R.F.K. Jr.’s Battle to Get on the Ballot

from New York Times I'm Michael babbaro. this is the. [Music]. daily. today as Robert F Kennedy Jr tries to. get on the presidential ballot in all 50. states he's confronting Fierce. resistance from his. Rivals my colleague Rebecca Davis. O'Brien has been reporting on the high. stakes battle playing out behind the.

[Music]. scenes it's Monday May. [Music]. 6th Rebecca when we last spoke with you. which was in the fall about what's. really become your beat these days. Robert F Kennedy Jr's presidential. campaign he had just made this very. important decision to drop out of the. Democratic primary which he decided he. couldn't win and run as an independent.

but very much unresolved at that moment. was whether as an independent candidate. without the infrastructure of a major. party he could really mount a serious. campaign so what has happened since then. right so you might remember that when. Kennedy began his campaign I've come. here today to announce my candidacy for. the Democratic nomination for president. of the United. States back in April of 2023 he was. really sort of a protest candidate they.

close every business in this country for. a year who was still really within the. Democratic party but was pointing out as. he had been during the pandemic some of. the problems with the pandemic response. as we all now recognize the covid. vaccines were neither safe nor effective. his skepticism of the covid vaccine his. skepticism about childhood vaccination. schedules I can make the argument that. President Biden is a much worse threat. to democracy and.

dissatisfaction with how President Biden. had done his job but it was really more. of a niche audience and when he left the. Democratic party and decided to run as. an independent in October he had to. create a bigger audience for himself a. bigger platform and stake out kind of a. broader claim on the American electorate. and how did he do that well you could. hear it immediately in his speech back. in October I'm here to declare myself an. independent candidate.

when he was saying I declare my. Independence I hope to be at the. Forefront of a movement of the. independent voter in the United States. this country is ready for a history. making change the broad thrust of his. argument is that the current political. system dominated by the Republican the. Democratic party is no longer working. for Americans we've seen the Democrat. both the Democratic and the Republican. party turn against the values that they. traditionally represented for our. country.

and so many of us feel homeless today so. he started that really in October and. since then he's been taking this message. of declaring independence for himself. and trying to scoop up draw in as many. voters from across the country who also. like him feel disaffected or not. represented by either the Democratic or. Republican parties that he sees as a. kind of corrupt stale duopoly let's go. take back our country God bless you and.

God bless the United States of America. mhm so ky's very much taking this. identity it sounds like as an. independent which was in a way a. political necessity and he's turning it. into an animating identity for his. campaign and one that he hopes will be. appealing to people across the political. Spectrum not just Independents but. Democrats and Republicans that's exactly. right and part of that effort is staying.

in the new cycle and staying relevant so. we saw that earlier this year when there. was this big $7 million ad paid for by a. super pack supporting Kennedy $7 million. $7 million a huge expenditure on a. single a huge expenditure for a 302nd. spot during the Super Bowl. and what was interesting about this ad. and caught a lot of viewers attention do. you want a man for president.

was that it was a repurposed. presidential campaign ad from 1960 for. John F Kennedy who was of course his. uncle. right and they kind of swapped out some. of the images in there that had been of. JFK's. face right he used the famous jingle. that I think all of us know even if we. weren't born in the 1960s which is the. Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy. Ken k mhm mm I'm glad you saying.

that is responsible for the content of. this advertising the ad was successful. in generating a lot of news coverage and. keeping Kennedy in the news for another. few days after the Super Bowl at the. time the head of the Super PAC that. bought it explained that the idea behind. it was to get more people to realize. that he was still running for president. mhm which it did it did right and he. follows that add up a month later with.

the announcement of his vice. presidential running mate and she is a. pretty unknown figure she's Silicon. Valley lawyer and investor um her name. is Nicole Shanahan and why does he pick. her well in addition to sharing some of. his political views he picks her because. she has a lot of money she used to be. married to sge Brin the co-founder of. Google some estimates out there that. she's worth billions of dollars and she. can help fund this campaign campign H.

this is all happening as his campaign. and its allies are mounting this huge. concerted effort That's essential to the. survival of his candidacy which is. getting on the ballot in all 50 states. you now they've been working on this. behind the scenes since the moment he. left the Democratic party but it's not. until early 2024 that a legal effort a. signature Gathering effort all these. things that have to happen and which. cost a lot of money start to really come. together and that's happening as he's.

making this big public Splash okay so. how does it go trying to get actually on. the ballot so let me just start by. saying getting on the ballot is a. state-by-state scramble and critical to. these efforts in basically every state. is getting thousands of signatures if. you're an independent candidate you have. to get in some cases tens of thousands. of signatures from voters under very. specific circumstances each state has. its own specific rules for Gathering.

