SALT LAKE CITY – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has accrued sufficient signatures to seem on the 2024 presidential ballot in Utah, election officers say, marking the first state the place the unbiased candidate and outstanding anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist has certified.
Kennedy has met the 1,000-signature requirement wanted to qualify for the Utah ballot and will formally report to run as a presidential candidate in the state earlier than a March 5 time limit, state Elections Director Ryan Cowley mentioned.
Utah is the first state the place Kennedy’s marketing campaign submitted signatures and certified for ballot access, marketing campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear mentioned. She didn’t point out which day he would report for candidacy.
A scion of one among the country’s most renowned Democratic dynasties, the longtime environmental attorney veered from the social gathering ultimate fall and introduced his unbiased bid for the White House. He is a son of former senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of Democratic President John F. Kennedy.
The candidate rose to prominence throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for his include of public well being conspiracy theories and has a faithful following of people that reject the clinical consensus that vaccines are protected and efficient.
His good fortune at gaining ballot access in Utah reignites questions of whether or not the unbiased may play spoiler for the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees. While it is not likely that an unbiased or a third-party candidate would win the presidency, they may siphon strengthen from the primary applicants in some way that guidelines the scales.
Allies of each President Joe Biden and previous President Donald Trump, the most likely nominees for their respective events, have puzzled whether or not Kennedy could be a spoiler for their candidate. Both Biden and Trump are unpopular amongst electorate, expanding the probability that third-party strengthen may play a deciding function in 2024.
In an increasingly more polarized political local weather, Kennedy is taking part in the center, aligning with influential other folks on the far-right whilst touting his background as an environmentalist. It’s no longer but transparent in what number of states he’s going to qualify for ballot access. Each state units its personal necessities, and the procedure for accumulating signatures and navigating prison hurdles can also be expensive for applicants no longer sponsored by means of the primary events.
An group that Kennedy based, Children’s Health Defense, lately has a lawsuit pending towards quite a lot of news organizations, amongst them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust regulations by means of taking motion to establish incorrect information, together with about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines.
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