Former Republican presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23, 2024.
Rebecca Noble | Getty Images
Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will not appear on ballots in North Carolina and Michigan, an appeals court ruled in two separate decisions Friday.
Election officials in both battleground states had already rejected Kennedy’s request to withdraw from the race and decided to keep his name on the ballot.
Friday’s ruling is good news for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is receiving higher support in North Carolina and Michigan in a two-way contest with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris than in a six-candidate race. Real Clear Polling.
Kennedy suspended his own unlikely campaign on August 23 to endorse Trump and said he planned to remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states where Trump would benefit from narrowing the race to a head-to-head contest with Harris.
But Kennedy’s plan was easier said than done: In three battleground states, state election officials rejected Kennedy’s requests to be removed from the ballot: North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections on August 29th Voted against The Populist Party, which nominated Kennedy in the state, decided that “it would be impractical to reprint already printed ballots to meet the state statutory deadline for opening up absentee voting.”
Absentee ballots in North Carolina were scheduled to be mailed out starting Friday, but that process was halted following a state appeals court ruling in favor of Kennedy’s request.
In a memo sent to North Carolina’s 100 county election boards, the state’s general counsel, Paul Cox, instructed them not to send out ballots but to keep the ones already printed with Kennedy’s name on them.
He wrote that the commission has not yet decided whether it will appeal the ruling.
“The Court also ruled that our Populist Party voting column (Kennedy and [his running mate, Nicole] “Obviously, this will be a major undertaking for everyone. Our attorneys are reviewing the order and considering how to proceed. We have not yet decided whether to appeal this ruling,” Cox wrote.
President Trump hailed the North Carolina Court of Appeals’ decision during a speech Friday afternoon at the Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte.
“That sounds like a bad thing. [Kennedy]”Not at all. In fact, it’s wonderful,” he said. “He’s a great team player and he didn’t want anybody to vote in his name. You know, he has our full support. He’s with us.”
“They [will] “Vote for me right now. All of Bobby’s people will vote for me,” Trump said.
But polls show that not all North Carolina voters who plan to back a third-party candidate will vote for Trump when the field is narrowed to two candidates, increasing the likelihood of a head-to-head Republican contest and boosting Harris’ share of the vote.
According to RealClearPolling, with six candidates in the state, Trump and Harris are tied at 46.3% support, while in head-to-head races, Trump has a slim lead over Harris, 47.9% to 47.2%.
In Michigan, Kennedy’s original request was denied under state law, according to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Candidates from minor parties cannot withdraw From the presidential election.
Kennedy sued Benson over the decision, but a judge ruled Tuesday that his name will remain on the ballot.
Court of Appeals on Friday decision The court overturned that ruling and granted Kennedy’s request to have him removed from the ballot.
Friday’s ruling leaves Wisconsin as the only state still rejecting Kennedy’s request to withdraw.
The Wisconsin State Elections Commission voted 5-1 to keep Kennedy’s name on the ballot on Aug. 27. Kennedy filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the decision.