signatures it's deadlines deadlines and. there are certain Windows you can use to. gather signatures There are rules about. who can gather the signatures and where. so it's very complicated and timec. consuming and expensive process but here. is where Kennedy has had success so far. he got on the ballot in Utah he got on. the ballot in Hawaii and a big moment. happened a few weeks ago when he. announced that he was on the ballot in. Michigan and Michigan really matters. because it's it's a critical swing state.

in this election it went for Trump in. 2016 it went for Biden in 2020 and both. of the campaigns see this as a must-win. for their success this fall and so for. the Biden and Trump campaigns Kennedy. getting on the ballot in Michigan is the. moment when they see the threat of a. spoiler because all of a sudden they see. that even if he doesn't win if he's able. to draw enough voters from either of. them to tip the balance in the favor of. the other that kind of margin could.

really make an impact on the whole. election right and RFK if we're being. honest is unlikely to tip the scales in. the two previous States you mentioned. Utah and Hawaii Utah is a bright red. state Hawaii is a bright blue State. Michigan would be the place where if he. were going to play the spoiler he would. play the spoiler right and the story of. how he got on the ballot in Michigan is. kind of a fascinating one please tell us. so rather than go through this whole. arduous process of gathering thousands. of signatures. the campaign found a kind of back door.

to getting on the ballot line through a. very obscure party called the natural. law party never heard of it it is. essentially a twom member party based. only in Michigan sustained truly by this. guy who has a small Law Firm an hour. west of Detroit he is the chairman of. the natural law party and back in. January he happened to be watching TV. and saw RFK and he thought to himself. now that's a guy who would be a natural. candidate for the natural law party the.

natural law party has kind of a varied. platform that includes supporting. transcendental medication and. environmental stewardship and the very. next day he got an email from the. Kennedy campaigns ballot access director. expressing interest in being the party's. nominee and fast forward to April he is. having a terson convention in his. offices in our west of Detroit and they. nominate Kennedy to be the natural law.

Party candidate okay I just want to make. sure I have this all correct Robert F. Kennedy Jr gets onto the ballot in this. key swing state of Michigan by a. Convention of two people in a law office. and that's it that's it that's the back. door that's the back door no signatures. no. fuss and Michigan's really a watershed. moment for Kennedy and for the rest of. the political establishment because it's. the moment when his candidacy goes from.

being an abstract threat to a concrete. one so as Kennedy tries to replicate. that success across the rest of the. country and get on other states ballots. the Republican and Democratic parties. realize that they have to deal with him. there's no avoiding him and so Kennedy's. effort to get on the ballot in every. state is turning into a pitched. [Music]. battle we'll be right.

[Music]. back so Rebecca tell us about what's. becoming a pitched battle over RFK Jr's. access to the ballot and I'm curious. which of the two parties Democrats or. Republicans seems to be fighting him the. hardest the Democratic party has. definitely come out of the gates with. the most aggressive concern about. candidacy and why is that well I think.

the answer to that is that third party. and independent candidates have haunted. the Democratic party in presidential. Cycles in recent years there's sort of. the ghost of Ralph nater and Jill Stein. lurking there Ralph nater of course seen. as someone who might have influenced Al. Gore's loss to George W bush right in. 2000 and then Jill Stein and the green. party Drew I think more than 30,000. votes in Wisconsin in 2016 and that was. widely seen as part of the reason why. Hillary Clinton fell short there m so.

this is the fear basically of Kennedy as. spoiler for the Democrats right this is. the fear that Kennedy could get just. enough votes to tip the election in. swing states to Donald Trump so that's. the broad underlying fear there's a. specific fear here which is that the. Democratic party sees that Donald. Trump's support has a high floor right. it's going to be very hard to peel. voters away from the hardcore Trump base. right on the other hand Biden has a sort.

of softer base of support there's an. enthusiasm sort of deficit there. especially among young voters and the. concern is that a third party candidate. could draw people away from the margins. from him especially in swing States and. Michigan in particular is a pressure. point for the Democrats and Biden. because we saw during the Democratic. primary there there was a protest vote. stemming from disaffection over his. handling of the Israel Gaza War right. and it was a historic rebuke of Biden.

from what had been traditionally a. democratic base Arab Americans in. Michigan right he and his campaign saw. the potential for a portion of his base. to kind of go Rogue and not vote for him. so Michigan encapsulates why RFK poses a. threat to Biden because the Democratic. base right now is sort of restive and in. the mind of the Biden campaign and the. Democratic party they want to keep this. election about Donald Trump versus Joe.

