After Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the presidential race last week and threw his support behind former President Trump, several states have refused to remove his name from the ballot after he announced he would do so in about 10 swing states.
"Our polling consistently showed that 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," Kennedy said just before endorsing Trump, Insider reports.
Three key states have dug in and are refusing to remove his name;
Michigan - a key battleground state, said it was too late for Kennedy to withdraw as the nominee of the Natural Law Party.
Wisconsin - whose Elections Commission voted 5-1 on Tuesday against removing his name, citing a law which says "any person who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline nomination."
Colorado - which, while less competitive for Trump than Michigan or Wisconsin, also refused to remove Kennedy's name.
"Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election," said Cheri Hardmon, a spokesperson for Michigan Secretary of State in a statement to the Detroit News.
"The Natural Law Party held their convention to select electors for Robert Kennedy Jr. They cannot meet at this point to select new electors since it's past the primary," she added.
BREAKING: Following Michigan's example, the Wisconsin Elections Commission just voted 5-1 to keep RFK Jr's name on the ballot against his will
— George (@BehizyTweets) August 27, 2024
Out of nowhere, Democrats have frozen all efforts to remove RFK Jr's name from the ballot. However, they still want him removed from the… pic.twitter.com/InoZ6LqKqX
Nevada notably allowed RFK Jr. to remove his name after his legal team came to an agreement with DNC lawyers who were suing to keep him off the ballot.
As The Conservative Treehouse notes;
RFK Jr is gone from ballots in the battleground states of Arizona, Pennsylvania and now Nevada. Not Michigan and Wisconsin.
Florida, Texas and Ohio have also removed Kennedy, but those are generally Red.
The state to watch is now North Carolina, where ballots would have to be reprinted quickly if the RFK Jr intent is to withdraw. The Kennedy team have not requested to remove their candidate from North Carolina.
(VIA NPR) – “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been nominated by the We The People Party as that party’s presidential candidate to be listed on the ballot,” North Carolina State Board of Elections public information officer Patrick Gannon said. “That party has not informed the State Board of any plans to change its nomination.”
Gannon said that if We The People withdrew Kennedy’s nomination, state officials would have to consider if it would be practical to reprint ballots. As of Friday, nearly a third of North Carolina’s 100 counties had started the printing process. (MORE)
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In a Tuesday interview with Fox News, former RFK Jr. running mate Nicole Shanahan slammed Democrats for their treatment of Kennedy - telling host Jesse Watters that the party is losing its moral compass and abandoning its foundational principles of dignity and respect (lol).
"This is wild. I’m asking myself what happened to the party of when they go low, we go high. Cause right now they’re just going lower and lower and lower. And I’m shocked. I’m saddened. I’m worried for them, honestly. They’ve lost their soul. They’ve lost their direction. And, you know, if you’re going to pick a target, you got to pick it a little bit better," she said.
"Robert F. Kennedy is one of the kindest human beings I’ve had the pleasure to get to know. He said it the other day, he was like, I don’t have a bone of revenge in my body. This is somebody who’s been attacked over years now from all different angles," she continued. "Big Pharma’s come after him harder than just about anybody. And I have to say, Bobby shows up with grace every time."
