Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, is facing a legal challenge in Nevada that could see him removed from the state’s ballot in the upcoming election. Two voters, Uwe Rockenfeller and Francisco Morales, allege that Kennedy is not an independent candidate as required by Nevada law. They argue he should be disqualified due to his acceptance of nominations from multiple political parties in other states.
In their lawsuit filed in state court, Rockenfeller and Morales name Kennedy, his running mate Nicole Shanahan, and Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar as defendants. They seek the disqualification of the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket from the Nevada ballot.
The complaint states that after ending his Democratic primary challenge to President Joe Biden, Kennedy is now claiming to be an ‘independent’ candidate for President while also seeking nominations from at least six separate political parties in other states. These parties have distinct platforms and ideologies, the suit argues, pointing out that the American Independent Party of California has a “sordid history” of supporting segregationist candidates.
The plaintiffs argue that by accepting ballot lines from these various organisations, Kennedy cannot be considered an independent candidate under Nevada law. They also claim he failed to name a running mate on his Nevada qualifying petitions and made no attempt to correct this error, instead choosing to sue over the issue.
Under Nevada law, an independent candidate is defined as someone “who is registered with no political party affiliation.” It states that “a person may not file as an independent candidate if he or she is proposing to run as the candidate of a political party.” Rockenfeller and Morales accuse Kennedy and Shanahan of trying to get around these requirements in order to influence the election outcome after the Democratic Party rejected his candidacy.
However, Rockenfeller himself has donated almost exclusively to Democratic candidates and officeholders over the past six years, according to Nevada Secretary of State records. Despite identifying as a registered Republican for more than 30 years, he has given $20,000 to former Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak and another $2,000 to Aguilar in 2023 but no money to state GOP candidates.
The potential exclusion of Kennedy from Nevada’s ballot could sway the results significantly in this crucial swing state. Former President Donald Trump lost Nevada to Hillary Clinton by around 27,000 votes in 2016 and then again to Joe Biden by about 33,000 votes four years later. A recent June 21 poll by FiveThirtyEight shows Trump leading Biden in Nevada by 2.8%, with Kennedy garnering 9.4% of the vote – a figure that could prove decisive in such a close contest.
As yet, neither the Kennedy campaign nor the Nevada GOP has responded to requests for comment on this lawsuit.
