Democrats were focused on keeping Kennedy off the ballot until he suspended his campaign and urged supporters to vote for Trump.
For months, Democratic National Committee-backed lawsuits were focused on preventing independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from appearing on ballots in multiple states.
The party’s strategy abruptly shifted on Aug. 23 when Kennedy announced he would suspend his campaign in battleground states and urge his supporters to vote for former President Donald Trump in those states.
“If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris. In red states, the same will apply,” he said.
Kennedy said that if he remained on the ballot in swing states, he “would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues.”
Since then, Democrat-supported legal action has been filed in swing states where Kennedy has moved to have his name withdrawn from the ballot. The objective is to keep him on the ballot because reports have shown Kennedy will take more votes away from Trump than Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kennedy has sought to have his name taken off the ballot in 10 states.
On Sept. 6, a Michigan appeals court ruled that Kennedy’s name be removed from the general election ballot, overturning a lower court ruling that kept him on the ballot after he withdrew from the race.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said last month that Kennedy’s name would remain on the ballot because state law does not permit minor party candidates who are nominated at a state convention to withdraw.
Kennedy gained ballot access in some states by accepting a nomination from third parties. He qualified for Michigan’s general election ballot as a candidate of the Natural Law Party.
In 2020, President Joe Biden defeated Trump by around 154,000 votes in Michigan.
Also, on Sept. 6, a North Carolina Court of Appeals panel unanimously approved Kennedy’s request to stop the mailing of absentee ballots and reprint them without his name.
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