JOHNSTOWN, Pa.: In close elections, it doesn’t take much for third-party candidates to play an outsize role as Democrats learned the hard way in 2016.
President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes that year while left-leaning Green Party candidate Jill Stein netted over 51,000 and Libertarian Gary Johnson won 172,000. In Wisconsin, Trump won by about 23,000 votes, fewer than Steins 32,000. And in Pennsylvania, Steins 49,000 votes eclipsed the margin by which Trump defeated Clinton.
Victory in those three states catapulted Trump into the White House. As he seeks another term amid a pandemic and sudden Supreme Court vacancy, there are questions about whether third parties could play a similar role in this year’s high-stakes election.
Green Party candidates in 2000 and 2016…