to many of us, Club Q was only a stinging reminder of what we’re up against. As anti-queer rhetoric takes on a new, unsubtle face in this country, anti-queer violence becomes just as brazen.

For Queer folks, not having Trump as president isn’t just about whether or not our pocket books will suffer. It’s not even firstly about whether or not we are legislated against. First and foremost, it’s about being able to live without a gun to our heads.

But does this mean I'll vote for Biden?

Well.

It takes a lot of mental fortitude to handle voting for ol’ Genocide Joe. Well, it’s less fortitude and more a lack of compassion. The horrible, heart wrenching issue is that I’m essentially choosing between Voldemort and Satan here.

Like, do you not realize how horrific it is that my reason for voting Biden would be so it’s not the other guy? I wouldn’t be voting for Biden with the hope that anything would get better. I wouldn’t be voting for Biden because he actually has any policies I’m super passionate about. (For every awesome union or environmental or Queer win we get during his presidency, it seems there’s two losses to follow.) It’s just because the other guy has policies I hate. How come the Trumpers get to have all the fun, voting for a guy they actually like?

And the liberals hate questions about what Biden actually does. It’s like the DNC is holding a gun to my head and telling me I can’t vote for anyone but Biden or else!… but all I did was ask them if Biden plans on raising the federal minimum wage.

And why do I have to vote based on whose human rights and dignity I am preserving and whose I am sacrificing? If I vote for Trump, I put myself, my queer friends, my disabled friends, and my friends of color at risk. So I vote for Biden, but then I sign off on his continuous enabling of genocide, rushed unapproved weapons deals, and denials of Palestinian deaths.

Truly, I am considering voting for a third party. Would this necessarily count as ‘stealing’ a vote from Biden? Well — no, because I live in a heavily blue-saturated district, to the point where if half of my city voted third party Biden would probably still win it.

(Now, from the start, my decision whether to vote third party — whether I can “afford” to vote third party — is predicated on where I live. They’ve turned voting into a puzzle book. You need an up-to-date voting district map to make your candidate choice.)

Now the issue is who to vote for when voting for a third party. There are some candidates who maybe could have been contenders against Joe Biden, if given a chance. Dean Phillips didn’t do too bad at all in the primaries. But clearly he doesn’t have a shot anymore. So when I’m choosing a candidate, maybe whether or not they actually win shouldn’t even be my priority.

Currently, I don’t feel like sharing who I’m planning on voting for. My decision is still up in the air. Plus, like I said before, I don’t intend to use this article to sway you. I’ve got a candidate I like, and I’ll probably vote for them. Once that decision is solidified, perhaps I’ll even write an article about them. I do think they’re a wonderful candidate, and their party has made significant progress in the last twenty years. They’re bringing progressive policies further and further into the forefront. (And no, it’s not Marianne Williamson. Love the energy, but she is fishy!)

I think that’s the goal, right now. Visibility. Pressure. Not winning. Obviously it would be great if we could magically get the whole country together and elect a third party candidate. But we won’t. In the meantime, we can rally behind third parties, show as much vocal support for their policies as we possibly can. That’s basically what happened with Bernie (obviously he wasn’t technically third party, but the spirit was there); if it weren’t for his 2016 run, could we truly say progressivism would have been so suddenly thrust into the American mainstream? Perhaps my pursuit with voting third party should just be to make my demands a little louder.

Which sucks. It really, really sucks. I'd like to vote for someone that I think even has a chance at winning. But that isn't going to happen.

It could. The two party system doesn’t have to be forever. The two party system wasn’t even the original plan of this country; George Washington himself adamantly opposed two party systems! We could implement rank-choice voting. We could demand third party candidates be included in major debates. Our current system simply isn’t constructed to even allow third parties a seat at the table. Does that not read as unfair to anyone else?

I don’t know what will happen in November 2024. To be frank, I’m quite nervous for it. I’m scared of deeper division, of another riot at the White House, of increased political violence. And that’s all regardless of who actually wins. No matter what, we know a Trump-Biden rematch will be fierce, and we will be the ones suffering for it.

Vote for whoever you’re going to vote for. In the meantime, remember that electoral politics isn’t the be-all, end-all. While they make the laws, we’re the ones on the streets. We’re the ones who can and will show up and show out for each other. Never forget the community around you. Go volunteer with FoodNotBombs, make a zine, read a liberationist book, and offer to fix your friend’s bike for them. Spread the spirit of mutual aid and revolutionary love. Build up a network of friends who will be there for you no matter what happens — and hold on tight!