The North Carolina State Board of Elections decided Tuesday to allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run for president in the state, a decision that could have a major impact on this year’s presidential election.
Kennedy’s “People’s Party” voted 4-1. The only dissenter was Democratic nominee Siobhan Millen, who said she believed the “People’s Party” was a sham party created solely to help Kennedy get around North Carolina’s voting rights rules, which are easier for candidates affiliated with a party to get around than independents. She pointed out that Kennedy has run under six party labels in other states and often calls himself an independent, suggesting he is not a member of the party he claims to be in his bid to get on the North Carolina ballot.
“What’s at stake here is North Carolina voters’ desire for political choice being cynically exploited to circumvent North Carolina law,” Millen said.
Chairman Alan Hirsch, also a Democrat, said he believed Millen was correct in his allegations that Kennedy had abused the election process in North Carolina, but that the committee nevertheless lacked the legal authority to deny Kennedy the right to vote, Hirsch said.
Hirsch also welcomed other people and groups to consider filing lawsuits to block Kennedy from running if there is further evidence that his party is not legitimate.
“I will reluctantly vote to recognize We the People, even if I believe there was a scheme,” Hirsch said, adding: “If anyone wants to challenge this in court, they’re welcome to do so. I believe they have a point.”
Kennedy wasn’t the only candidate to appear in Tuesday’s debate. The commission also rejected fellow presidential candidate Cornel West, who also sought voting rights for his newly formed Justice for All party. The vote was decided purely along partisan lines, with two Republicans on the commission voting in favor of placing West on the ballot and three Democrats voting against it.
Potential impacts for 2024
This year’s presidential election is expected to be a rematch of the 2020 election between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump. In 2020, North Carolina was the only battleground state that voted for Trump and was one of the most divided states in the country. Trump won North Carolina by just 1.5% of the vote in 2020, and Democrats believe that a win in North Carolina would be a major contribution to Biden’s reelection even if Trump wins other battleground states this year.
West could still run in North Carolina if he can sue the elections board and convince a state court to allow him to run. A progressive academic running to the left of Biden, West is expected to draw votes entirely from Biden’s base if allowed to run in North Carolina.
Kennedy’s potential impact is more complicated: He is a member of the Kennedy family and a force in national Democratic politics, but many of his views are closer to the Republican Party. He would be expected to draw votes from both Trump and Biden.
The North Carolina Republican Party criticized the elections board for rejecting West’s candidacy, while a newly formed political group called Clear Choice Action criticized the board for endorsing Kennedy’s candidacy.
“The actions today by the Democratic-controlled North Carolina State Board of Elections confirm our belief that they were clearly acting in the political interest of Democrats and Joe Biden,” North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Jason Simmons said in a statement.
“The committee is wrong to certify We the People,” Pete Kavanaugh, a former Biden campaign staffer who founded Clear Choice Action, said in a statement. “Both candidates are trying to play by different rules than other candidates and exempt themselves from the signature threshold required for an independent presidential candidate. These are sham parties run by Republican operatives and the result of neither candidate being able to demonstrate the level of support necessary under North Carolina law to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate.”
Cornel West’s denial
The Democratic majority noted that while Justice for All submitted more than enough signatures to be approved, election officials had received numerous complaints from people who had signed those petitions, suggesting there may be legal issues with the petitions.
The Board of Elections issued subpoenas to those involved in collecting the signatures, but they failed to comply, Board of Elections Chairman Alan Hirsch said, which is why he and other Democrats voted not to endorse West.
“I have no confidence that this was done legally,” Hirsch said of the Justice for All signature-gathering effort.
Republican Stacey Eggers IV said the committee’s rejection of West’s nomination was a “tragic error.” But while outside Republican groups and party leaders have harshly criticized the committee’s Democrats, accusing them of acting purely politically, Eggers defended her Democratic colleagues, saying they engaged in thoughtful deliberations, even if she disagreed with the outcome.
One Democrat, Rep. Jeff Carmon, said he felt he had no choice but to vote to reject West’s party’s endorsement, given the legal questions that still remain and, especially, the refusal to answer those questions.
“It’s unfortunate that people within the party didn’t give us more information,” Carmon said.
