Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and presumptive Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein both claim their campaigns have obtained enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in Pennsylvania, setting the stage for multiple potential spoilers as former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden prepare for a rematch in the Keystone State.
Kennedy filed paperwork with Pennsylvania election officials last week, with Pennsylvania Capital-Star reporting the Kennedy campaign claimed to submit 9,000 signatures, which the outlet noted is nearly twice the legally required number of signatures.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will give Pennsylvanians the government accountability they deserve,” said Kennedy campaign Northeast Regional Director Jon Raso, according to the outlet. Raso claimed, “We now have a candidate we can vote for who truly cares about us.”
The Stein campaign reported it accrued the required number of signatures on Tuesday, according to The Washington Times, which reported a spokesman acknowledged the campaign expects Democrats to attempt to block their candidate from the ballot.
“We look forward to being on the PA ballot, following whatever shenanigans the Democrats pull to block us,” said Stein campaign spokesman Jason Call to the outlet.
Call said he expects Democrats to “bleed our resources and time, not to keep us off the ballot.”
Libertarian Party presidential nominee Chase Oliver is additionally working to secure ballot access in Pennsylvania, where his campaign hopes to turn in its paperwork by the August 1 deadline. The website for the independent presidential campaign of progressive academic and activist Cornel West additionally claims it is working to secure ballot access.
The Real Clear Polling average of Pennsylvania polls suggests Trump will receive the greatest benefit from a crowded race, with the former president beating Biden by 3 percent when polls include Kennedy, Stein, and West.
According to the website’s average, Kennedy has the support of 6.2 percent of Pennsylvania voters, while Stein and West are each supported by 1.2 percent.
In polls that give voters the choice of Biden or Trump, the former president’s polling advantage is reduced to 2.8 percent.
The Biden campaign appears to consider Kennedy voters in Pennsylvania, where Biden won in 2020 by just 80,555 votes, a threat to the president’s reelection odds.
When at least 15 members of the Kennedy family gathered to publicly endorse Biden in April, the president’s campaign chose Philadelphia as the venue. The Biden campaign also launched its nationwide effort to reach black voters in Philadelphia, as polls suggest the president’s popularity could be fading with the demographic.
Stein, meanwhile, was accused of benefiting Trump in 2016, when some argue she secured enough votes from progressive and environmentalist voters in swing states to deny victory to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
West has weighed in on his potential status as a spoiler at least twice, first arguing to TIME Magazine last October that Biden and Trump are similarly bad options.
In December 2023, West was less excited about being called a spoiler.
“If you ended up viewing me as a spoiler when you really should have — or wanted to — vote for Biden, you vote for Biden then,” said West, according to German-owned Politico.
Though some have additionally argued the Libertarian Party presidential nominee usually hurts the Republican candidate, Newsweek recently noted that Oliver tends to align with Democrats on social issues, potentially making his candidacy a “blessing” to Trump’s reelection odds.
Trump spoke at the Libertarian Party’s convention and urged the party’s voters to “combine” with Republicans to defeat Biden.
After losing the party’s nomination, former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Rectenwald predicted to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show that the party’s decision to nominate Oliver “divided the party in half.”
Recetenwald predicted Oliver’s candidacy would ultimately help Trump beat Biden in November by depressing the Libertarian vote.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Robert Kennedy Jr.” by Robert Kennedy Jr. Photo “Jill Stein” by Jill Stein. Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
