As two major party candidates vie for control of a presidential race that has gone mad, another candidate is quietly making waves. The media may overlook Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., but he is amping up his campaign far away from the scrutiny his rivals face.
Independent presidential candidate RFK Jr. is forgotten but far from gone.
The Kennedy campaign gathered all the needed signatures for ballot access in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia. They expect to be on the ballot in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. soon.
His latest declaration follows recent victories in Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. He has collected over a million signatures so far. That’s more than any other presidential candidate in American history.
For the RFK Jr. campaign, it’s all or nothing.
If the Kennedy campaign doesn’t get on the ballot in a state, he won’t be able to run in that election. This will hurt his chances of winning because he’d miss out on votes and support from that state. His campaign would have to change its plans and work harder in the states where he is on the ballot, and the electoral math would not be on his side.
But Kennedy isn’t sweating the small stuff. He is currently on the ballot in 13 states, including California, Michigan, Hawaii, Delaware, Minnesota, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Carolina, Alaska, South Carolina, Nebraska, Utah, and Indiana.
It’s been relatively easy to bury RFK Jr.’s presidential bid until now. The media has disregarded him, Democrats have targeted him as a potential spoiler for Biden, and he has been forced to shoulder the burden of expenses to fight for his right to appear on the ballot in November. The nation was quick to forget the long-shot Independent when he failed to qualify for the June presidential debate.
And he knows who to blame – the media.
Kennedy said the media is making the country even more divided by telling people they only have two choices.
Kennedy said Americans want a better choice in this election, but he’s had difficulty getting attention from the mainstream media as an independent candidate. He also noted that journalism “used to be the guardian that kept democracy honest.”
He mentioned that in 18 months, he hasn’t been able to get on major media platforms where he could speak to the American people. Meanwhile, these platforms keep telling the public that he can’t win.
But can he?
Historically, Independents have not fared well against candidates from the two-party system. There have been some exceptions, however. Jesse Ventura won the governorship of Minnesota in 1998 as an independent. Angus King became the governor of Maine as an independent and later served as a U.S. Senator from Maine. And Ross Perot, while not winning the presidency, had a notable impact on the 1992 presidential election.
Kennedy said, “We’ve done polling that shows I have a 10-point advantage over Vice President Harris in a head-to-head race against Donald Trump.”
His ballot access could add a degree of uncertainty for Harris and Trump in Maine. On Monday, the Kennedy campaign turned in signatures from nearly 5,000 voters, which met Maine’s requirement of more than 4,000 to get on the ballot.
The Department of the Secretary of State confirmed that Kennedy had enough signatures. However, from Thursday until 5 p.m. on August 8, people can challenge his spot on the ballot. If there are no successful challenges, he will officially be on the ballot.
If Kennedy is on the ballot with the Republican and Democratic nominees, Maine will use ranked-choice voting. In this system, voters rank their choices. If no candidate gets more than 50% of first-choice votes, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated. Their votes go to the next choice on each ballot. This continues until one candidate has a majority.
Maine, Alaska, and Hawaii use ranked-choice voting in federal elections. While Kennedy would most likely be the first to be eliminated, voters may decide to back away from Harris or Trump completely in these states’ first round of RCV.
RFK, Jr., like former Donald Trump, lost a critical advantage when Biden stepped aside. Now, both campaigns face a Harris problem.
But while the media demonizes one candidate and bestows sainthood on another, an underdog rises under the radar. And Kennedy is one dog that won’t back down from a fight.