Democrats want answers on how RFK Jr. will make Florida’s ballot

Democrats in Florida are demanding details about the state’s approval of a political party that intends to nominate presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear on ballots this fall.

In June, Florida’s Division of Elections registered the Reform Party as a minor political party, giving it a path to place a presidential candidate on the November ballot.

The party said it plans to nominate Kennedy, an independent candidate who Democrats fear could be a spoiler in closely contested states. Democrats have filed legal challenges to stop his candidacy in other states including Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey and Georgia.

An attorney for the Democratic National Committee sent the Division of Elections a request for records in May relating to the Reform Party’s registration and its correspondence with the office. The state hasn’t turned over the records or responded to the committee’s lawyer, according to the party.

The Division of Elections is led by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a former Republican lawmaker appointed to the job by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“It’s no surprise” that Byrd is not responding to requests “to explain how RFK Jr. got on the ballot,” Florida Democratic Party chairperson Nikki Fried said in a statement.

“Sunshine laws don’t truly exist in the Sunshine State because Republicans choose to hide information from the public to shield themselves from accountability,” she said.

Florida’s law allows the public to request a broad swath of information from state agencies, but DeSantis’ administration has repeatedly slow-walked or deliberately stymied the release of some records.

A spokesperson for Byrd did not respond to emails requesting comment.

The Reform Party of Florida has nominated various candidates since its creation by Ross Perot for his 1996 campaign for president. In 2000, Donald Trump considered running for president as a Reform Party candidate.

But it’s currently listed as “inactive” in Florida. That’s even though in July, the Reform Party of the United States of America wrote to Byrd that the party was an active affiliate of the national organization.

Instead, a new Florida-based Reform Party was created in May, and that entity was approved by the state’s Division of Elections. Both Florida versions of the party have the same chairperson, Jenniffer Desatoff.

Without records about how the new party was approved, it could be harder for Democrats to challenge its creation and, by extension, Kennedy’s candidacy in Florida. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrats challenged the candidacy of Reform Party candidate Ralph Nader in Florida, a case that was decided in Nader’s favor by the Florida Supreme Court.

“Florida voters have a right to access this information,” Fried said. “We demand an immediate response to this public records (request) to ensure we are all playing by the same rules.”

Kennedy challenged Biden in the Democratic primary this year but dropped out to run as an independent. In several states, including Florida, only Biden was allowed to be on the primary ballot.

Since then, Kennedy has worked with different third-party campaigns to get himself on the ballot in each state. In Florida, his campaign initially allied with the Natural Law Party to get on the ballot, but the effort fell apart amid mistrust and messy infighting, The Bulwark reported. The Natural Law Party of Florida is now nominating professor and activist Cornel West.

If Kennedy isn’t nominated by a registered political party, to appear on the ballot he would need to gather signatures from 1% of registered voters in Florida — an extraordinary hurdle so close to the election.

Currently, all Kennedy has to do to appear on Florida’s ballot is for the campaign to submit its electors by Aug. 24, according to state law.

Kennedy will appear on the ballot in Florida, said Roger Hayes, the campaign’s state field director. Hayes blasted any potential challenges by Florida Democrats to his candidacy.

“It’s laughable when they claim to be the torch-bearers of democracy,” Hayes said.

Whether Kennedy will actually appear on the ballot is far from certain. He has canceled recent events and has discussed dropping out of the race and endorsing Republican candidate Trump, according to news reports.

Even less clear is whether Kennedy’s candidacy would draw a meaningful number of supporters away from the campaigns of either Democrat Kamala Harris or Trump this fall.

Hayes said Kennedy is drawing support from people disgusted with both parties and their candidates. Kennedy is a longtime environmental activist who has challenged corporate power and vowed to cut military spending, issues popular on the left and, increasingly, on the right. Some statements he’s made are dubious, such as blaming an increase in mass shootings on the prevalence of antidepressants. He has also disputed the efficacy and safety of vaccines — a topic that DeSantis and his surgeon general have championed.

Democrats have worried about the candidacy of someone whose family is party royalty. Kennedy is the nephew of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy and longtime Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy. He’s the son of former attorney general and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who was killed while seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968.

On Thursday, Republican National Committee chairperson Michael Whatley told reporters in Tampa that the effect of Kennedy’s campaign will be “negligible.”

Trump campaign adviser Brian Hughes, a longtime Florida operative, called Kennedy “an ultra-left liberal” and dismissed the idea that Kennedy would endorse the former president.

“The idea of RFK Jr. endorsing Trump, given how different they are, seems odd,” Hughes said.