Kennedy’s campaign announced on Monday that it qualified for ballot access in California, the most populous state in the country. The state is solidly blue and will almost certainly vote for President Biden in November, but making the ballot formally gives Kennedy access to millions of voters who live in the Golden State.
Kennedy and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, will be on the ballot in the state under the label of the American Independent Party, a third party that is the third-largest in the state, after the Democratic and Republican parties. The party “ironically” was founded to support the 1968 presidential campaign for former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a staunch segregationist who ran a third-party campaign that year, Kennedy noted in his announcement.
The party has “had its own rebirth,” Kennedy remarked, saying it now represents “not bigotry and hatred, but rather compassion and unity and idealism and common sense.”
California is the third state to formally put Kennedy on the ballot, joining Utah and Michigan. The campaign has also said it has received enough signatures on its petitions to make the ballot in Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire and North Carolina.
Kennedy is trying to gain ballot access in all 50 states to try to be a legitimate third option for voters who are frustrated with both Biden and former President Trump, the two major party nominees.
Democrats have expressed concern about Kennedy making the ballot in key battleground states that Biden will need to win reelection.
But he seems more likely to have an impact on Biden and Trump’s chances of winning than being able to win himself, as third-party candidates have been a long shot throughout presidential elections in history. In a three-way race, Kennedy is averaging about 9 percent nationally in the polling average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ.
