By Jaya Williams
While Donald Trump secured his second term in the 2024 presidential election, 24 third-party and independent candidates along with countless write-ins were not without their moments in the spotlight, offering voters alternatives to the two major-party choices.
BallotPedia shows some candidates, including Green Party’s Jill Stein, Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Libertarian Party’s Chase Oliver, played significant roles in shaping the narrative of the race. They were the most popular of the Independent candidates, even if their impact on the final outcome was limited. Third-party candidates received approximately 2.75 million votes, slightly under 2 % of the votes cast.
Only five out of the third-party candidates were on the ballot in Florida. While Stein had the
most votes of the bunch, she joined Oliver, Claudia De La Cruz, Peter Sonski and Randall Terry to rally a combined total of over 100,000 Florida voters, 8,809 of them from Miami-Dade
county.
Forbes Magazine highlights that Stein, who had previously captured the most national votes
among third-party candidates in the 2016 election, earned around 1-2% of the vote in crucial
battleground states, including Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Results show that Oliver
secured a similar vote share across key swing states such as Georgia, North Carolina,and
Nevada, where his message of limited government and individual freedoms found a dedicated
audience.
RFK Jr. initially drew considerable interest with his independent candidacy. However, his name was missing from 17 state ballots, including Florida. His supporters continued to turn out even though his vote share remained under half a percentage point in most of those states. In Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, where the margin between the two major-party candidates was razor-thin, RFK Jr.’s presence highlighted the appeal of independent and anti-establishment politics.
There is always another option in American politics, says Green Party candidate
Candidate: Dr. Jill Stein, 74
Running mate: Rudolph “Butch” Ware III
Party: Green Party
Education: Harvard College (1973), Harvard Medical School (1979)
Professional: Physician. Stein practiced medicine in the Boston area for 25 years and was an
instructor in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School
Personal: Originally from Chicago, Stein now lives in Lexington, Massachusetts. She is married toRichard Rohrer, also a physician. They have two sons
National votes: 805,991, placed third in popular votes
Florida votes: 43,117
***
By Dara Karadsheh
While Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein did not come out of the 2024 presidential election with a seat in the Oval Office, she said she considers this election a win, nonetheless.
“We held a victory party. It actually wasn’t a watch party. It was a victory party, because we felt that this was a terrific leap forward for us,” Stein said during a Nov. 11 Zoom interview. “There’s enormous momentum for us to work together to change our direction forward.”
With dissatisfaction of the two-party political system at record highs, many Americans considered third-party candidates as a viable alternative during the November presidential election.
“I think the loser in this election was the American people,” said Stein. “This election is more bought and paid for than any before.”
Stein captured the most popular votes of the 22 independent candidates who challenged the Democratic and Republican nominees. On the ballot in 45 states, Stein won 805,991 votes, according to Ballotpedia.
The current two-party ballot has led to policies that serve corporations while sidelining the public’s needs, Stein said.
“U.S. elections have been hijacked by the economic elites,” Stein said. “The American people are, you know, being slaughtered by this political system, the so-called ‘best democracy money can buy,’ which is no democracy at all.”
‘Who funds you, runs you’
The Green Party challenges the notion that corporations have a place in American politics in the ways in which it operates, Stein said. “We can’t be bought off because we don’t take that money,” she said. “Who funds you, runs you.”
And as a result, the Green Party is overwhelmingly out funded by the two-party establishment, which Stein said was a major factor in the Green Party’s comparatively smaller voter base this election.
The Green Party operates on the principles of people, planet and peace, according to jillstein2024.com. The Green Party seeks to build a “people’s economy,” prioritizing people of all economic classes– not just the wealthy. As its name suggests, the Green Party is most known for its environmental policies, like the Real Green New Deal. The Green Party is also anti-war and seeks to implement a new foreign policy that is rooted in diplomacy and international law.
