“She’s one of the great freedom fighters of a generation, one of the great love warriors of a generation,” West told Smiley. “She’s a lover of people.”
West, 70, a prominent activist and author, initially launched his campaign last June, seeking the Green Party’s nomination, before he opted to become an independent candidate.
His announcement comes as he aims to qualify for the ballot in 26 states and D.C., which require an independent presidential candidate petitioning for ballot access to submit the name of their running mate, according to Ballot Access News.
West’s campaign says he has met requirements to be on the ballot in Alaska, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah, though those states’ election officials have not yet confirmed that.
But West, who has refused PAC support, has struggled with raising money. His campaign spent more than it raised in February, according to federal campaign finance reports, with $26,048 cash on hand and $12,938 in debt. The U.S. Office of Government Ethics also refused to sign off on West’s financial disclosure, a requirement West would need to meet to hold office.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has criticized West’s candidacy and other third-party candidates who could play the spoiler for President Biden’s campaign in key swing states.
“Despite Cornel West announcing a running mate, our view remains the same: only two candidates have a path to 270 electoral votes, President Biden and Donald Trump,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Matt Corridoni said in a statement ahead of the announcement. “The stakes are high and we know this is going to be a close election — that’s why a vote for any third party candidate is a vote for Donald Trump.”
Abdullah, who is Black and Muslim, previously supported West’s bid and said Wednesday that she did not expect to be offered the vice president slot last week. Neither candidate has previously held elected office.
In several national polls, West has garnered about 1 or 2 percent of voters, around the same as third-party candidate Jill Stein of the Green Party. One percent of voters said they would choose West, compared with 11 percent for independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 41 percent for Republican candidate Trump and 43 percent for Democratic candidate Biden, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted March 25 to 28.
The announcement comes about two weeks after Kennedy named his running mate, tech lawyer and megadonor Nicole Shanahan. After Shanahan’s announcement, the Kennedy campaign said it had launched new efforts to get on more states’ ballots after fulfilling the requirement to name a running mate.
Both Shanahan and Abdullah, women of color in California, have previously supported Democratic candidates before their independent runs.
But Abdullah has donated far smaller amounts of money than Shanahan, who has given tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates. Abdullah previously gave $360 in 2008 to support then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama; $300 in 2012 to Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.); and $300 in 2019 to presidential candidate Julián Castro’s super PAC, according to federal campaign finance filings.
Abdullah, a professor in the department of Pan-African studies at California State University for more than 20 years, was among the original group of organizers who convened to form Black Lives Matter and has led the California chapter. Abdullah previously clashed with the group’s national leadership, suing them over funds she believed should have gone to local chapters. The judge dismissed the case.
Her activism has attracted threats, including several swatting attempts at her home. She sued the Los Angeles Police Department after she said police forced her at gunpoint to step out of her home while her children hid inside, roughly three months after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. She is also suing the university after she was forcibly removed by police from a mayoral debate on campus.
This is a developing story.