Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday he has enough signatures to make the presidential ballot in Texas, throwing yet another wrench into the Biden-Trump 2024 matchup.
The independent candidate turned in 245,572 signatures to the Texas secretary of state’s office — twice as many as required — after gathering them in just two months, his campaign said in a statement.
The Lone Star State has one of the toughest ballot requirements, with independent candidates being required to submit a petition with a minimum of 1% of the total votes in the last presidential election.
RFK Jr.’s campaign is likely securing more signatures than needed in case any are challenged.
The Democrat-turned-independent is aiming to get on the ballot in all 50 states.
So far, his campaign has claimed to have officially made the ballot in now six: Utah, Michigan, California, Delaware, Oklahoma and Texas — and said he has enough signatures in New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio, for a total of 14.
Kennedy, 70, is polling higher than any third-party candidate in decades, with numbers showing him consistently in the double digits.
A Marist poll conducted in March showed the independent pol at 15% in Texas, compared to former President Donald Trump’s 48% and President Biden’s 36%.
Overall, Kennedy is averaging 10.8% in a general election matchup against Trump, Biden, independent candidate Cornel West and the Green Party’s Jill Stein, according to RealClearPolitics.
His relative popularity for a third-party candidate may especially be relevant in swing states in November, as Biden and Trump are polling at close to a dead heat. RealClearPolitics has Trump averaging at 41.5% overall and Biden at 38.8%.
Former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), who left the Republican Party, claimed over the weekend that Kennedy is at risk of taking votes away from Trump and that’s why the former president has lobbed attacks against him.
“I still think RFK Jr. could take more from Republicans, and I think that’s why Donald Trump’s attacking him,” Jolly told MSNBC.
“He is a MAGA crazy Republican,” Jolly said of Kennedy. “He’s a vaccine-denier. He denies science, he flip-flops on the issue of abortion, and even his own VP candidate can’t keep up with where he is day to day on the most important issue going into November.”
Last week, Kennedy said women should be able to get an abortion at any time during pregnancy, shocking running mate Nicole Shanahan, who later claimed, “That is not Bobby’s position. … He absolutely believes in limits on abortion.”
Along with RFK Jr.’s battle to get on more ballots, he has tried to challenge Biden and Trump directly.
Kennedy has asked Biden to jointly conduct a national poll in October, with the agreement that the candidate who has no shot against Trump according to the survey would drop out.
He has also challenged Trump to go head-to-head in a debate at the Libertarian Convention in late May, set to be hosted in Washington, DC.
Neither campaign has agreed to engage with Kennedy’s ideas.
