Like many Gen Zers, this Green Party candidate for Congress is fed up with the two-party system

25-year-old candidate Ben Taylor from New Jersey talks to Zivvy News about why he thinks it's important to support third parties.

Zivvy News is committed to highlighting the work of young changemakers who are tackling key issues and making a difference in their communities and beyond. Ahead of Election Day, Zivvy News has spoken to several Gen Z politicians. View our Gen Z Spotlight series here.

Following the October 7th, 2023 attacks on Israel—which have since intensified into ongoing conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon—Ben Taylor decided to run for public office.

But Taylor, who is 25 years old, isn’t running as a Democrat or a Republican. Instead, he’s the Green Party candidate for U.S. Congress in New Jersey’s 9th congressional district. His platform centers on reallocating U.S. military aid currently directed to countries like Israel toward initiatives like universal healthcare.

“Initially, my thought was, I think that we should have an option to be able to vote for somebody else, vote for a third party,” he tells Zivvy News. “I think that option is important, and especially in this situation with what's been going on now for a year. It felt like, at least for me, I wouldn't have been comfortable voting for either of the two major parties.”

Taylor’s generation is more receptive than previous ones to voting or running as third-party candidates. For years, voting third-party has been considered a wasted vote because these candidates lack the resources of the Democratic or Republican parties needed to win. This often leaves voters who are dissatisfied with both major parties choosing what they see as the lesser of two evils.

Taylor rejects that idea. “The two parties have been killing all these people abroad, and it's not moral,” he says.

Foreign policy is a significant issue in the 2024 races, especially with the Israel-Hamas war, which Taylor has called an “ethnic cleansing” due to the number of civilian deaths in Gaza. Nationally, third-party candidates, including Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein, are emphasizing their anti-war foreign policy as a key alternative in this election. Stein has engaged Arab-American and Muslim voters in battleground states like Michigan, with a poll from the Arab-American Institute showing that 5% of Arab-Americans would support her.

RELATED: Why Jill Stein is running on a third-party ticket... for a third time

Taylor’s district includes Paterson, New Jersey, a city with one of the country’s largest Palestinian populations, affectionately nicknamed “Little Palestine” by residents.

“I often go to the events held by different organizations,” Taylor says, citing what he calls a “long list” that includes the Palestinian American Community Center, American Muslims for Palestine and various mosques that hold their own events, but often collaborate with one another. 

Though Taylor maintains he feels welcomed by that community, with some even promising him their votes, he couldn’t help but notice that he’s often met with some cynicism. 

“These voters have been kind of disenfranchised, at least on the foreign policy aspect, for so long,” he explains. “I can empathize with the feeling of ‘things look really bad, and still politicians aren't listening to us about this. How can we know that you really mean what you say?’ 

He says once he talks with his constituents and demonstrates his understanding of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, “that really resonates with people, and they're ready to vote for me right then and there.”

Despite the disillusionment and skepticism among Arab-American residents toward the Democratic Party, Taylor is unlikely to win in his solidly-blue district. However, he views his campaign as a crucial step toward increasing representation for the Green Party—and other third parties—in future elections.

“We have to start somewhere, right?” he says, acknowledging that a third party won’t just emerge and instantly win an election. 

But, he said, reaching at least 5% of the popular vote would be a significant initial milestone - noting that the Jill Stein campaign has discussed this goal. Achieving this threshold, he noted, could unlock access to federal funds associated with a 5% popular vote share, which would make them more competitive in future elections.

Related: More young people are running for office, but winning is an uphill battle