Last month, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign and backed former President Donald Trump. His ex running mate Nicole Shanahan pointed out the irony of the battle they’re waging now.
“Democrats spent millions on lawsuits to keep us off the ballots in states across the country,” she said on X. “Now that we’ve suspended our campaign, they’re scrambling to keep us on the ballot. This is a party that truly believes in controlling the American voter and does not trust Americans to choose freely at the ballot box.”
The latest example is out of Michigan, where a judge ruled that Kennedy must remain on the ballot. The Democrat-turned-independent has been seeking to remove his name from battleground states, like Michigan, where he could be a “spoiler” to Trump.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher P. Yates concluded that the secretary of state rightly rejected Kennedy’s request to be removed from the ballot.
“Elections are not just games, and the Secretary of State (SOS) is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office,” Yates said in his opinion and order.
Aaron Siri, an attorney for Kennedy in the Michigan lawsuit, said that keeping Kennedy’s name “upends ballot integrity.”
“We agree with the judge that elections are not games, and that is precisely why the court should have let Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. withdraw from the ballot,” Siri said in a written statement. (Associated Press)
The fight over Kennedy’s name on the ballot is also taking place in Wisconsin, where election officials said last week he must remain, and in North Carolina, which said it was too late for him to withdraw his name, though Kennedy is fighting the move in court.