RFK Jr. removed from Massachusetts ballot

BOSTON - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will not appear on the ballot in Massachusetts for the Nov. 2024 presidential election, Secretary of State Bill Galvin announced Tuesday.

Kennedy was running for president as an independent up until August, but suspended his campaign and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Kennedy had collected enough signatures to qualify for the Massachusetts ballot, according to the secretary of state.

"In light of the candidate's recent public statements about the status of his campaign, the Kennedy campaign has assented to the removal of his name from the ballot in Massachusetts," Galvin's office said in a statement.

RFK Jr.'s push to remove name from ballots

When Kennedy announced his campaign suspension, he initially said he would seek to remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states "where my presence would be a spoiler," but remain on the ballot in noncompetitive states.

Since then, however, Kennedy has moved to take his name off ballots in states where the race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is not considered to be close. Kennedy also urged his supporters in an email on Sept. 5 to vote for Trump in all states, not just battlegrounds.

On Monday, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Kennedy will have to stay on the ballot in the hotly contested state. Click here to see a map showing where Kennedy is on the ballot in the 2024 election.

Massachusetts presidential election ballot

Galvin on Tuesday revealed the finalized presidential ballot for Massachusetts, which lists the candidates in alphabetical order. They are:

• AYYADURAI and ELLIS, Independent

• DE LA CRUZ and GARCIA, Socialism and Liberation

• HARRIS and WALZ, Democratic

• OLIVER and TER MAAT, Libertarian

• STEIN and CABALLERO-ROCA, Green-Rainbow Party

• TRUMP and VANCE, Republican

Earlier in the year before the presidential primaries there was a push by some advocates to remove Trump from the Massachusetts ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. But the highest court in the state denied the challenge and the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that efforts from some states to exclude Trump from the ballot were unconstitutional.

Early voting begins in Massachusetts on Oct. 19.