Abandon Harris campaign endorses Jill Stein

The “Abandon Harris” group pushing for voters to protest Vice President Harris over the conflict in Gaza is endorsing the Green Party’s Jill Stein in the presidential race. 

The group, formerly known as “Abandon Biden,” is calling on Muslim Americans and others frustrated with the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war to cast their ballots for the long-shot third-party bid. 

“Our movement remains dedicated to ensuring that the American people, especially the Muslim-American community, recognize the responsibility we share in standing up against oppression and using all our power to stop genocide — wherever it may arise. On the precipice of the election, we endorse Jill Stein,” the group said in a release.

Stein, who also ran for the White House in 2012 and 2016, has little chance of being truly competitive this fall. She’s not on the ballot or lodging a write-in campaign in a dozen states, according to a tracker from her campaign, and a recent New York Times/Siena College survey of a handful of key battlegrounds had her polling at just 1 percent.

But her candidacy could act as a potential spoiler to Harris’s fast-tracked bid amid a tight race between the vice president and former President Trump, drawing votes in vital swing states where the two major party candidates are separated by a hair. 

Democrats have long been frustrated by the Green Party, and Stein was seen as something of a spoiler to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign against Trump. 

A similar protest group, the Uncommitted National Movement, said last month that it wouldn’t endorse either Harris or Trump, but recommended against a third-party vote, noting that third-party votes in critical swing states could “inadvertently” boost Trump. 

Trump has the edge over Harris among Arab Americans, according to recent data from the Arab American Institute, and the vice president faces growing signs that the demographic is souring on her in critical battlegrounds. 

The Abandon Harris endorsement of Stein comes on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, which kick-started the ongoing conflict. The group initially sought to protest President Biden in the Democratic presidential primaries and has since shifted to urge voters against Harris.

In the race between Trump and Harris, the group said it’s “confronting two destructive forces: one currently overseeing a genocide and another equally committed to continuing it.”

Stein has said she would end all military support to Israel if elected. Harris and Biden have both offered unwavering support for Israel but underscored the suffering in Gaza.

“It is far past time for a hostage and ceasefire deal to end the suffering of innocent people,” Harris said in a statement marking the anniversary. “And I will always fight for the Palestinian people to be able to realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination.”