Especially running unopposed, I entirely understand a protest vote. I do think too often everyone assumes everything is a battleground, to me the biggest concern is strategy. I absolutely loathe the “part time candidates” like Jill Stein for the record, who only ever shows up at election time, and does absolutely nothing outside of election years. Just grifters wrapped in a different color imo.

I also think too often people who live in a “safe state” underestimate just how much of a battleground others can be though, which is why I’m not a fan of considering all democrats to be the same either. The leadership sucks, and so, so, so many of the long-standing elected representatives do, but using the “D” next to your name under the current structure of voting is substantially beneficial, and fracturing the vote with a third party in a local/state/federal election by competing on who can be more progressive is flirting with the risk of losing out entirely to regressive fascists, which also really sucks for us.

I just hope we avoid the accelerationist timelines, which I think will be far more horrifying than most people realize. Maybe its from me visiting places that have seen civil war and devastation, but I’m really hopeful that we never have to see that here (and still get rid of the fascists).