Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes the Michigan presidential ballot as independent candidate

Arpan Lobo, USA TODAY NETWORK
Updated ·2 min read

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear on Michigan's presidential ballot this fall after the Natural Law Party nominated him to be the party's candidate, his campaign announced Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Michigan Secretary of State's office confirmed to the Free Press Kennedy qualified for the ballot after receiving the party's nomination and filing the necessary documents.

Kennedy will appear alongside running mate Nicole Shanahan. According to his campaign, Michigan is the eighth state in which Kennedy has secured ballot access.

More: Trump trial coverage live updates: Juror #4 dismissed from Trump hush money trial

His campaign has scheduled an event Sunday evening in Royal Oak to celebrate getting on Michigan's ballot.

In a statement provided by the campaign, Natural Law Party Chairman Doug Dern called Kennedy "the most qualified candidate in the modern-day history of America."

Kennedy, 70, is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, a former U.S. Senator who was assassinated during his presidential campaign in 1968, and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to the crowd during a campaign stop in West Des Moines Saturday, April 13, 2024, at Val Air Ballroom.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to the crowd during a campaign stop in West Des Moines Saturday, April 13, 2024, at Val Air Ballroom.

In addition to being part of one of the country's most notable political families, Kennedy has made a name for himself as an environmental attorney and writer. In recent years, he's espoused anti-vaccine rhetoric, most notably during the COVID-19 vaccine's rollout.

When he first launched his campaign last year, Kennedy sought the Democratic Party's nomination but stood little chance at mounting a serious intra-party challenge to President Joe Biden, largely due to Democrats nationally coalescing around Biden, although the incumbent did face primary challenges from U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minnesota, and author Marianne Williamson.

Biden's campaign on Thursday announced endorsements from several members of the Kennedy family, including former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, as it attempts to dissuade potential Democratic voters from selecting Kennedy this fall.

According to the Secretary of State's office, five minor parties qualify to nominate a candidate on Michigan's presidential ballot: the Natural Law Party, the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the U.S. Taxpayers Party and the Working Class Party.

In the 2020 presidential election, Natural Law candidate Rocky De La Fuente received just shy of 3,000 votes in Michigan, or 0.05% of the vote, although Kennedy's name recognition is virtually guaranteed to garner his campaign more votes. That year, Libertarian nominee Jo Jorgensen received the most votes among third-party candidates, more than 60,000. Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee this year, by around 154,000 votes.

Third-party candidates received more support in 2016, when Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein combined to receive more than 223,000 votes. In that year's election, Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Michigan by nearly 11,000 votes and won the presidency.

Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on X (Twitter) @arpanlobo.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear on Michigan presidential ballot in Nov

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