RFK Jr. faces lawsuit trying to bar him from New Jersey ballot
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A prominent Democratic attorney is trying to prevent independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from appearing on New Jersey’s general election ballot this November.
The election attorney, Scott Salmon, filed a legal challenge Tuesday alleging that Kennedy violated the state’s so-called Sore Loser law, which prevents candidates from running as independents in general elections after seeking a major party’s nomination. Kennedy sought the Democratic nomination for president until October 2023, when he said he would continue his campaign as an independent.
Salmon led the charge to remove Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, from the state’s 2020 ballot over the rapper’s nominating petitions (following Salmon’s legal challenge, Ye dropped his ballot access efforts in New Jersey).
Legal filings from Salmon point out how Kennedy ran for president seeking the Democratic nomination. Kennedy’s April 2023 statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and his campaign kickoff said he was running as a Democrat.
“Defendant Kennedy sought the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States,” Salmon wrote in legal filings. “He was unsuccessful. Now, he seeks to run as an independent candidate. His conduct strikes as 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.”
On X, Salmon said that he is not being paid by any outside parties to bring forth the legal challenge and is doing it “because I believe it's the right thing to do.”
“I feel confident in my lawsuit, barring a court deciding to re-write the plain language of the law,” he wrote. “As I said, the law's the law.”
Political observers think that Kennedy’s independent presidential bid could act as a spoiler, but it's unclear if he would siphon more votes from Democrats or Republicans.
The Kennedy campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The New Jersey Globe first reported the legal challenge.