Biden they don't want there to be an. opportunity for Democratic voters to. take somebody else's box especially not. a Kennedy not only in Michigan but in. all these other swing States in Georgia. in North Carolina in Nevada in Arizona. every single person whose name is not. Joe Biden or Donald Trump is a risk for. Joe Biden in the mind of the democratic. party right and the reason the Kennedy. name is a specific threat is it's the. most powerful name perhaps besides. Clinton in the history of a Democratic.

party right and even though he's not a. Democrat up and down his policy. platforms he has a lot of positions that. would probably appeal to Democrats so. he's pro-choice he's Pro Union and he. has a long history of supporting. environmental stewardship okay so what. is Biden and the Democratic party doing. to try to fend off what they clearly see. as a threat of RFK Jr getting on all of. these swing state ballots and really all. the around the country right so heading.

into this ballot access push the Biden. campaign at the Democratic party and. some of the Affiliated super packs who. are backing his reelection effort have. gone sort of in an allout legal assault. on the Kennedy campaign and on third. party ballot access generally so broadly. speaking this means having a legal team. based in Washington DC but with. tentacles all over the states and they. have been monitoring.

aggressively the ballot access efforts. as they kind of emerge state by state so. for example one thing that emerged late. last year is that a Super PAC backing. Kennedy pledged to spend up to $15. million to help him get on the ballot in. some critical swing States and. immediately the Democratic party went. into action and filed a complaint with. the Federal Election Commission saying. you can't do that that's coordination so. they immedi illegal coordination between. the campaign and the superb right so. super Super PAC which can raise. unlimited amounts of money and spend it.

at will they're not supposed to. coordinate with the campaign and the. argument of the democratic party was. there's literally no way that a Super. PAC could help a candidate get on the. ballot without coordination that's. illegal interesting and indeed that. Super PAC having announced that it had. gotten enough signatures in a number of. Swing States then backed off that effort. publicly so a successful legal. intervention by the Democrats so far yes. it seems so so that's a successful legal. intervention on a national level but. we've also seen push back against the.

Kennedy campaign from democratic. secretaries of state and elections. officials in a number of states so in. Nevada for example earlier this year. they signed a petition and gathered more. than 15,000 signatures to get him on the. ballot as an independent and then the. Secretary of State who is a Democrat. said it looks like you might have done. this wrong and of course the Kennedy. campaign cried foul they're threatening.

legal action and that is likely to play. out in federal court sometime soon but. clearly this is the kind of thing that. the Biden campaign and the Democrats. nationally would encourage local. Democrats to do on their behalf right. exactly I mean even without the explicit. pressure from the Democratic party this. is exactly what they're hoping will. happen is that Democratic secretaries of. state and these elections officials will. push back against efforts to get on the. ballot that are maybe not coloring. within the lines strictly by the letter.

of the law so it sounds like from the. top of the democratic party all the way. down to local Democratic officials. everyone who can find a lever of power. that would throw a wrench in RFK Jr's. ballot access is doing so and I'm. curious how much of that feels like kind. of the standard Playbook that a major. party uses in a presidential race and. how much stands out is. unusually. aggressive the Dem rtic party would say.

they're just enforcing the rules and. that you know local officials are doing. their job but of course the Kennedy. campaign sees this as a profoundly. anti-democratic exercise and example of. like how the party is trying to stifle. his efforts to get on the ballot. corruptly and so this would seem to. explain right why the Kennedy campaign. is resorting to tactics like we saw in. Michigan where as you just told us they. get on the ballot using this obscure.

party with two members the Kennedy folks. in their minds are waging kind of. electoral Guerilla Warfare to get around. these roadblocks that the Democrats are. putting up that's right okay so that's. the Democrats what are the Republicans. and former president Trump doing about. RFK Jr's efforts to get on the ballot. you had told us that Democrats are the. more aggressive party in trying to. combat Kennedy's candidacy but how are.

the Republicans thinking about the role. that he might play in this presidential. race so the Republican party and Donald. Trump have been on a interesting Journey. with Kennedy since he became an. independent candidate on the one hand on. paper you can actually see how a. candidate like Kennedy poses a unique. threat to Trump he's sort of an. anti-establishment voice he says what's. on his mind for better or worse he's. proun rights he is antivaccine he speaks.

to a certain contrarian segment of the. Republican base actually sounds a bit. like trump it sounds a bit like Trump. and yet over the past few months the. Republicans seem to have not been as. concerned as you might expect the. Republican Party actually seemed to. embrace Kennedy's candidacy for. precisely the same reasons that the. Democrats are so worried about him. they're looking at the same history of. third party candidates and saying great. it will temper the votes for Joe Biden.

and pave the way for president Trump's. re-election and so various arms of their. Republican party and Trump's campaign. had devised various ways to help prop. Kennedy up and paint him as a liberal in. an effort to draw voters away from Biden. so for example some people aligned with. the Trump campaign had floated the idea. of using dark money groups to put up. Billboards in Michigan praising. Kennedy's pro-choice stance um as sort.

