Three Swing States Block RFK Jr. From Exiting Ballot

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Facts

  • State officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina have rejected Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr.'s attempt to remove himself from their respective state ballots.[1]
  • Last week he endorsed GOP candidate Donald Trump and announced that he would suspend his campaign and remove himself from the ballot in contentious battleground states to avoid 'harming or helping' either side.[2]
  • In Michigan, where RFK Jr. was nominated to run under the Natural Law Party, the Secretary of State's office said he couldn't withdraw from the ballot because minority third parties weren't allowed to do so.[3]
  • In Wisconsin, the state's Democrat-majority Elections Commission ruled that, once placed on the ballot, candidates can't be removed unless deceased. Three Democrats and two Republicans voted to back the decision.[1]
  • In North Carolina, the majority-Democratic elections board ruled that Kennedy couldn't be taken off because they'd already printed 1.73M ballots and the deadline to send them out is just a week away.[4]

Sources: [1]FOX News, [2]Verity, [3]MSNBC and [4]Axios.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by The New Republic. If Kennedy and Trump were hoping to scheme their way to victory in November, these rulings have surely dampened their mood. This means that the advantage given to Harris with RFK Jr. on the ballot — which is exactly what he was trying to avoid — is still in play, and any chance of Trump winning and giving Kennedy a spot in his administration is gone too. Without a ballot change, all Trump has now is the endorsement of an anti-vax conspiracy theorist.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by Townhall. Democratic states have again used their power to meddle in RFK Jr.'s campaign. First, some states refused to put him on the ballot because they feared he would take votes from Harris; but now that swing states are involved, they see his presence on the ballot as useful. What they don't seem to grasp, however, is that Kennedy's supporters believe his anti-corporation and anti-war agenda, and Trump is the next best candidate with respect to those issues.

Predictions