RFK Jr. Falls Short in Libertarian Party Presidential Nomination; Trump Misses Qualification Deadline

At the Libertarian Party’s convention on Sunday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate for president, was ruled out of the running for the party’s presidential ticket.

Kennedy was unexpectedly put forward as a candidate to lead the party in 2024 earlier Sunday. However, he was thrown out in the first round of voting after only 19 members, or 2.07%, voted for him. It took seven rounds of votes at the convention, but Chase Oliver won the Libertarian presidential nomination on Sunday night.

In Washington, DC, on Friday, Kennedy spoke at the party’s national conference. On Sunday, he was nominated by a delegate on the convention floor, but other delegates booed his name.

On Sunday, Donald Trump was also named on the convention floor, but Angela McArdle, Chair of the Libertarian Party, said the former president wasn’t qualified because he didn’t turn in his papers. On Saturday, Trump spoke at the convention. He was repeatedly and loudly booed, especially when he asked people to “nominate me or at least vote for me.”

As a write-in candidate, Trump got votes from six delegates. One delegate voted against the former president because of her relationship with Trump, which is the main focus of his hush money trial in New York. The vote was against Stormy Daniels, an adult film star. Trump has said he didn’t have the affair and pleaded not guilty.

In the first round, candidates who got less than 5% of the vote were thrown out. The candidate with the fewest votes will be removed in each round after this one.

He told Libertarians to support his campaign after Kennedy was removed, even though “we may not agree on every downstream issue.”

In an online post on Sunday, the independent candidate said that speaking at the gathering was “a high point of my campaign.”

“What a surprise honor it was to wake up this morning to a huge movement in the Libertarian Party to put forward my name for nomination.” Kennedy said, “I would have taken the nomination if it had been offered because third parties and independents need to work together right now to take back our country from the corrupt two-party system.”

Kennedy told CNN last week that he had no plans to run for the party’s nomination this weekend at the gathering.

A Libertarian delegate from New Jersey named Tim O’Brien said he thought Kennedy was trying to take advantage of the party without caring about its ideas.

“A lot of people have come to the party, ran, made a big deal, and then left.” “He may come here, but I promise you he won’t be here after the election,” O’Brien said.

“Our goal is to have people who are ready to say, ‘We are Libertarians, and we will stay with you guys,'” he said. “He doesn’t need us.” He wants to be able to vote.

Kennedy, a former Democrat, started to get to know Libertarian leaders before he quit his party to run as an independent. He met with McArdle in July and February to talk about the views they both held.

People thought that the Libertarian ticket could help Kennedy get around problems with getting on the ballot and use the party’s access to votes in dozens of states. So far, Kennedy is on the ticket in six states, while the Libertarians are in 38.

Nicole Shanahan, Jr.’s running mate, told CNN on Sunday that the Libertarian Party is “more relevant than ever” and that “there’s a great chance of success if we work together.” Since she joined Kennedy’s campaign in March, this was the first time the Silicon Valley lawyer and business owner had answered questions from a big news outlet.

Shanahan was supposed to talk at the convention on Sunday, but she won’t be able to because Kennedy was eliminated from the running for the Libertarian nomination, according to two people who know about her plans.

Kennedy told CNN last week after a gathering in Colorado that Libertarians will like the way he talks about the environment, foreign policy, and Covid-19.

He said, “My approach is a free-market approach, which Libertarians like.” “I don’t want to go to war, which I think is another important Libertarian value.” I respect the rights in the Constitution. During Covid, President Trump took away our civil rights. So I think Libertarians are more likely to vote for me if they believe in what they believe in.

In the past few weeks, Trump and Kennedy have become more hostile toward each other. This is because Kennedy’s campaign for the White House as an independent is becoming more and more seen as a possible problem by Trump’s advisors, especially since the election is expected to be decided by a small margin in a few states.

Kennedy’s support in national polls has hit double digits. For example, SSRS polled CNN last month and found that 16% of people supported him. There are strong signs that he is taking support from both Trump and President Joe Biden.

Trump’s attacks on Kennedy have grown stronger as the threat has grown. In public and on social media, the former president now hits Kennedy all the time. Trump put out a long video earlier this month in which he called Kennedy a “Democrat plant.”