Kennedy Racks Up Ballot Access Victories

 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Brooklyn on May 1. Photo by Jason Schott.

Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign announced on Friday that it has racked up a major set of ballot access legal victories, state certifications, and state signature sufficiency notices.

Kennedy won legal challenges in New Jersey, North Carolina, and Maine, which was where he defeated the first attempt to have him removed from the ballot over what his campaign termed "frivolous" allegations about his residency.

Secretaries of state officially certified Kennedy’s ballot access in Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Maine.

The Kennedy campaign also received notice from three additional states that it has submitted enough valid signatures to gain ballot access in Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Washington.

Maine - On Tuesday, the Kennedy campaign defeated a DNC challenge to Kennedy’s New York residence, as well as signatures the campaign collected in Maine. The DNC-aligned super PAC Clear Choice Action filed the challenge last week, and withdrew it this week. (This is the same super PAC that filed the lawsuit which a judge in Albany ruled Kennedy cannot appear on the ballot in New York.)

Maine law gives its definition of a candidate’s residency on ballot access petitions as the address where they are registered to vote. Kennedy is registered to vote at his New York residence, meaning his use of the address on Maine petitions is valid. The secretary of state’s office has affirmed Kennedy will be on the ballot.

New Jersey - The Kennedy campaign defeated a Democratic Party challenge to Kennedy’s ballot access in New Jersey earlier this month. The challenge alleged Kennedy was in violation of the state’s sore loser law, which prevents a candidate from officially seeking the nomination of a party, and then switching to another ballot line.

Administrative Law Judge Ernest Bongiovanni ruled Kennedy must remain on the ballot because he did not officially file to run in the New Jersey Democratic primary or any state Democratic primary across the country. Kennedy became an independent candidate on October 9, 2023, well before the primary season.

North Carolina - On Monday, Kennedy supporters with We The People North Carolina — the party that nominated Kennedy for president and Nicole Shanahan for vice president — fought back a DNC challenge to its ballot access. The Superior Court of Wake County ruled in favor of We The People. 

“We are pleased but not surprised by the court’s ruling,” said Lead Litigator and Election Law Specialist Oliver Hall. “There was no basis for the North Carolina Democratic Party’s claims and their lawsuit was a transparent attempt to suppress voter choice in the state by blocking a party from the ballot despite its full compliance with all applicable requirements. The court got it right.”

National Overview - The Kennedy campaign has racked up ballot access wins nationwide, as it has submitting two, three, and even four times the number of signatures required to qualify in each state, and the DNC is pouring millions into a lawfare campaign against Kennedy. His campaign says the DNC is "resorting to frivolous and often comical legal efforts to stop voters from electing him as president."

The campaign has now won legal victories in Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Utah. It has defeated every legal challenge against it except for a the ruling in New York’s lower court this past Monday, which it intends to overturn with an appeal that was filed Wednesday. (Please click here for our coverage of that)

BALLOT ACCESS PROGRESS: The ticket, in which Kennedy is running with Nicole Shanahan as his Vice Presidential nominee, has officially made the ballot in 22 states - Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico,  North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennesee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia.

The Kennedy campaign has now submitted signatures for ballot access in 18 states - Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois,  Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin - plus Washington, D.C.

There are six states that the Kennedy campaign has rounded up enough signatures for ballot access - Alabama, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, and North Dakota.

Overall, the Kennedy-Shanahan campaign has collected the signatures needed for ballot access in 46 states that comprise 506 electoral votes - 94 percent of the 538 total electoral votes nationwide. It now needs just 32 more electoral votes to complete the campaign's aim of being on the ballots of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.