MESQUITE, Nev. — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not a political independent under Nevada law and should be disqualified from Silver State ballots, two voters allege in a lawsuit filed in state court Thursday.
Uwe Rockenfeller and Francisco Morales named Kennedy, his running mate Nicole Shanahan and Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar as defendants.
They want the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket disqualified from the state ballot.
After ending his Democratic primary challenge to President Biden, the complaint alleges, Kennedy “claims that he is an ‘Independent’ candidate for President of the United States while simultaneously seeking the nominations of at least six separate political parties in six other states.”
Those parties “have distinct platforms and ideologies,” the suit says; the American Independent Party of California, for instance, “has a sordid history, supporting past segregationist candidates for president like former Alabama governor George Wallace.”
Because Kennedy has accepted ballot lines from the California organization as well as the Natural Law Party in Michigan and his “We the People Party” in Hawaii, he is not an independent candidate under state law.
He is also alleged to have filed his Nevada qualifying petitions without naming a running mate — another state requirement — and “made no attempt to correct” the petitions, instead suing over the issue.
Nevada law defines an independent candidate as someone “who is registered with no political party affiliation” and states that “a person may not file as an independent candidate if he or she is proposing to run as the candidate of a political party.”
In a court filing, Morales, a vice-chair of the Nevada Democratic Party, and Rockenfeller, who said he is “a registered Republican,” accuse Kennedy and Shanahan of seeking “to game their way onto Nevada’s ballot in order to play spoiler after the Democratic Party rejected his candidacy.”
Neither Rockenfeller nor Morales would comment on the lawsuit, which The Nevada Independent said is tied to the state’s Democratic Party, which also did not respond to a comment request.
But Aguilar’s office records Rockenfeller as having donated $42,500 over the past six years exclusively to Democratic candidates, officeholders and related political action committees.
The “registered Republican” forked over a total of $20,000 to former Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, over the course of two election cycles and $2,000 to Aguilar in 2023 — but nothing to state GOP candidates.
Through a spokesman, Rockenfeller said, “I’ve been a registered Republican for 30+ years, but have always donated to candidates on both sides of the aisle that I believe in.”
Dropping Kennedy and Shanahan from presidential balloting in the Silver State could further swing the results in what is already a crucial swing state.
Former President Donald Trump lost Nevada to Hillary Clinton by 27,202 votes in 2016 and by 33,596 votes to Biden four years later.
But a June 21 Nevada poll by FiveThirtyEight shows Trump leading Biden by 2.8% and gives Kennedy 9.4% of the vote, a figure that could prove decisive in a close race.
The Kennedy campaign, the Trump campaign and the Nevada GOP did not respond to The Post’s comment requests.