Gabe Stern, The Associated Press
15 minutes ago
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada election officials have verified enough signatures for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign to appear on Nevada’s ballot, the state’s top election official confirmed Friday, potentially bringing his insurgent attempt to undermine Republican and Democratic dominance in U.S. elections into a key battleground state.
Kennedy’s name recognition and loyal base of support give him the chance to do better than any independent presidential candidate in decades. Strategists from both major parties worry that Kennedy could tilt the election against them, but his failure to qualify for the CNN debate in June was a major blow to his campaign. Instead, Kennedy hosted a separate event where he answered questions posed to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in real time.
There may still be room for a legal challenge: Last month, state and national Democrats filed a lawsuit alleging that Kennedy Jr. is ineligible to run as an independent in Nevada because of his ties to political parties in other states.
The verified signatures were included on a petition hastily submitted by Kennedy Jr.’s campaign after Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s office issued guidance saying his original petition was likely invalid because he had not listed a running mate.
The campaign had filed a lawsuit against Aguilar’s office over a state rule that requires independent candidates to nominate a running mate before they can begin collecting signatures, and said it received permission from Aguilar’s office in January to gather the necessary number of signatures on a petition that did not list a running mate.
In a statement, Aguilar’s office said it had sent correct instructions to all independent candidates who submitted petitions for ballot access well before the signature deadline.
Kennedy Jr. picked California lawyer and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan as his running mate in late March.
State and county election officials confirmed that the new petition had received more than 22,000 signatures, well above the 10,000-plus signature requirement.
