WASHINGTON—Former President Donald Trump and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will take the stage at the Libertarian National Convention this weekend, with both candidates hoping to convince Libertarians to vote for them instead of the Libertarian Party’s own candidate.
Mr. Kennedy, who had been in talks with Libertarians to potentially pursue the party’s nomination, is slated to address the convention during the afternoon on May 24.
President Trump will take the stage on the evening of May 25.
“We all have to remember that our goal is to defeat the Worst President in the History of the United States, BY FAR, Crooked Joe Biden,” President Trump said in a statement earlier this month.
“If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election won’t even be close,” he added.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Ohio entrepreneur who dropped out of the Republican presidential primary and endorsed President Trump earlier this year, will appear in a debate with vice presidential candidates.
Inviting President Trump, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Ramaswamy to appear and speak at a convention where the party is expected to nominate its own candidate is unusual, the Libertarian Party’s chair, Angela McArdle, acknowledges.
Libertarian officials are hopeful the attention will elevate awareness of its party’s platform.
“For 50 years, we’ve been trying to get our candidates on the main stage with major party POTUS candidates and we’ve finally succeeded in bringing one to our stage. We will do everything in our power to use this incredible opportunity to advance the message of liberty,” Ms. McArdle said.
Lars Mapstead, Chase Oliver, Michael Rectenwald, and Mike ter Maat are among the candidates vying for the Libertarian nomination.
Mr. Oliver received 2 percent of the vote in the 2022 Georgia U.S. Senate race, leading to a runoff that Republican Herschel Walker lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock.
He does not like sharing the weekend with candidates outside of the Libertarian party.
“It makes it seem like we’re the Republican J.V. team,” Mr. Oliver said.
Votes are expected to be at a premium in the general election with President Trump, President Biden, Mr. Kennedy, independent Cornel West, Green Party nominee Jill Stein, and the Libertarian nominee.
Recognizing the close races against President Biden in battleground states in 2020, President Trump is hopeful that some Libertarians will cast their ballot for him so the current president is not elected to another term.
Ms. McArdle recently said that President Trump “has agreed to respond to a list of Libertarian grievances” at the convention.
The convention could also feature more verbal exchanges between Mr. Kennedy and President Trump.
The former president has ramped up criticism of Mr. Kennedy in recent weeks, calling him the most radical, far-left candidate in the race.
Poll Position
In an open letter posted on social media platform X, Mr. Kennedy referenced a poll released by Zogby Strategies that shows that he would defeat the former president, 270–268, in Electoral College votes in a head-to-head matchup.Mr. Kennedy also mentioned CNN and Quinnipiac surveys that indicated that he stood above the 15 percent minimum to gain a presence on stage in the presidential debates.
President Trump would decisively beat President Biden, 294–244, in a head-to-head race, according to the poll.
The study, which included more than 26,000 likely voters in 50 states, reported that Mr. Kennedy would rout President Biden, 367–171.
In the letter, Mr. Kennedy said former President Trump supporters are now supporting him because “they are upset that you blew up the deficit, shut down their businesses during Covid, and filled your administration with swamp creatures.”
Mr. Kennedy said the Libertarian convention is “perfect neutral territory” for a debate between the two candidates.
President Trump’s campaign did not respond to Mr. Kennedy’s post, but since then the former president has said that the independent is “a radical left lunatic” and “the dumbest member of the Kennedy clan.”
Casting a ballot for Mr. Kennedy would be a “wasted protest vote,” President Trump has claimed.
Last year, when Mr. Kennedy was challenging President Biden for the Democratic Party nomination, President Trump said: “He’s a very smart person. I know a lot of the members of that family, and he’s a very smart guy. And he’s hit a little bit of a nerve. And a lot of Democrats I know want to vote for him.”
Last month, President Trump called Mr. Kennedy “the most radical left candidate in the race.”
“I happen to like him,” President Trump said. “Unfortunately, he is about the Green New Scam because he believes in that and a lot of people don’t.”
He also said Mr. Kennedy is “much better than Biden” and “a better man than Joe Biden.”
Multiple polls have shown that Mr. Kennedy could have more support from moderate and conservative Republicans.
‘Rigging The Primary’
Mr. Kennedy announced his candidacy to challenge President Biden for the Democrat Party nomination in April 2023.After encountering multiple roadblocks from the Democratic National Committee and claiming that the organization was “rigging the primary” to favor President Biden and prevent other candidates from competing, he chose to run as an independent in October 2023.
Since then, Mr. Kennedy has focused on gaining ballot access in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Speculation mounted earlier this year that he could seek and gain the Libertarian Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
He met with Ms. McArdle, and they expressed mutual interest, but after a campaign stop in Iowa in March, Mr. Kennedy told The Epoch Times that he would continue his campaign as an independent.
“It will become obvious quickly [that] we will get ballot access,” Mr. Kennedy replied when asked whether he is still talking to the Libertarian Party about its nomination.
His campaign confirmed in a statement that he has “many areas of alignment” with the Libertarian Party but “is not contemplating joining the Libertarian ticket.”
Mr. Kennedy has spoken at multiple Libertarian events over the past year, including the party’s California annual convention. Yet, he appears committed to remaining independent.
He has told The Epoch Times on several occasions that he will be on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
On May 23, the Reform Party nominated him as its presidential candidate in Florida, giving him ballot access in one of the nation’s most influential political states.
He is also officially on the ballot in California, Delaware, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. The campaign has said that it has collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot in Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa.
