The Green Party’s challenges in the U.S. system are def real, but to clarify:

First, the implication that they ignore everything except presidential races is false. 62% of all Green candidates since 1985 have run for county, municipal, school board, and special-district offices — not president or Congress. They have run over 7,100 candidates total and won at least 1,679 elections. As of late 2025 they held ~159 elected offices nationwide, almost all at the local level (city councils, mayors, school boards, etc.). In recent cycles they win 50–65% of the local races they actually contest. They do run down-ballot and the data is public.

Second, “woefully underqualified” presidential nominees is subjective. Jill Stein is a Harvard-educated physician; Ralph Nader built a national consumer-protection movement. It’s not so much candidate quality as it’s that third-party presidential runs are one of the only ways small parties can secure ballot access and media attention in dozens of states.

The Russian-funding claim is crap, brother. There was interference aimed at boosting Stein in 2016, but no credible evidence of direct Russian funding of the Green Party itself. Think about that, if Russian really funded the Green party, it would be front page news. Instead we have Lemmy whining about it because they don’t like third parties.

If the goal is building a real alternative to corporate capture and endless war, running visible national campaigns while grinding out local wins is a rational (tho hated on Lemmy) strategy.

The system, not incompetence or foreign cash, is the main reason third parties stay small.