Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has qualified for the ballot in California, his campaign announced Monday.
Kennedy, along with his running mate Nicole Shanahan, was backed by the American Independence Party (AIP) in California, which receives the most electoral votes in the country. The campaign confirmed Monday that it had filed documents with California’s Secretary of State.
Kennedy said in a five-minute video announcement that “ironically” AIP, which was originally the political party of racist former Alabama governor George Wallace, “has made a comeback of its own.” Stated.
President Kennedy said, “We have been reborn as a party that represents compassion, unity, idealism, and common sense, rather than prejudice and hatred.” “When they learned of my candidacy, they had just drafted a new charter for the new party, in which they wanted to help independent candidates unify America without the interference of a two-party duopoly. , we can use our front to our advantage.”
The Hill has reached out to AIP for further comment.
California will be the third state in which Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Shanahan are officially eligible to vote, following Utah and Michigan. It also received enough signatures to gain ballot access in seven other states, including New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, and Iowa.
Kennedy, who switched from being a Democrat to being an independent last fall, is aiming to appear on ballots nationwide for President Biden and former President Trump. He has repeatedly argued that the party’s presumptive candidates are unfit to continue in office.
The Kennedy campaign aims to collect signatures in 50 states by the deadline, but experts tell The Hill that only a handful of key battleground races could affect the outcome on Election Day. He said that the earth alone is enough.
The environmental lawyer is currently polling ahead of other third-party candidates, but when polls compiled by Decision Desk Headquarters and The Hill show him against Biden and Trump. numbers are going down.
As of Monday, Kennedy had nearly 8.5% of the vote, far ahead of Trump with just over 42% and Biden with nearly 41%.
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