of a way to say like oh here's another. liberal alternative Michigan voters got. it and elsewhere people who are aligned. with the Trump campaign have publicly. offered to help gather signatures for um. yes for the third party independent. candidates and this is part of like a. broad dark Ops effort to prop up these. candidates who both Democrats and. Republicans have sort of thought would. be more of a threat to Democrats right. so this is the philosophy that the enemy.

of my enemy is my friend thus RFK Jr as. an enemy to Joe Biden should be a friend. to the Trump campaign exactly but then. you know as I said this has been a. journey and in the past few days we've. seen sort of a reversal into sort of. maybe Trump seeing Kennedy as a threat. to his own candidacy so on Truth social. his social media platform the other day. he described Kennedy as a Democrat plant. who has been put in place to help Joe. Biden win re-election he said voting for.

quote unquote Junior would be a wasted. protest vote was that almost out of. nowhere the sort of broadside against. Kennedy H and do we know why Trump has. concluded that the previous thinking. about Kennedy as potentially an ally and. hurting Biden is no longer the right. course we don't know why I mean we can. surmise that there have been internal. polls that might have suggested that. Kennedy can draw equally from Donald. Trump Trump but the Kennedy folks are.

proud of this because they say that they. do draw from both sides and you know if. you talk to Kennedy volunteers some of. them have voted for Trump in the past. interesting so I do think we're going to. likely see a rhetorical shift and sort. of a changing posture towards Kennedy in. particular because now evidently Trump. and the Republicans see his candidacy as. a threat to them as well it strikes me. Rebecca that there's some real risk for. both and Trump in going after RFK Jr.

whether that's through the legal tactics. we've been talking about on the. Democratic side and so far the. rhetorical approach that the Republicans. are taking because Kennedy is casting. himself as an alternative to the. entrenched duopoly to quote him of these. two big party machines and so attacking. him and specifically trying to keep him. off the ballot might strong. reinforce that image and potentially.

Galvanize support for him right when I. speak to people inside the Kennedy. campaign they constantly Marvel at two. things like one is that the Democratic. party repeatedly makes itself look. profoundly undemocratic by in their. minds sort of corruptly blocking their. access to the ballot and the other thing. is that the Republican party just seems. to see them as a puppet right so these. kinds of attacks from the Democrats and. Republicans play right into his. narrative about how he is is rising. above the two-party system and he can.

now turn to these efforts and say look. they're trying to keep me off the ballot. in these states and they're attacking me. as Super liberal but they're also. attacking me as Super conservative and. he's done exactly that he sort of. Chuckles at them and says this is why. you should come with me because I care. about the American people and these two. parties are too busy attacking me to do. what they need to do which is lead the. country. [Music]. so I think that as he continues to mount.

this ballot access state byst state the. Republicans and the Democrats especially. as he sees more success which I think. will happen they have to make a decision. is it worth it for them financially or. sort of in the big picture to make it so. that voters can't vote for him or to. make a case for why they shouldn't vote. for him right I think that's sort of the. Crux here right is it like like ballot. access or is it about the issues right.

do Republicans and Democrats let voters. choose Kennedy or do they say you have. no choice right and does depriving you. of the choice to vote for Kennedy make. him. stronger Rebecca thank you very much. thank. you we'll be right back.

here's what else you need to day the. latest round of ceasefire negotiations. between Israel and Hamas held in Cairo. hid an impass on Sunday that prompted. the delegation from Hamas to leave the. talks meanwhile how dire is the. humanitarian crisis on the ground right. now in Gaza what I can explain to you is. is that there is famine full-blown. famine in the north and it's moving its. way South the leader of the United.

Nations world food program Cindy McCain. said that parts of Gaza are experiencing. a famine that is spreading across the. territory because of the Israeli. military operation occurring. there finally Israel said that it would. shut down the Israeli operations of Al. jazer the Qatari based TV network that. is a major source of news in the Arab. world and has frequently highlighted. civilians suffering in Gaza during the.

war Israel accused Al jazer of harming. its National Security and inciting. violence against its. soldiers in response Al jazer called the. shutdown order a criminal. [Music]. act today's episode was produced by Rob. zipco and Carlos prto with help from. Sydney Harper and Eric krupy it was.

edited by Rachel quer contains original. music by Will Reed and Dan Powell and. was engineered by Alysa Moxley our theme. music is by Jim brunberg and Ben Lanser. of wonderly special thanks to Maggie. [Music]. [Music]. Aster that's it the daily I'm Michael B.

see you tomorrow. [Music].