This sense of dread that many Democratic voters felt the day after the election, when Donald Trump’s second term was confirmed, is not unfamiliar to Lucy Duncan.

“The feeling you’re experiencing right now, that feeling of the world turned upside down? The feeling that you and your loved ones are facing imminent threats, that the walls are closing in? Feel it,” he said Lucy Duncan60 years old, who lives in West Philadelphia.

That sentiment is part of a message Duncan hopes to send to Washington. She traded votes with a friend in Massachusetts, who voted for her for the Party for Socialism and Liberation — a choice she made out of frustration with the Biden-Harris administration. Israel’s arming continued in his war in Gaza.

In the final days of the chaotic 2024 election season, I spoke with Duncan and other Philadelphians who voted for third-party candidates for president or chose not to vote at all for the top of the ticket. While Trump’s wide margin of victory over Vice President Kamala Harris meant those ballots could not have affected the outcome of the Pennsylvania presidential race, third-party votes could have made a difference in the U.S. Senate race between Republican Dave McCormick and Democratic senator. . Bob Casey.

Although the race was called for McCormick, a recount was scheduled to begin Wednesdaywith Casey following McCormick less than 18,000 votes. Leila Hazou, the Green Party candidate for the Senatereceived over 66,000 votes.

As the nation prepares for a second Trump presidency, we spoke to third-party voters about the election’s outcome as another way to learn what went wrong for Democrats this election cycle.

You can’t get away with wrong genocide.

Ora Lin was confident that Trump would win and said it wasn’t the worst outcome because it would lead to more grassroots organizing. Lin is 20 years old, nonbinary, uses they/them pronouns, and functions as an indie sewing pattern designer. Before moving to Philly, Lin volunteered for Thu Nguyen’s campaign for Worcester City Councilhelping elect Nguyen as the first openly non-binary person to take office in Massachusetts. It was the first time they voted in the presidential election.

Lin volunteered for Jill Stein’s campaign because of the Green Party attitude against genocideTHE billions that the US sent to Israel in military aid since the war in Gaza started last year, and it has gotten complicated for Harris registration of trans rights. “It’s entirely the fault of Harris and his administration and the party for not winning the people’s vote,” they said.

“I don’t want to play the ‘lesser of two evils’ game for the next 20, 30 years,” Lin said. “I’m sick of the shame. You can’t get away with wrong genocide.”

Lin is part of a growing number of Philadelphians who, dissatisfied with the war in Gaza, they turned to the Green Party. Party officials told me there were about 2,000 registered Green Party members in Philadelphia as of this election cycle. Since the war in Gaza, that number has halved.

Voters like Lin mourn over 43,000 Palestinians who have already died, mostly civilians. They see $17.9 billion in military aid which the US has sent to Israel in the past year as unthinkable.

Belinda Davis, 65, is president of Green Party of Philadelphia and has voted Green since 2001. “Every year we become much more diverse, an essential part of our strength,” Davis said. The party had hoped to achieve minor party status in the state on Election Day — which he would have won if 2 percent of Pennsylvania voters chose a Green candidate and guaranteed access to the ballot for the next election cycle without having to collect signatures. The Greens have not been successful this year, but they have hope for the future. (Cel Libertarian Party was able to meet the minor party benchmark.)

Imrul Mazid, 44, is a West Philly resident who voted Ralph Nader in 2000 and has since chosen third-party candidates. Mazid showed data that an overwhelming majority of Americans want a ceasefire. “This is not a radical position at all,” he said, “If Kamala would only speak to her constituents who overwhelmingly want a ceasefire, that would result in more votes for her.”

Mazid immigrated to the US from Canada and believes that “at the heart of democracy is the choice of candidates. Two choices — a choice between Pepsi and Coke — is not really a choice,” he said. “Those two are rabid hawks,” he added. “I find it hard to understand how one could vote for genocide when those resources would be better spent here domestically.”

I don’t vote my fears. I vote for my hopes and ideals and my aspirations and dreams and visions.

And then there are the Philadelphians who have grappled with the impact of US foreign policy – children dying in Palestine every day — and they can’t bring themselves to vote at all.

Charmaine Seitz, 50, lives in Delaware County and has a deep personal connection to Gaza. Her husband is Palestinian, and she lived in the West Bank working as a journalist from the mid-1990s until 2013. She has voted Democratic in every presidential election, including when she lived abroad, but did not fill in this year. the top of her vote.

Could you vote for someone who is actively killing your family and friends?

Duncan is co-director of RepairWorksa group engaged in reparations for the damages of slavery and colonialism in Philadelphia. After “much research and reflection,” she decided to change her vote; a friend in Massachusetts voted on her behalf for the socialist party candidates Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garciaand Duncan voted for Harris in Pennsylvania. In doing so, she registered her displeasure with the Democratic Party, but still did her part to avoid a Trump presidency. Some websites like SwapYourVote.orgmatched more than 15,000 voters in swing states with voters in “safe states” for this purpose.

Duncan visited Gaza twice for her previous work with American Friends Service Committeewhere he met Refaat Alareera Palestinian poet who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year. One of her former co-workers lost 30 family members.

“I feel like a part of my heart is in Gaza,” Duncan said.

She said she was at peace with her decisions, even though — because of Trump’s xenophobic and bigoted policies — the election outcome put marginalized people at risk. “A lot of people were vulnerable before the election,” Duncan said. “Certainly, the Palestinians were among the most vulnerable. Many feel threatened by Trump’s election. And, yes, it’s scary. But the reality is that no one is truly safe under capitalism, empire, and white supremacy. My hope is that our organizing for justice really accelerates and that we work to protect and transform our communities.”

It’s easy to say third-party voters “ruined” the election for Democrats, but the reality is much more complex. The level of frustration they felt with the Biden-Harris administration’s Gaza policies was so intense that if they hadn’t voted for third-party candidates, these Philadelphians probably wouldn’t have voted at all.