Princeton's Cornel West Announces Presidential Candidacy

NEW JERSEY — Professor and author Cornel West, a progressive Black activist who studied and taught at New Jersey's Princeton University, will run for president next year on a third-party ticket.

West, who helped found the Center for African-American Studies at Princeton, said he will run with the People’s Party in an announcement Monday via social media. He criticized both major political parties, including current president Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump, who are both running in 2024.

“In these bleak times, I have decided to run for truth and justice, which takes the form of running for president of the United States as a candidate for the People’s Party,” he said. “I enter in the quest for truth. I enter in the quest for justice, and the presidency is just one vehicle to pursue that truth and justice, what I’ve been trying to do all of my life.”

On his campaign website, West says he wants to end wars, disband NATO, forgive all student debt, expand Social Security and invest in clean energy. He supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign for president in both 2016 and 2020.