Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Madison said Dems’ desire to keep him on the ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan was “election interference” and an attempt to “trick people voting for me instead of voting for Donald Trump.”
He also made several false claims about the Wisconsin case, including that the court was divided over his request for an injunction to remove him from the ballot.
“What I say to you is do not fall for the ploy,” Kennedy said yesterday in the Arena Building at the Alliant Energy Center. “I don’t want your vote. I want you to vote for Donald Trump.”
Kennedy filed nomination papers in Wisconsin by the August deadline to qualify for the presidential ballot as an independent candidate. He sought to withdraw those papers after deciding to end his campaign and endorsing Trump. But state law doesn’t provide a mechanism for a candidate to do that.
The state Elections Commission voted to certify him for the Wisconsin ballot, and Kennedy sued in Dane County Circuit Court. A Dane County judge rejected Kennedy’s request to be removed, citing state law, and found the independent’s suggestion of affixing stickers to ballots to cover his name was unworkable.
On appeal, the state Supreme Court took over the case and unanimously ruled against him. And then he appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, leading to conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett yesterday rejecting his request for an injunction.
Kennedy addressed the rulings in the Wisconsin and Michigan suits during the rally in Madison yesterday evening with former Dem U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has also endorsed Trump.
He claimed the court was split about his request to be removed and the conservatives, led by Justice Neil Gorsuch “all dissented.”
Barrett’s ruling in the Wisconsin case didn’t list any dissents. Gorsuch is the only member of the court listed as dissenting when conservative Brett Kavanaugh rejected Kennedy’s request for an injunction in Michigan.
Kennedy also claimed Dems filed suit in 10 states to keep him off the ballot — including Wisconsin — but switched to seeking to keep him on the ballot after he pledged his support to Trump.
The state and national Dem parties didn’t file such a suit in Wisconsin. The state DOJ — led by Dem AG Josh Kaul — opposed Kennedy’s suit seeking to be removed from the ballot as his agency represented the Elections Commission.
During their roughly 75 minutes on the stage, Kennedy and Gabbard sought to portray Dems as the party of censorship, Big Pharma and war.
Kennedy rejected criticism of Trump for his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He likened it to how his uncle John F. Kennedy Jr. built a relationship with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the hotline that was established between the two leaders for faster direct communications after the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“He doesn’t love dictators. He just thinks it’s a responsibility of the American president to talk to our adversaries so we can stay out of war, and that’s what we want,” Kennedy said.
Gabbard also countered criticism of Trump’s rally in New York in which a comedian called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” a comment that drew condemnation from Dems and Republicans.
Gabbard, who spoke at the rally, said those who were there saw “nothing but joy in that crowd.” She urged the crowd to reach out to people in their life who may be leaning against Trump after “these headlines that have been running over the last few days.”
In response to the appearance, state Dem Party spokesperson Kristi Johnston touted the Wisconsin Republicans such as retiring state Sen. Rob Cowles, of Green Bay, who are backing Harris.
“While Trump is campaigning with conspiracy theorists and is focused on his ‘enemies list,’ Vice President Harris is focused on her ‘to-do list’ to deliver lower costs and more opportunity for Wisconsinites and their families,” Johnston said.
GOP U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde spoke ahead of the pair, saying he shares “many similar views” with Kennedy, particularly about what he called a “health crisis” in the country. After taking the stage, Kennedy said there’s “nobody I want to see more in the Senate than Eric Hovde.”