Stein joined the Green Party in 2002. Previously she served as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and became an activist and organizer for environmental health. Stein engaged in many environmental health protests and organizations, ultimately calling on politicians to address the crisis in 1998. Since she first arrived to the Green Party, Stein ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 and 2010. She then ran for president of the United States in 2012, 2016 and 2024.
Keeping third parties out
The uphill struggle that the Green Party faces, Stein said, is only exacerbated by narratives crafted by the two-party establishment to keep third parties out of the conversation.
The Democratic Party and some media outlets have put forward the view that votes for third-party candidates may have diverted support from Kamala Harris, potentially contributing to Donald Trump’s re-election, Stein said.
Stein said she rejects this narrative.
“It’s an indefensible position,” she said. “You’re basically validating that perspective that there should never be a challenge to power. And that is the essence of authoritarianism and fascism, for that matter. Democracy is based on a contest of ideas, on dialogue, on competition. Without competition, there is no democracy.”
Stein said she is a proponent of ranked choice voting, which would allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If a voter were unsatisfied with the Republican and Democratic candidates, they could then vote for a third-party candidate as their top choice and rank the other candidates in order. Ranked-choice voting solves the problem of a spoiled vote and doesn’t force the voter to choose between their perceived ‘lesser of two evils,’ which Stein said was many voters’ complaint in this election. This system of voting is used only in Maine and Alaska for presidential elections, and some smaller jurisdictions for local elections.
Though the two-party establishment is aware of ranked choice voting as an option, many voters are not, she said.
“They don’t want to solve the problem of spoiled elections because they campaign based on fear,” Stein said.
Openly Pro-Palestine
Stein grew in popularity particularly with the Arab-American community, based on her stance on the war in Gaza. Stein, the only openly pro-Palestinian presidential candidate, said she believes the Democratic Party’s failure to adequately address Arab-Americans’ concerns, pushed many to vote Republican in an effort to punish the Biden-Harris Administration.
President-Elect Trump, however, is not the solution to the Arab-American community’s woes, Stein said, indicating that she would have handled the humanitarian crisis in Gaza swiftly and firmly, and stop the growing threat of an all-out war in the Middle East.
“This is really our genocide, and Israel is a proxy for us because we are in absolute control,” Stein said. “We are funding Israel’s military. We are providing the weapons that are murdering women and children and innocent civilians, and providing diplomatic cover and intelligence.”
Stein said that were she elected president, she would have immediately stopped all flow of weapons and military support to Israel. According to Stein, the president-elect does have that power, though Donald Trump has yet to do any such thing. “There’s not a sign in the world that he intends to do that,” Stein said.
And therein lies the structural, systemic and communicative issue with the two-party ballot, according to Stein. When American foreign policy is directly funding international wars because of economic interests, the American people are done a disservice by their leaders, said Stein.
“If there’s not a progressive alternative, often that’s a win for right-wing populism,” Stein said. “What spoils the elections for the Democrats is not third parties. It’s the betrayal of their base.”
“If we only have those two choices, we’re going to see them swapping back and forth, and both of them basically throwing the American people under the bus,” she said. “That’s why it’s really important for people to support the alternative.”
Stein’s ongoing initiative with the Green Party didn’t end on Nov. 5. Well-positioned to garner further support from voters in the future, Stein said she believes the Green Party is poised and empowered to continue its efforts in taking back the promise of American democracy.
Libertarian candidate: ‘Your vote should never be limited to just 2 choices’
2024 Libertarian Presidential Nominee Chase Oliver. Photo credit: Chase Oliver for President
Candidate: Chase Oliver, 39
Running mate: Mike ter Maat
Party: Libertarian
Education: Attended Georgia State
Professional: Account executive
Personal: Single, lives in Atlanta
National votes: 641,884; placed fifth
Florida votes: 31,956
***
By Daniel Braz
While at the Libertarian Party of Texas watch party at the Westin Park Central Hotel in Dallas,
Chase Oliver took stock of why the results turned out the way that they did. The answer was
actually quite simple, he said.
“The thing that surprised me was how not competitive it was,” Oliver said. “It just seemed to me like the Democrats lost touch with the working class because their economic messages never really connected.”
