--- title: Election 2016: Jill Stein Announces Ajamu Baraka as VP Pick description: Ajamu Baraka is a prominent human-rights advocate and death-penalty opponent canonical: https://time.com/4434544/jill-stein-ajamu-baraka-vice-president-green-party/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-02T03:31:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:17.335Z article:section: Politics og:title: Green Party's Jill Stein Picks Ajamu Baraka as Running Mate og:description: Baraka is a prominent human-rights activist and intellectual og:url: https://time.com/4434544/jill-stein-ajamu-baraka-vice-president-green-party/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75047c663cc1f489/6988a0c1cf40a8133dc444f3/ap_16208669308620.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4673 og:image:height: 2629 og:image:alt: DEM 2016 Philadelphia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Green Party's Jill Stein Picks Ajamu Baraka as Running Mate twitter:description: Baraka is a prominent human-rights activist and intellectual twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75047c663cc1f489/6988a0c1cf40a8133dc444f3/ap_16208669308620.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Green Party's Jill Stein Selects Human-Rights Activist Ajamu Baraka as Running Mate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Can Jill Stein Win Over Bernie Supporters? [Watch (HLS stream): Can Jill Stein Win Over Bernie Supporters?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hJ0lQWk0.m3u8) (3:03)  _Published 2016-07-26. The Green Party candidate, who is running for office for the second time, is hoping to appeal to alienated Bernie supporters this year._ by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Aug 2, 2016 3:31 AM UTC  Jill Stein, presumptive Green Party presidential nominee, speaks at a rally in Philadelphia on July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention Jill Stein, presumptive Green Party presidential nominee, speaks at a rally in Philadelphia on July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention Alex Brandon—AP by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Aug 2, 2016 3:31 AM UTC Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate running for President against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, [announced](http://www.jill2016.com/jill%5Fstein%5Fselects%5Fajamu%5Fbaraka%5Fas%5Fvp) Monday that she has selected Ajamu Baraka, a human-rights activist and intellectual, as her prospective Vice President. Stein, a doctor turned politician who also ran for the country’s highest office in 2012, described Baraka as an “activist, writer, intellectual and organizer with a powerful voice, vision, and lifelong commitment to building true political revolution” in a statement. Baraka, the founding executive director of the U.S. Human Rights Network, is known for his decades-long [social-justice efforts](http://www.ajamubaraka.com/about/) and his opposition to the death penalty. **Read More:** [_Meet Jill Stein, the Green Party Foe of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump_](http://time.com/4425748/jill-stein-green-party-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/) “Ajamu Baraka is a powerful, eloquent spokesperson for the transformative, radical agenda whose time has come,” Stein added. The 66-year-old presumptive nominee, who has [presented](http://time.com/4425748/jill-stein-green-party-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/) herself as a [third-party alternative](http://time.com/4353249/third-party-gary-johnson-david-french-jill-stein/) to both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, is set to officially be nominated at her party’s convention in Houston on Saturday. ## Transcript The lesser evil merely paves the way to the greater evil. Woo! [ APPLAUSE ] I would feel terrible if Donald Trump is elected. I hate what he stands for. But I will feel terrible if Hillary Clinton gets elected, because I hate what she's actually done already. In my view Voters deserve choices. They do not approve of these parties, they do no approve of their candidates, and they care clambering for an honest politics that's not bought and paid for by Wall Street. I'm Jill Stein. I'm am the presumptive nominee for the Green Party for the Office of President. Of the United States, and I am running as a mother and a medical doctor very concerned about the direction we're going. [ MUSIC ] A third party candidate for president has never won a general election, but there's a long history of third party candidates swaying elections In unpredictable ways. The famous example is Ralph Nader in 2000 who's widely considered to have swayed the election in favor of George W. Bush. It's often been said the only wasted vote is the vote for someone you don't believe in. It's a very convenient excuse for the Democrats as to why they lost. They're saying we should silence the Greens, we should silence all opposition. Decision parties and you think that's a solution? You would love to live in Iran or Russia. Tyranny is not the solution to a screwed up voting system. In this election like in many elections, recently we've been told to vote for the lesser of two evils And that basically means vote against who you don't like rather than for what your values are. [ MUSIC ] I will vote for Jill Stein and encourage others to do so. Many of us will write in Bernie or we will be voting for Jill. I'm seriously considering Jill Stein. I think that this is a great opportunity for us to have a viable third party. Our campaign is very similar to Bernie's campaign in terms of our agenda. And what's different about it is that we actually go further than Bernie was able to go inside of a counter- revolution. Bernie is a revolutionary Democratic party so we call for not only living wages for workers and for raising the minimum wage but we call for actually the right to a job. We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kay [ SOUND ] Bernie's setting [ UNKNOWN ] example of essentially abandoning ship on that work, which is very sad, and very tragic. Even with some Bernie Sanders supporters switching over to Jill Stein, it's virtually impossible show win. But she could draw liberal voters from Hillary Clinton and hurt her fight against Donald Trump. And perhaps, Prove a point. 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