RFK Jr. can't escape the Blue Wall
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Aug. 23 in Phoenix, Ariz. Photo: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be on the ballot in the battlegrounds of Michigan and Wisconsin in November, even though he has suspended his bid and backed former President Trump.
Why it matters: Kennedy suspended his campaign to avoid taking votes from Trump, but now his name will appear on the ballot in the very states that could decide the election.
- Kennedy will not appear on the ballot in the swing states of Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
- His ballot status is unclear in North Carolina.
Driving the news: Kennedy's presence on the ballot could attract a small number of voters.
- Polling from after Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race showed Kennedy starting to take more from Trump.
- He'd previously posed a roughly equal risk to both major parties.
- Semafor's David Weigel reports that internal Trump campaign polling showed that Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin were the states where the most Kennedy voters had ranked Trump second.
Zoom in: A combination of state laws and overdue deadlines explains why Kennedy is unable to remove his name from the ballot in some states.
- In Michigan, "minor party candidates cannot withdraw," Cheri Hardmon, senior press secretary for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement to Axios.
- The Wisconsin election commission voted on Tuesday to reject Kennedy's request to withdraw from the ballot.
What to watch: In North Carolina, state officials say that he has been nominated in the state by the We The People Party. As of Tuesday morning, "the party has not informed the State Board of any plans to change its nomination," per the state board of elections.
- "If We The People officially withdraws his nomination, the State Board would have to consider whether it is practical to remove his name from ballots and reprint ballots at that time," public information director Patrick Gannon said in a statement.
In Georgia, a ruling on an issue unrelated to him suspending his campaign found that he and three other independent candidates are ineligible to appear on the state's ballot.
- The final decision will be made by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R). Kennedy could still seek to remove himself from the ballot if Raffensperger rejects the court's decision.
Go deeper: Trump adds RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to transition team