As for the 39-year-old maritime logistics manager and longtime Libertarian activist/politician,Oliver received 0.4% of the votes cast, totaling 641,884 of the American people’s votes. In Miami-Dade County, he underperformed his national numbers, winning only 0.19% of the vote –a total of 2,096 votes out of 1,104,403 cast.
Coming off of a surprisingly strong showing in the 2022 Georgia U.S. Senate election, a spate of mainstream media attention, and entering an election cycle where the two candidates
representing the main parties were arguably the most unpopular in modern history, it could be said that things were looking up for Oliver, prior to the Nov. 5 election.
A thankless endeavor
But being a third-party candidate is generally a thankless endeavor at best, given the dominance of the two major parties in American politics, Independent candidates say.
“The reason why I’m doing it, even though we do live in a system that really rewards the two parties trying to put out a false political binary, is because we have to put good Libertarian ideas out there,” Oliver said in a Nov. 13 telephone interview. “We have to put good policies forward to give the voters an honest choice if they don’t want to select someone within the two-party system.”
As of last year, there were 741,930 registered members of the Libertarian Party across the country. Oliver said he hoped to not only attract the Libertarian base but bring in voters disaffected with mainstream parties with policies like introducing a 28th Amendment to the Constitution that would enshrine the right to bodily autonomy, creating new and expanding existing paths to citizenship to deal with illegal immigration and ending qualified immunity for police officers as a first step in criminal justice reform.
The Libertarian Party faced its own unique headwinds this election cycle, with Oliver – who described himself as “armed and gay” in an interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette in 2023 – facing off and defeating an opponent from his right, Michael Rechtenwald. Oliver grabbed the nomination in a fractious and raucous nomination vote at the Libertarian National Convention in May.
The presence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot didn’t help the situation, choking off the oxygen of the Libertarian campaign due to RFK’s seeming embrace of many Libertarian positions, ability to gain mainstream media coverage due to his name and a vast monetary advantage over the organized Libertarian Party.
The Trump factor
On top of that, then-former President Donald Trump’s overtures to the party in the summer for the party’s endorsement created more chaos among Libertarians, further dividing the party and luring away voters who could have been convinced to vote Libertarian.
“I’m glad that Donald Trump made promises but again, I don’t really trust Donald Trump to fulfill any of those promises because he didn’t fulfill the promises he made previous to 2016,” Oliver said.
He was unimpressed by both RFK Jr. and Trump’s outreach efforts and wanted instead to fight for structural reforms to the American electoral system, including ranked-choice voting and easing ballot access laws.
“Ultimately, it’s still important for us to run our candidate, supporting our principles and putting us forward,” Oliver said.
These principles, which Oliver and the Libertarian Party as a whole hold dear, broadly encompass giving Americans the maximum amount of freedom to live their lives as they wish and as minimal government intervention as possible in the right of Americans to enjoy those freedoms.
Oliver also dealt with many of the same challenges as the other third-party candidates in the race: overcoming stringent ballot access rules, practically non-existent mainstream media exposure and a bare-bones fundraising and organizational infrastructure.
Media kept Independents off main stage
While his passion for electoral reform is clear, the mainstream media’s election coverage appears designed to shut out alternative parties, Oliver said, adding that there was a short period of optimism when it was announced that the Commission on Presidential Debates would not have a role in the debate process.
“Unfortunately, it just seemed like the two-party system jumped right in line and hand in glove with major media outlets to prevent other parties from having a voice,” Oliver said about the direct negotiations between the two main parties and CNN and ABC, the networks that hosted the presidential debates.
“I think had myself and Jill Stein been on the main stage with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, you would have had a much more substantive debate that challenged the status quo,” Oliver said.
Oliver does not have too many regrets about the way he ran his presidential campaign but does allow that there were some things he would have done differently had the resources been there, including hosting more Libertarian events at college campuses across the country.
