RFK Jr. hit with lawsuit that seeks to boot him from New Jersey ballot
Independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s chances of making it onto the New Jersey ballot are being threatened by a lawsuit from a Democratic election lawyer.
Attorney Scott Salmon filed a suit in New Jersey Superior Court Tuesday, accusing RFK Jr. of flouting the Garden State’s Sore Loser law, which precludes candidates from general election ballot access after losing a primary.
Kennedy, 70, initially mounted his 2024 presidential bid as a Democrat but then switched to run as an independent last October.
“Frankly, had Defendant Kennedy believed he was likely to have successfully won the nomination of the Democratic Party in the primary, he would not have withdrawn from the election months beforehand,” Salmon wrote in a court filing.
Kennedy’s exit from the 2024 Democratic primary came long before President Biden nabbed sufficient delegates to score the nomination. However, a bevy of polls made Biden’s dominance clear at the time.
Salmon is the same attorney who challenged efforts to gain ballot access by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West in 2020. Ultimately, Ye dropped that gambit for access in New Jersey.
“I’m representing myself, so I will be transferring money from my savings account to my checking account. But seriously, nobody is paying me to do this,” Salmon explained on X.
“I’m paying for the privilege (and filing fees) out of pocket because I believe it’s the right thing to do.”
The Post has contacted the Kennedy campaign for comment.
Salmon’s filing implied that Kennedy’s third-party candidacy could reduce the potency of his own vote in the general election.
“His conduct strikes at the heart of New Jersey’s Sore Loser Law, and as such, he must be barred from appearing on the ballot, and should only be permitted to wage a write-in campaign in the upcoming election,” Salmon wrote in a court filing.
Thus far, Kennedy has ballot access in at least six states with petition processing underway in just over a dozen, and signature collection ongoing in the rest, per Politico’s tracker of ballot access.
Throughout his campaign, Kennedy has been vexed by accusations from political strategists on both sides of the aisle that he could serve as a spoiler in the presidential races.
He has dismissed those assertions.
Kennedy is averaging 6.7% in a five-way race against former President Donald Trump (42.6%), who is leading and President Biden (40.4%), according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls.
The presidential scion has furnished his petition to gain access to New Jersey’s ballot in May, but the state will not certify his bid until after July 29, which is the deadline for filing, the New Jersey Globe reported.
Another New Jerseyan who has rankled Democrats with an Independent candidacy is embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
Menendez announced in March that he would not attempt to defend his seat as a Democrat, but earlier this month, he confirmed that he had filed paperwork to vie as an Independent.
It is not immediately clear whether Salmon or some other attorney may attempt to pursue a similar challenge against Menendez.
Menendez technically did not produce the signatures needed to get ballot access for a run in the Democratic primary. His potential Independent bid comes amid his bribery trial.