Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Rejected in Libertarian Party Nomination

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington on May 24, 2024. (Dietsch/Getty Images)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was swiftly eliminated from the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee race in the first round, thus putting to rest expectations that the candidate would be backed by a major party.

The Libertarians had put up multiple candidates as potential nominees, including Mr. Kennedy and political activist Chase Oliver.

On May 27, the party announced that the delegates chose Mr. Oliver as their presidential candidate after seven rounds of voting. Mr. Kennedy was kicked out of the race in the first round after receiving only 2 percent of the votes, with 19 delegates reportedly backing him.

After the results were published, RFK Jr. said he appreciated the party’s considering him.

“What an unexpected honor to wake up this morning to a groundswell in the Libertarian Party seeking to nominate me,” he said in a May 27 X post.

“I would have accepted the nomination if offered because independents and third parties need to unite right now to reclaim our country from the corrupt two-party system.”

Mr. Kennedy spoke at the Libertarian National Convention on May 24, which he said was a “high point” in his campaign as an independent presidential candidate. He admitted that his views on some of the issues may conflict with what the Libertarian Party stands for.

The candidate claimed that both he and the party were “natural allies” due to the “core values of peace, free speech, and civil liberties.”

“Together we will break the stranglehold of the Uniparty,” he said.

The term Uniparty suggests that Democrats and Republicans, despite being in opposition, actually collude to work for a single establishment.

The candidate said he would pardon prominent document leakers Julian Assange and Edward Snowden as well as dismantle wasteful and abusive bureaucracies while restoring the authority of the Bill of Rights if elected president.

In his speech at the convention, Mr. Kennedy attacked President Trump and President Biden for not respecting the U.S. Constitution when the country faced the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t recall any part of the United States Constitution where there’s an exemption for pandemics,” he said while noting that even though President Trump was reluctant to impose lockdowns early in the pandemic, he eventually capitulated, due to which “many of our most fundamental rights disappeared practically overnight.”

He criticized President Trump for allowing health regulators to impose social distancing norms, thus violating the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly.

The lockdowns were imposed without any due process, no notice, and no public hearings, RFK Jr. noted.

After President Biden took office, the “assault on the Constitution intensified,” he said, citing multiple censorship cases.

President Trump spoke at the convention on May 25. However, he did not submit paperwork for the party’s nomination.

In a May 27 Truth Social post, the former president said the reason for not filing was that he was not allowed to be a nominee of another party while being a Republican nominee. He claimed that he “would have absolutely gotten” the Libertarian Party nomination if he wanted it.

President Trump added that Mr. Kennedy was “a Radical Left Democrat, who’s destroyed everything he’s touched, especially in New York and New England, and in particular, as it relates to the Cost and Practicality of Energy.”

Reform Party Nomination, Debates

RFK Jr. was nominated by the Reform Party this past week.

The Reform Party stands for ending “the two-party system” in the United States, aligning with one of Mr. Kennedy’s key campaign points.

Mr. Kennedy “has more energy than Joe Biden and more maturity than Donald Trump,” stated Party Convention Secretary Richard Kasa.

“The Reform Party aligns with him better on the issues than we do with the establishment politicians. We are sure that he will be the next president of the United States.”

The party said Mr. Kennedy sought their nomination in a bid to gain ballot access in all 50 American states. They claimed that polls show RFK Jr. would “beat both Trump and Biden in head-to-head races.”

However, an average of multiple polls by RealClear Polling showed that in a three-way race between President Trump, President Biden, and Mr. Kennedy, the former president came out on top with the support of 43.7 percent of the voters while RFK Jr. got only 12 percent and President Biden averaged 38.7 percent.

Both President Biden and President Trump have agreed on two debates ahead of the elections. Mr. Kennedy has criticized the decision not to include him.

“They are trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win. Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy,” he said in a May 15 X post.

“Forty-three percent of Americans identify as independents. If Americans are ever going to escape the hammerlock of the two-party system, now is the time to do it. These are the two most unpopular candidates in living memory.”

In a recent post, Mr. Kennedy argued that adding a third candidate to the debate would bring an alternate way to look at issues rather than the usual “us versus them.”

A third candidate opens up the possibility of “transcending polarized views and hateful divisions,” he stated.