Although the deadline for removing him from the Nevada general election ballot has passed, Robert F. Kennedy’s name will not appear.
The reason for this is an order filed Tuesday afternoon in Carson City District Court on behalf of Judge James Russell.
The reason for this is a lawsuit filed by the Nevada Democratic Party seeking to disqualify Kennedy from the election. The lawsuit claimed that Kennedy had violated state law for independent candidates and was affiliated with political parties other than his own in Nevada.
He had submitted a petition against the Democrats’ plan.
After dropping out of the race last week and pledging his support to Donald Trump, Kennedy said he wanted to remove his name from the ballot in swing states like Nevada to help the former president.
In Nevada, the deadline for independent candidates to withdraw was August 20 – three days before Kennedy’s announcement. The only way for him to be removed from the ballot was to drop his opposition to the Democrats’ lawsuit. So he withdrew his petition and the court dismissed the case.
With the dismissal, everyone got what they wanted: The Nevada Democratic Party succeeded in preventing Kennedy from running, and Kennedy was able to implement his strategy of not leaving his supporters in Nevada torn between him and Trump on Election Day.
It is not clear how much Kennedy’s move will help Trump.
The day before Kennedy endorsed Trump, the Democratic National Committee released a memo saying Kennedy’s resignation would not harm Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Referring to Kennedy’s drop in the polls from 15 to 5 percent, the memo states: “The decline in popularity was particularly steep among Democrats and potential third-party voters who were open to Harris but not to Trump.”
The conclusion was: “With no significant support base among Democrats and extremely high opposition, the threat posed by RFK Jr. to Vice President Harris was neutralized.”
The Trump campaign sees Kennedy’s support as a positive development.
“When you hear or see the Harris team and/or the Democrats try to frame it differently, the data clearly paints a different picture,” said a press release, citing polls that showed Kennedy supporters would be more inclined to support Trump if Kennedy were not on the ballot.
“This is simply good news for President Trump and his campaign.”
According to a recent Nevada poll conducted by Rasmussen from August 13-19 before Kennedy’s exit, Trump leads Harris, 48% to 46%, while “other” candidates are supported by 3% of poll respondents.
Mark Robison is the Reno Gazette Journal’s state politics reporter and occasionally ventures into other topics. Email comments to [email protected] or comment on Mark’s Greater Reno Facebook page.