“I would have loved to have a more robust fundraising operation,” said Oliver, who raised around $500,000. “I just don’t think there was a lot of willingness in the alternative party space in the cycle.”
As for whether President-elect Trump’s promises to the Libertarian Party will be more substantive than a mirage, Oliver remains pessimistic – especially after seeing who Trump’s initial cabinet choices.
Oliver said his priority now is to decompress and focus on spending time with the people closest to him.
“Honestly, I think I need to take a break,” Oliver said. “As of this Election Day, Nov. 5, I have been running for office for three years straight.”
However, this doesn’t mean he’s closed the door on politics entirely.
“This is just the beginning for me,” Oliver said. “I’m going to spend the next four years building up the Libertarian Party to make it a stronger force. And whether I run for president again in the future or not, I want to make sure whoever runs for president in ’28 has a stronger hand to play in future election cycles.”
Candidate supports systemic change, social justice
Photo courtesy: Claudia De la Cruz campaign website
Candidate: Claudia De La Cruz, 41
Running mate: Karina Garcia
Party: Party for Socialism and Liberation
Education: Bachelor’s degree in forensic psychology from the John Jay College of
Criminal Justice (2001); Master’s degree in social work from Columbia University (2007);
and a master’s degree in divinity from Union Theological Seminary (2007)
Professional: Co-executive director of The People’s Forum, an activist organization in
New York that she co founded in 2018.
Personal: 8-year-old son
National votes: 145,796; placed sixth in popular votes
Florida votes: 11,960
***
By Charmaine Mukurazhizha
Claudia De la Cruz, a 41-year-old community organizer and political activist from the Bronx,
brought a progressive voice to the 2024 presidential election. Running with Karina Garcia, 38,
her vice presidential candidate, De La Cruz represented the Party for Socialism and Liberation., a communist political party formed in 2004. Their platform focused on systemic change, social justice and opposition to corporate-driven politics.
While De La Cruz did not win the Nov. 5 election, her campaign made an impression on national conversations about political reform and grassroots movements.
Born to Dominican Republic immigrant parents, De la Cruz’s working-class upbringing shaped her commitment to social justice. She is widely recognized for her advocacy in housing, healthcare and immigrant rights. Her running mate, Garcia, also a community activist, emphasized economic justice and support for marginalized communities.
“Our campaign wasn’t just about winning votes, it was about inspiring people to believe in the possibility of a system that prioritizes equity and justice over corporate profits,” De La Cruz said in a recent interview.
Third-party coalitions
De La Cruz’s campaign challenged the dominance of the Democratic and Republican parties. In coalition with other progressive leaders, including presidential independent candidates Cornel West and Jill Stein, the PSL developed a strategy to maximize their impact across different states.
For example, voters in Alaska were encouraged to support West and his running mate, Melina
Abdullah, while West’s supporters backed De La Cruz in Florida, Hawaii, New Mexico,
Mississippi and Tennessee. The Green Party’s candidates, Jill Stein and Butch Ware, endorsed
De La Cruz in states where she had write-in status, such as Indiana and North Dakota.
“We must move beyond the dictatorship of the billionaire class,” De La Cruz said. “Our
campaign called for universal housing, healthcare and education, alongside environmental
sustainability and reparations for Black Americans.”
De La Cruz also took a firm stance against U.S. militarism and environmental exploitation. Her platform included a living wage and dismantling the two-party system, which she argued
prioritizes corporate elites over working people.
Miami supporter
In Miami, Anastatia S. Abraham said De la Cruz’s message resonated with her
“The only party I can enthusiastically vote for is the Party for Socialism and Liberation,”
Abraham said after voting for De la Cruz on Election Day. “I want a candidate that cares about
the issues I care about and is not afraid to voice them.”
Despite the challenges of running outside the major party system, De La Cruz said her
campaign elevated critical issues often overlooked by mainstream politics.
“People are tired of being complicit in systems that perpetuate injustice,” De La Cruz said, citing global conflicts, environmental crises and the erosion of basic rights as key concerns.
