What you need to know
- Pennsylvania officials announced that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed paperwork to run in the battleground state in November's election. Thursday's filing comes six weeks before the Aug. 1 deadline for filing papers, after which the papers could be challenged in court.
- Kennedy needs to submit the signatures of 5,000 registered voters to qualify for the state election, and his petition could be challenged by both political parties.
- Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump's campaigns are concerned that Kennedy could be a sticking point in what is expected to be a close election, with Pennsylvania a hotbed of swing states that have swung between the two parties in the past two presidential elections.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed paperwork Thursday to run in the November election in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, the state's election board announced.
Kennedy's application comes six weeks before the Aug. 1 deadline, after which the documents could be challenged in court.
Both the campaigns of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are concerned that Kennedy could be an obstacle to what is expected to be a close election, particularly in Pennsylvania, the nation's fifth-most populous state.
To qualify for the Pennsylvania ballot, Kennedy needs to submit the signatures of 5,000 registered voters.
Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes and has been a swing state between the two parties in the past two presidential elections. Both were close races, with Trump beating Democrat Hillary Clinton by 44,000 votes in 2016 and Biden beating Trump by 81,000 votes four years later.
Libertarian Jo Jorgensen garnered just over 79,000 votes in the 2020 election, while three minor party candidates – Libertarian Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Constitution Party candidate Darrell Castle – garnered a combined total of nearly 190,000 votes in the 2016 election.
Kennedy's petition could be challenged in court by both parties, with both the Trump and Biden campaigns seeking to portray him as an adversary. The lawsuit must be filed no later than Aug. 8.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and prominent anti-vaccination activist, decided not to challenge Biden in the Democratic primary last year and began campaigning as an independent.
One obstacle he faces is the requirement to ensure voting access in each state, which would require him to collect millions of signatures that will be verified by election officials before his candidacy is approved.
Kennedy's campaign has said he has met the requirements to win a total of 310 electoral votes and appear on the ballot in 22 states, but not all states have allowed his name to appear on the ballot.
