Texas Democrats say RFK Jr. should be denied place on Nov. 5 statewide ballot

The Texas Democratic Party says as many as seven of 10 petition signatures submitted to the Texas secretary of state's office by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to qualify his independent bid for president on the statewide ballot for the Nov. 5 election are invalid and should be rejected.

Kennedy, the son and namesake of the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York, was at the Texas Capitol on May 15 where he and his campaign team submitted 245,572 petition signatures to Secretary of State Jane Nelson's office. Kennedy boasted at a rally in Austin that e vening that his petition signature total was record-breaking and contained more than twice the number required under law for third-party candidates.

But Austin lawyer Chad Dunn, representing the Texas Democratic Party, said in a letter to Nelson this month that 69% of the 245,000 people who signed on Kennedy's behalf were not eligible to do so. That means that if the percentage holds for the remaining signatures, Kennedy would fall short of the minimum needed by around 37,000, Dunn said.

"Based on these public records and no other information, it is clear that Mr. Kennedy’s petition signatures are insufficient in number to meet the requirements of state law," Dunn said in his letter.

The Kennedy campaign has disputed the Democrats' analysis and plans to hold a video news briefing Wednesday to address the matter.

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To qualify for a place on the 2024 Texas presidential ballot, state law requires 113,151 signatures from registered Texas voters who did not vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary in March.

The secretary of state's office declined to weigh in on Dunn's letter or on the calculations done by the state Democratic Party, but it said it is still combing through Kennedy's petition signatures as required by state law, and it expects to reach a decision by late August before the official state ballot is finalized.

Kennedy, whose father was gunned down during his own campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, entered the 2024 race as a challenger to President Joe Biden for the party's nomination. His bid attracted little Democratic support, with several members of the extended Kennedy family instead endorsing the incumbent.

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With his path to the nomination effectively blocked, Kennedy abandoned the party of his father and uncles — the late President John F. Kennedy and the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts — and mounted an independent campaign.

Many of the younger Kennedy's views also fall outside of the Democratic mainstream. He is a harsh critic of Biden's approach to border security and The Washington Post reported last week that Kennedy has spoken with former President Donald Trump about possibly endorsing the Republican's comeback bid and perhaps accepting a White House job in a potential second Trump administration.

Biden has since ended his reelection bid, and Vice President Kamala Harris, with the president's endorsement, is poised to be the Democratic presidential candidate, likely becoming the first Black woman and South Asian American to be nominated for president by a major political party.

Still, many Democrats see Kennedy's candidacy as a threat, given that his father and uncles are still revered in party circles.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Democrats say RFK Jr. should be denied place on Nov. 5 statewide ballot