Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has suspended his campaign to aid former President Donald Trump, is reportedly unable to remove himself from the presidential ballot in Michigan.
Although Kennedy seeks to withdraw from the ballot in ten swing states, he will be unable to do so in Michigan, WKAR reported.
Kennedy was nominated under the Natural Law Party, which already had its convention, and the deadline has passed to hold a new one, as the outlet noted, citing Cheri Hardmon, a press secretary for the Michigan State Department.
That party’s state nominating convention was held back in April.
Hardmon said the party could have held a new nominating convention any time until the state’s August primary.
“The Natural Law Party held their convention to select electors for Robert Kennedy Jr.,” she said. “They cannot meet at this point to select new electors since it’s past the primary.”
August 6 was the “[d]eadline for minor parties to hold state conventions,” the state’s election calendar reads.
Kennedy announced on Friday, when he endorsed Trump, that he was suspending his campaign so as not to spoil Trump’s chances and to help him beat Vice President Kamala Harris. However, being stuck on the ballot in Michigan poses significant implications for the November election.
Michigan is one of several critical swing states that will play a crucial role in deciding the next president. In 2020, President Joe Biden won the state over Trump by 154,188 votes or just 2.8 percentage points. In 2016, Trump carried the state over twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by an even closer margin of 10,704 votes. This translated to just three-tenths of one percentage point.
In other words, Michigan is again likely to be decided by just several percentage points, and Kennedy’s presence on the ballot could potentially swing the state’s fate and possibly the election.
In July, when Biden was still the presumptive Democrat nominee, Kennedy told Dr. Phil McGraw that 57 percent of his supporters would flock to Trump if he exited the race.
However, a Fabrizio Lee & Associates and Impact Research poll conducted for AARP between August 8 and 11 showed Trump performing better against Harris with Kennedy on the ballot in Michigan than he does in a head-to-head match-up.
In a three-way race, Trump took 45 percent, Harris garnered 43 percent, and six percent backed Kennedy. In a race between Trump and Harris, they tied at 48 percent, indicating Kennedy’s presence would actually help Trump in Michigan. This notably came before Kennedy’s major endorsement of Trump on Friday.
The poll had a statewide representative sample of 600 likely voters and a ± 4 percentage margin of error.