Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will stay on Michigan's general election ballot after a state judge ruled in favor of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who argued that it was too late for his name to be removed under state law.
Kennedy, who suspended his campaign last month and endorsed President Trump, has been working to withdraw his name from ballots in swing states to avoid siphoning votes from the Republican nominee. However, he has encouraged voters in strongly Democratic and Republican states to still cast their ballots for him.
“Elections are not just games, and the Secretary of State is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office,” Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates wrote in his opinion. He added that the Secretary of State had acted within the law, denying Kennedy’s request to remove his name.
Under Michigan election law, candidates from minor parties, such as the Natural Law Party, which nominated Kennedy, cannot withdraw once they've accepted the nomination. The deadline for these parties to hold nominating conventions has already passed.
Kennedy is expected to appeal the decision, arguing in his initial filing that election integrity should include accurate ballots and that there was no compelling reason for Michigan to keep his name on the ballot.
Before suspending his campaign, Kennedy had polled at around 2% in Michigan, roughly 167,820 votes. His presence on the ballot could be significant in a state where Trump narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 by less than 1 percentage point, or 10,700 votes.
Aside from Michigan, Kennedy will remain on the ballot in Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, where his challenges to remove himself have failed. He successfully withdrew from the Arizona ballot.