Her campaign also supported Florida’s Amendment 3, which proposed legalizing recreational
marijuana for adutls, and Amendment 4, which protected abortion rights.
Although De la Cruz did not secure the presidency, she continues to organize and mobilize
communities. Her goal is to push for systemic reforms and build coalitions across diverse
political movements.
“Our fight doesn’t end here,” De La Cruz said. “This campaign was just one chapter in the
broader struggle for justice and equality.”
–Kay-Ann Henry contributed to this report.
American Solidarity Party candidate runs on Christian values
Presidential candidate Peter Sonski and vice-presidential candidate Lauren Onak ran on the American Solidarity Party ticket. Photo courtesy: Aaron Joseph.
Candidate: Peter Sonski, 61
Running mate: Lauren Onak
Party: American Solidarity Party
Education: BA (2008) and Master of Science in Management (2016) degrees from
The Catholic University of America
Professional: Officeholder, Regional School District 17, Higganum, Connecticut;
previously director of communications, Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception; assistant editor at National Catholic Register.
Personal: The New England native is married with nine adult children and six
grandchildren. He and his wife live in Connecticut.
National votes: 37,503; placed ninth
Florida votes: 7,441
***
By Vanessa Bonilla
Running for president was not on Peter Sonski’s bucket list.
Sonski, 61, had been an elected official at the local level, but when the American
Solidarity Party nominated him, he decided he “must and can be an influence in our
society.”
“I decided to run to provide disaffected voters with more options than what I perceived
were going to be available to them from the major parties,” Sonski said in an Nov. 11
telephone interview.
Sonski has been both a Democrat and Republican but decided to make the American
Solidarity Party his “political home” because of its “unique platform” and distinct
approach in protecting of Christian values. The party, which is characterized as being
socially conservative while supporting government intervention in economic matters, was
founded in 2011 and officially incorporated in 2016.
“The American Solidarity Party is the manifestation of Christian Democracy in America
that holds positions that are not exclusively on the right side of the political spectrum or
exclusively on the left side of the political spectrum,” Sonski said.
Sonski said he was not surprised by the outcome of the election. He knew his chances of
winning were slim, yet he was proud citizens could vote “with a smile, because they were
not voting for the lesser of two evils, but for a candidate that really represented the values
that they stood for.”
Sonski’s vice presidential candidate, Lauren Onak, said third-party candidates work hard
to make their positions known. When third parties want to be on the ballot, they have to
get enough signatures, lots of fundraising is needed, and then there is a lot of paperwork
the candidates have to complete, she said.
“It is not a simple process,” Onak said. “People complain but very few want to make the
change. More people should consider running for local elections, that is where change
starts.”
Constitution Party candidate’s focus – anti abortion
Photo credit: terry2024.com
Candidate: Randall Terry, 65
Running mate: Stephen Broden
Party: Constitution Party; placed eighth
Education: BA, communications, State University of New York; master’s degree in
diplomacy and international terrorism, Norwich University; a theology degree from Elim
Bible Institute
Professional: Pro-life leader, speaker, musician and author
Personal: Married twice, father of seven children
National votes: 41,254
Florida votes: 5,831
***
By Allie Litzinger
Randall Terry’s presidential campaign website leaves no doubt about where he stands on the
issue that is most important to him: “Defend children, Defeat Kamala/Walz, Destroy the
Democrat Party!”
Terry, 65, is the founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which is known for
blockading the entrances to abortion clinics. The issue of abortion is the sole focus of Terry’s
campaign.
Although he did not respond to requests from CommunityWire.Miami for an interview, his
campaign website quotes him as being a staunch pro-life candidate.
“We are running for President in the effort to make child killing by abortion the number one voter issue in America,” his campaign website says. “We will show the horror of aborted children to the American people and call on Christians to REPENT for having voted for Joe Biden.”
Terry has been arrested more than 40 times, including one for trespassing at Notre Dame
University for protesting against then-president Barack Obama’s visit to the school. Terry also once chained himself to a sink at an abortion clinic, ending in an arrest.
