Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Aug. 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and supporting the Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will no longer appear on the South Carolina ballot as the Alliance Party’s presidential candidate.
Kennedy suspended his long-shot bid for the presidency Friday and endorsed former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. In his announcement, Kennedy said his name would remain on the ballot in most states.
However, the Alliance Party of South Carolina decided it no longer wanted Kennedy as its representative. The party’s purpose is to give voters a choice other than a Republican or Democrat, so Kennedy’s decision to back Trump resulted in the executive committee deciding Monday night to end their association, according to the party.
“The Alliance Party of South Carolina and its candidates are dedicated to providing voters with a choice other than that provided by the Democratic and Republican political parties,” said Keisha Long, the chair of the state party, said in a release emailed Tuesday. “We and our candidates remain committed to achieving that goal with candidates who run to the finish line.”
Long told the SC Daily Gazette it was the party’s decision; the Kennedy campaign did not request any changes. She said the party has no plans to replace Kennedy with another candidate.
A spokesperson for the South Carolina Election Commission confirmed that it received the party’s request Tuesday morning to pull Kennedy from the ballot.
On Friday in Arizona, Kennedy said he would pull his own name off the ballot in about 10 battleground states, though he did not specify which states. South Carolina is not a swing state.
The Alliance Party has affiliates in more than a dozen other states. But South Carolina was the only chapter that put Kennedy on its line for president, according to Victoria Staten, national secretary for the party.
The party’s roots are in South Carolina. It launched here in 2013 as the American Party, founded by former state Superintendent Jim Rex — the last Democrat in statewide office — and Dr. Oscar Lovelace, who unsuccessfully challenged the re-election of Gov. Mark Sanford in the 2006 GOP primary, as an alternative to the two-party system.
The state effort joined with independent parties in other states in 2018 to become the national Alliance Party.
The withdrawal of Kennedy leaves seven presidential candidates on the South Carolina ballot, including for the Constitution, United Citizens, Green, Libertarian and Workers parties as well as the Democratic and Republican.
It is unlikely any other candidates will be added to the presidential ballot.
The deadline for parties in South Carolina to register candidates for president is Sept. 3.
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