Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. continues to be the gift that keeps on giving to former President Donald Trump. Since endorsing the Republican, the independent scion of the Kennedy family has been on an unrelenting mission to remove himself from ballots around the country and urge his millions of supporters to back Trump. That effort appears to have paid off in North Carolina.
The Tar Heel state’s highest court on Tuesday ruled that RFK successfully made the case for why his name should be removed from the November ballot, a boon for Trump that may cost Vice President Kamala Harris the rare opportunity to capture a state that has eluded Democrats since the 2008 election of former President Barack Obama. The endeavor to remove RFK from mail-in ballots that were set to shortly go out will cost North Carolina officials more than $1 million and delay ballots by about two weeks, according to the
In a 4-3 ruling, the court wrote that leaving Kennedy on the ballot “could disenfranchise countless voters who mistakenly believe that plaintiff remains a candidate for office.” Justices acknowledged the cost to taxpayers will “require considerable time and effort by our election officials and significant expense to the State” but stated the change will “protect voters’ fundamental right to vote their conscience.” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in a statement to reporters on Monday that 27 counties had already printed ballots with Kennedy’s name and nearly all had completed their efforts by the time he dropped out on August 23rd. “We will continue to consult with counties and ballot vendors to determine the feasible start date for distributing absentee ballots statewide,” she said.
The opposite finding occurred in Michigan, where the state’s highest court ruled that Kennedy, 70, had failed to make his case. Justices wrote he “neither pointed to any source of law that prescribes and defines a duty to withdraw a candidate’s name from the ballot nor demonstrated his clear legal right to performance of this specific duty,” ruling that the former candidate’s name would remain on the state’s November 5th ballot.
Harris leads Trump in Michigan by just one point, according to the Post, while Trump leads the vice president by one point in North Carolina. The race is expected to come down to just a handful of battleground states where Harris surpassed President Biden’s dismal showing before he dropped out but hit a ceiling on Monday after a new poll from the New York Times showed her trailing Trump nationally by one percent. Other election forecasters suggest it was a mistake for Harris not to pick Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a popular Democrat who drew antisemitic criticism from some corners of the Democratic Party. Shapiro, who is Jewish, hasn’t toed the party’s line about restricting aid to Israel, and advisors to Harris privately admitted they were fearful of the blowback that might occur among her supporters if she chose a Jewish running mate.
Leave a Reply