CONNECTICUT, USA — As general election polling still shows a tight race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, other minor party candidates still have their hats in the ring from the White House to congressional races and state legislative seats.
A historic uncommitted vote movement took place during the presidential primaries earlier this year. Now, the vote seems to be splintered even more, especially for down-ballot congressional races. The main dividing issue is the worsening and expanding war in Gaza.
There is record distrust and frustration from voters over their choice of candidates in 2024.
Despite being a historically “blue” state, Connecticut’s largest voter bloc is actually unaffiliated and independent.
While some, including federal political leaders, have repeated the warning that people must not split the vote, others said they can’t fathom bubbling in any of the major party candidates on their ballot.
On Monday, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, (D-VT), released a video, saying, “Many of you have differences of opinion with Kamala Harris on Gaza, so do I. But we cannot sit this election out. Trump has got to be defeated.”
“So many people are frustrated by the amount of times they’ve called their representatives and have just been summarily ignored,” explained Jillian with the group JVP Action. “There is another way for us to get our message across and to force our representatives to listen to us.”
During the April primary, more than 7,600 registered Democrats in Connecticut voted “uncommitted” for the presidential candidate, which was about 11% of the turnout.
What was meant to be a primary movement to get the presidential administration and congressional delegation’s attention is now continuing for many who said they’re ready to cast their votes for more third-party candidates.
“We’re going to hold them accountable and they don’t have our votes,” Jillian said. “If they want to keep their jobs, they have to actually change.”
Tuesday night, the group Justice for Palestine in Congress held a meeting with Connecticut’s Green Party candidates to highlight their platforms and capitalize on the most momentum they’ve seen in awhile, over the worsening war and humanitarian crisis.
Many wonder, though, just how much of a momentum for third-party candidates there could be, and if the candidates could ever stand a chance in the system.
“We haven’t engaged in meaningful electoral reform in a while,” explained Wes Renfro, professor of political science at Quinnipiac University. “I’m frankly not optimistic that anything about this electoral cycle will produce changes in a way that hasn’t occurred before.”
For historical context, in the 2020 Presidential election, more than 27,000 residents voted for candidates other than Democratic or Republican, which was nearly 1.5% of the total vote. That number grew slightly, but still stayed under 2% of the vote, for congressional races in 2020.
Emma Wulfhorst is a political reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at ewulfhorst@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
RELATED:
---
Do you have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com.
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Stream Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.