RFK Jr.’s name removed from Utah ballot. Why it will remain in other states
Sep 4, 2024, 12:09 PM | Updated: Sep 5, 2024, 9:22 am
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)
(AP Photo/Darryl Webb)
SALT LAKE CITY — Immediately after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential bid in late August, he aimed to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states. According to Utah Lt. Gov. Deirdre Henderson’s office, his name was removed from Utah’s ballot. But it wasn’t in a few other key states.
Kennedy announced that he was endorsing Donald Trump on Aug. 23, ahead of a planned speech in Pennsylvania. He requested his name be removed from the Pennsylvania ballot and appeared hours later at a Trump rally nearby, where he further pledged his support for the former president on stage. He officially suspended his campaign thereafter.
#BREAKING: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will NOT appear on the ballot for President in Utah. He dropped out of the race but his name has been required to stay on the ballot in certain states, potentially drawing votes from President Trump.
I’m told he/his campaign withdrew his name by… pic.twitter.com/i9cOpFqhpY
— Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir) September 4, 2024
Other than Utah, Kennedy successfully removed his name from states like Arizona, Florida, Texas and Georgia. He was also removed from the ballot in Nevada, even though he had missed the deadline to withdraw — it was the last word in a longstanding struggle to get on the state’s ballot in the first place.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, after his first request to be removed from the Michigan ballot, Kennedy filed a lawsuit asking the court to remove him. A judge ruled on Tuesday that Kennedy’s name would be required to stay.
“Elections are not just games, and the Secretary of State … is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office,” said Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates during the hearing.
Kennedy filed a similar lawsuit in North Carolina Friday.
Utah was the first state to approve Kennedy’s name for the November ballot. But according to early Utah polls taken before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, Trump had been in the lead and Kennedy and Biden were tied. Although Kennedy remained a strong candidate in the state after Kamala Harris became the official Democratic nominee, he still polled below her in late August.
Contributing: Lindsay Aerts, KSL TV
