Maybe this was all part of his political ambitions all along?
Despite dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, and endorsing former President Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. isn’t technically out of the presidential race…
Yet!
According to a Fox News report, it seems that RFK Jr. cannot remove himself from the ballot in the two key battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin, despite discontinuing his run for president.
RFK Jr. cannot remove name from 2 key battleground states https://t.co/rnWvcd4Ze9
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 28, 2024
Kennedy will remain on the ballot in Michigan as a candidate for the Natural Law Party, which nominated him for president during their convention this year.
“Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election,” Cheri Hardmon, senior press secretary for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, said in a statement to NBC News.
As for Wisconsin?
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted Tuesday to keep Kennedy on the presidential ballot, despite his request to be removed, and also rejected a Democratic attempt to oust far-Left independent candidate Cornel West. A move by Democratic elections commissioners to keep Green Party candidate Jill Stein off the ballot also failed.
Per the Fox News report, strangely enough, Kennedy’s campaign sent the Wisconsin Elections Commission a letter dated last Friday asking that his name be removed from the ballot.
Although Kennedy has said in his speech formally dropping out of the race Friday that he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states where his candidacy could be a spoiler, he added that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states, whether red or blue, where they are unlikely to sway the outcome.
“In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me,” Kennedy said. “Our polling consistently showed by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues.”
While Republicans have willingly said they wanted to grant Kennedy’s wish to ditch the ballot, Wisconsin Democrats pointed to Wisconsin state law that says once a candidate has filed for office, they must remain on the ballot unless they die.
“The statute literally says, ‘Any person who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline nomination. The name of that person shall appear upon the ballot except in case of death of the person,'” Ann Jacobs, the chair of the commission, said, according to video of the proceedings published by the nonprofit public affairs network known as the WisconsinEye.
“You’re giving me this touchy-feely: ‘I feel like this shouldn’t be the law.’ The law in this case is crystal clear,” she added. “I don’t disagree with you — it’s weird, but I don’t see we have any discretion here.”
Despite Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump, the fact that he will remain on the ballot is nothing to turn a blind eye to.
Fox News stated that the presence of independent and third-party candidates on the ballot could be a key factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.
In other words… RFK Jr. isn’t going anywhere.
Could that help Trump? Time will tell.