RFK Jr.’s quest to remove name from ballot hits snags, sees some victories as lawsuits continue

Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is working to get his name removed from presidential ballots across various states, which has resulted in lawsuits in swing states where his requests were initially denied. While those lawsuits started as losses for him, upon appeal, Kennedy has seen success in removing his name from some of the ballots.

Following his withdrawal from the presidential race and endorsement of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, Kennedy has tried to get his name removed from presidential ballots in swing states. However, in some of those states, Democrats have attempted to prevent him from doing so, even after they had initially tried to keep him from being placed on the ballot.

The independent presidential candidate suspended his campaign last month and endorsed Trump. Kennedy has also joined the former president's transition team.

During Kennedy's speech withdrawing from the presidential race, he said, “[i]n 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.”

"[O]ur 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: censorship, war, and chronic disease," Kennedy explained.

Kennedy is now removing his name from the ballot in more states than previously planned, as he urged his supporters in every state on Friday to vote for Trump. He previously said his supporters could still vote for him on the ballot in uncompetitive states.

He has now removed his name from the ballot in traditionally red states like South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. However, in a few swing states, it is proving to be more difficult for Kennedy to strike his name.

On Friday, Kennedy saw victory in the appeals courts of two swing states to get his name removed from the presidential election ballot.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals removed Kennedy's name from the presidential ballot on Friday and paused the sending of absentee ballots for the November election.

The appeals court ordered that the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) is “enjoined from disseminating ballots” that list Kennedy as a presidential candidate. The absentee ballots were originally scheduled to be sent out on Friday

The decision comes one day after Wake County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Holt denied Kennedy's request for a temporary restraining order, thus allowing county elections boards to send absentee ballots with Kennedy's name on them. Kennedy was given 24 hours to appeal the decision, with Holt ordering ballots to not be sent out before noon on Friday.

The Democratic members of NCSBE had declined to let Kennedy off the ballot, leading him to file the lawsuit.

When Kennedy first sought to be placed on the North Carolina ballot as a candidate for the We the People Party, he was denied by the Democratic NCSBE members. Then, upon further investigation of the party’s signatures, he was allowed on the ballot.

Following Kennedy’s initial placement on the ballot, the North Carolina Democratic Party tried to challenge it in court, but failed.

Also on Friday, the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered that Kennedy's name be removed from the ballot for the upcoming November election. 

"While the request was made close to the deadline for defendant to give notice of candidates to local election officials, it was not made so late that laches should apply," a three-judge panel of the court wrote, according to The Detroit News.

"Additionally, we conclude that the absence of any statutory authority prohibiting his withdrawal gave plaintiff a clear legal right to have his name removed from the ballot," the court continued.

Kennedy sued to have his name removed from the ballot after Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) said that he would remain on the ballot for the presidential race in November.

Last week, the Wisconsin Elections Commission voted to put Kennedy on the ballot and voted against removing him from a list of approved independent tickets, the Wisconsin Examiner reported. Kennedy had requested that his name be removed from the presidential ballot.

Kennedy filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin on Tuesday to have his name removed from the ballot.

He has successfully removed his name from the ballot in Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Georgia did not allow him on the ballot over concerns about his New York residency.

Democrats in Nevada and Pennsylvania had sued to keep him from being on the November election ballot.

Kennedy’s withdrawal from the presidential race may hurt Trump slightly more than Vice President Kamala Harris, according to polling.

According to the RealClearPolitics poll average, in a presidential race with Harris, Trump, Kennedy, Independent candidate Cornel West, Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Harris leads Trump, nationwide.

Harris gets 47% of the vote, Trump with 44.4%, Kennedy at 4.7%, Stein and West tied at 1% each, and Oliver at 0.9%.

Broken down by swing states where Kennedy has sued to get off the ballot, Harris and Trump are both at 46.3%, with Kennedy at 4%, West at 1%, Oliver at 0.8%, and Stein at 0.7% in North Carolina. Looking at Wisconsin, Harris takes the lead with 48%, Trump at 44.3%, Kennedy at 5.2%, Stein at 0.9%, Oliver at 0.8%, and West at 0.5%. For Michigan, Harris takes 46.3% of the vote, with Trump at 44.8%, Kennedy at 4.2%, Oliver at 1.3%, West at 1%, and Stein at 0.8%.

In a general election matchup of just Harris and Trump, the vice president leads with 48.3% of the vote to the former president’s 46.5%. Thus, Harris’ 1.8-point lead over Trump increases to 2.6 points when including polling for the third-party candidates.

According to the Pew Research Center, by early August and just weeks before his withdrawal, Kennedy was the preferred candidate of only 7% of registered voters.

After President Joe Biden was pushed out of the presidential race in July and Harris became the un-voted-for replacement Democratic candidate, 61% of Kennedy supporters backed a different candidate. Of the 61%, 39% switched to Harris, while 20% switched to Trump.

Meanwhile, ABC News’ 538 polling shows that Kennedy remaining in the race increases Harris' margin by about 0.2 percentage points on average.