RFK Jr. qualifies for California ballot 

Impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has certified for the poll in California, his marketing campaign introduced Monday.

Kennedy, alongside working mate Nicole Shanahan, was backed by the American Impartial Occasion (AIP) of California, the state with essentially the most electoral school votes within the nation. The marketing campaign confirmed it filed paperwork with California’s secretary of state on Monday.

In a five-minute video announcement, Kennedy famous that “satirically” the AIP was initially the occasion of segregationist and former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, however it “had its personal rebirth.”

“It’s been reborn as a celebration that represents not bigotry and hatred, however somewhat compassion and unity and idealism and customary sense,” Kennedy mentioned. “Once they realized about my candidacy, they’d simply drafted a brand new constitution for his or her reborn occasion the place they may use their battle line for good for serving to impartial candidates to unite America with out being blocked by the two-party duopoly.”

The Hill reached out to the AIP for additional remark.

California marks the third state poll Kennedy and Shanahan have formally certified for, following Utah and Michigan. They’ve additionally gained sufficient signatures for poll entry in seven different states, together with New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska and Iowa.

Kennedy, who switched from a Democratic to impartial ticket final fall, is seeking to seem uniformly on ballots throughout the map in opposition to President Biden and former President Trump. He has repeatedly argued the presumptive occasion nominees are unfit to proceed serving.

Kennedy’s marketing campaign is aiming to assemble signatures throughout 50 states earlier than their deadlines, however specialists advised The Hill he solely wants a handful of key battlegrounds to doubtlessly affect the result on Election Day. 

The environmental lawyer is presently polling forward of different third-party candidates, although his numbers when in opposition to Biden and Trump have dropped in a polling aggregation by Determination Desk HQ and The Hill. 

As of Monday, Kennedy had almost 8.5 % of the vote, trailing far behind Trump, who had just a little greater than 42 %, and Biden, who had almost 41 %.