Jill Stein and the Green Party don’t run in Democratic primaries because they aren’t Democrats. They're an independent party with fundamentally different positions, like rejecting corporate donations, opposing U.S. imperialism, and pushing for ecological socialism. Entering a Democratic primary would mean compromising those values and legitimizing a party structure they believe is corrupt and undemocratic.

As for non-battleground states, Stein does run in all 50 states, including so-called safe ones. But focusing only on those would write off millions of voters who live in swing states and want more than two options. It’s not the Green Party’s job to preserve the illusion of choice between two corporate-funded candidates. It’s the major parties’ job to earn votes.

And they do run down-ballot candidates. The Green Party has had hundreds of local officeholders over the years: school boards, city councils, water districts, etc. In 2022 alone, Greens ran over 100 candidates nationwide. Just because CNN doesn’t cover them doesn’t mean they aren’t doing the work.

The spoiler argument assumes votes belong to the Democrats by default. They don’t. People don’t owe their votes to anyone. If major parties want those votes, they should represent those voters—not just expect obedience.

If every single person who voted third party would have instead voted for Harris, Trump still would have won. Harris didn't lose because of the Green Party, or any other third party. More people didn't vote than who voted third party. So how is that in anyway a spoiler?