Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has now secured ballot access for the first time in the 2024 presidential primary. On Wednesday, he announced that his name would appear on ballots in Utah. But he hasn't had an easy path to get there. I'll get to that in a minute.
During a press conference in Salt Lake City, Kennedy also doubled down on his criticism of both Maine and Colorado denying ballot access to former President Donald Trump--the current leading GOP primary candidate:
....I’ve been outspoken about criticizing the Colorado decision and the Maine decision because we have a democracy in this country, you don’t have a banana republic — at least we’re not supposed to.
He continued, saying that he wants to beat Trump "fair and square," then stating that Democrat-appointed judges and state politicians "blocking Trump" says something bad about Democrats:
Not only does blocking Trump from the ballot leave some people “feeling angry and frustrated,” he said, he thinks it “discredits” the Democratic Party.
That echoes what Republican presidential primary candidate and former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley said about Trump being barred from ballot access: "....I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions."
"It makes President Trump into a mythological figure because people can see that this is not fair,” Kennedy said.
But let's get back to Kennedy's efforts to get onto the ballot of every state across the country, including Utah.
States have different laws when it comes to ballot access, Kennedy explained. A large part of his campaign team is dedicated to figuring out what is required in each state and mobilizing volunteers to collect signatures.[...]
One of the issues Kennedy said his campaign has raised “is the undemocratic block that the major political parties have on this process.”
There are rules “in every state that are designed ... to make sure that there are no options for Americans outside of major political parties,” Kennedy said.
In fact, his campaign had to sue to get the deadline extended in Utah:
Kennedy filed a suit against Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson over the deadline to gain access, which was Jan. 8, 2024. After the suit was filed, Henderson announced that filings would be accepted through March 5, 2024. She said in a statement, “This decision has been made in the spirit of affording every reasonable opportunity for unaffiliated presidential candidates to participate in our general election.”
At his press conference on Wednesday, Kennedy thanked Henderson for her "cooperat[ion]" in "removing one of the unconstitutional barriers,” adding that "[w]e were litigating this case at the same [time] we were getting signatures."
He hinted that the announcement of a vice presidential running mate could be sooner rather than later, in part because of states' rules on ballot access:
One of the road blocks he is facing in some states is that he does not have a vice president candidate announced yet.
But, Kennedy said he has “been in talks with a number of individuals” for a vice president spot.
Just one day before the Independent candidate announced he was on Utah's ballot, the North Carolina State Board of Elections ceded to the state Democrat Party requesting that President Joe Biden's name be the only one to appear on 2024 primary ballots. An NC Dem spokesman, Tommy Mattocks, waved away concerns in a December 2023 interview, insisting this was "the standard":
"In order to get on the ballot, you need to have donors in the state and be actively campaigning in the state," he told WRAL last month, adding that the rule is "the standard that we have used in all previous cycles."
That move, though, not only disenfranchised voters who may have wanted to pull the lever for Kennedy, but three other candidates: former Democratic presidential candidate and author, Marianne Williamson, Congressman Dean Phillips (D-MN), and podcaster Cenk Uygur.
Lastly, RFK Jr. commented on X (formerly known as Twitter) on a former CIA agent asserting in a recent interview that intel agencies will be active in the 2024 elections. He said:
Let’s be clear. In a democracy, intelligence agencies are not supposed to interfere or “be active” in elections. They are supposed to be the servants of the people. They are not in charge. The people are in charge, and whoever they elect is the boss.
As usual, RedState will keep tabs on this story, and bring you any updates on Kennedy's efforts. One sure way to combat the nonsense, misstatements, and incompetence from the Biden administration, Democrat Party, and their allies in the legacy media is to support RedState through our VIP subscription program. Day in and day out, our contributors make sure to bring you all the damning details that the mainstream media either can’t or won’t — and having the protective shield of VIP over our work lets us pour out as much truth as readers can handle. We look forward to welcoming you to the team of loyal supporters in VIP!
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