He may be more widely known for his graphic anti-abortion ads that have gotten him in trouble with the FCC.
He first ran against then-president Barack Obama in 2012 and became the nominee of the
Constitution Party in April. He was on the ballot in 12 states, including Florida. The party,
formerly the U.S. Taxpayers’ Party until 1999, promotes a religious conservative view of the
principles of the United States Constitution.
Terry accepted the nomination on condition that Stephen Broden, a leader in the pro-life Black movement and founder of the National Black Pro-Life Coalition, would be he is running mate.
In August, The New York Times reported that Democratic party donors were helping Terry get
on ballots and promoting his campaign to get votes away from Donald Trump.
Kennedy Jr. ran, withdrew and is now cabinet nominee
Candidate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 70
Running Mate: Nicole Shanahan
Party: Independent
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Harvard University (1976), Juris Doctor, Virginia School of
Law (1982), Master of Laws, from Pace University (1987).
Professional: Former professor at Pace University, former assistant district attorney in New
York City
Personal: He has six children and has been married to his third wife since 2014. He is the son of the former U.S. Attorney General and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
National votes: 746,280
Florida votes: Kennedy was not on the ballot in Florida
***
By Noah Gulley
Although President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert Kennedy F. Jr. as his secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy was an Independent candidate for most of the 2024 presidential election cycle.
Most notably, Kennedy is an advocate for environmental and public health reform, often rallying his supporters with the phrase “Make America Healthy Again.” His campaign, which began in April 2023 emphasized reducing chronic disease by shifting federal research priorities.
Throughout Kennedy’s campaign, he often criticized the government and their ties to big industries and corporations. “Big oil funds the Republicans, big tech funds the Democrats, big pharma and the military contractors make sure to give to both. Instead of two parties, we have this kind of uni party, a two-headed monster that’s constantly bickering with itself as it leads us all over a cliff,” Kennedy said in his independent candidacy announcement speech.
In March, Kennedy selected patent lawyer and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. Despite initial interest—polling at 15% of registered voters in July, his support dropped to 7% by early August.
In August, Kennedy withdrew from the race and endorsed former President Donald Trump, initially encouraging his supporters to back him in non-battleground states before eventually urging them to vote for Trump nationwide. However, Kennedy Jr.’s name still did appear on the ballot in 38 states. According to Ballotpedia, he finished fourth in the 2024 election, receiving 718,999 votes, about 0.5% of the national popular vote. His strongest support came from Montana, where he received 2% of the state’s vote. Kennedy did not appear on ballots in Florida.
Thousands of voters choose the write-in option
By Brandon Blanco
Beyond the list of the two-party and third-party presidential candidates, many other
names appeared on the 2024 ballot, from cartoon characters (Mickey Mouse, Donald
Duck and Darth Vader) to entertainers (Beyonce, Tom Hanks and Matthew
McConaughey) to the more spiritual (Jesus Christ and God).
Elections can produce candidates that voters flat out do not like, so they have the option
to write in candidates of their choice. Even the name “Me” was a write-in option this
election.
Even though no write-in has ever become president, in the 2024 presidential election,
215,509 votes were cast for them, not including those who were officially listed as
“write-ins” in various states that required registration. Overall, write-in votes for the
presidential race saw just 3,116 of votes in Miami-Dade County, according to the county
elections department.
“Although voters are free to write in any name they feel like, it does not mean the vote
will count,” said Robert Rodriguez, deputy supervisor of elections for Miami-Dade
County.
Only seven states automatically count write-in votes – Vermont, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, Iowa, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. By contrast, eight states –
Arkansas, Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and
South Dakota – won’t accept any write-ins.
Each state has rules regarding whether write-in candidates can be considered. In
Florida, write-in candidates must be registered. For the 2024 election, there were only
two qualified write-in candidates in the Sunshine State: Shiva Ayyadurai of New
England and Cherunda Fox of Ferndale, Michigan.
