Thursday, 14 November 2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Rejected As Libertarian Party Presidential Nominee

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Although there was speculation independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may seek the Libertarian Party nomination for nationwide ballot access, voters at the Libertarian National Convention rejected RFK Jr. as the party's candidate.

RFK Jr. was eliminated in the first round of voting.

He garnered support from approximately 2 percent of delegates.

The lackluster performance follows the presidential candidate giving a speech at the convention.

RFK Jr. finished in eighth place out of 10 eligible candidates in the first round of voting, gaining 19 out of 919 votes. 

Per CNN:

Kennedy, who spoke at the party’s national convention in Washington, DC, on Friday, was nominated by a delegate Sunday on the convention floor, where his candidacy was met with boos from other delegates.

Donald Trump was also nominated on the convention floor Sunday, but Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle ruled the former president was not qualified because he did not submit nominating papers. Trump spoke Saturday at the convention, where he was loudly and consistently booed, particularly when he asked attendees to “nominate me or at least vote for me.”

Trump received votes from six delegates as a write-in candidate. In a rebuke of the former president, adult film actress Stormy Daniels – whose alleged affair with Trump is at the center of his hush money trial in New York – received a vote from one delegate. (Trump has denied the affair and pleaded not guilty in the case.)

Candidates who received less than 5% of the vote were eliminated in the first round. In all subsequent rounds, the candidate with the lowest vote total will be eliminated.

“What an unexpected honor to wake up this morning to a groundswell in the Libertarian Party seeking to nominate me. I would have accepted the nomination if offered because independents and third parties need to unite right now to reclaim our country from the corrupt two-party system. It was a high point of my campaign to speak at the @LPNational convention on Friday about our shared and urgent concerns. While we may not agree on every downstream issue, our core values of peace, free speech, and civil liberties make us natural allies,” RFK Jr. said.

“Together we will break the stranglehold of the Uniparty; end the forever wars; pardon Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and Ross Ulbricht; dismantle wasteful and abusive bureaucracies, and restore the authority of the Bill of Rights,” he added.

CBS News reports:

Former President Donald Trump and independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s attempts to appeal to the Libertarian Party fell on deaf ears this weekend, with the third-party crowd interrupting and mocking both at the party's convention in Washington, D.C.

A chaotic scene unfolded as Trump took the stage Saturday, as Libertarians clashed with pro-Trump attendees throughout his speech, resulting in multiple people being removed from the room and the crowd split between jeers, boos and chants directed at Trump.

“You can either nominate us and give us the position, or give us your votes,” Trump said to boos as he departed the stage.

Trump repeatedly snapped back at the crowd and their hostility, telling them at one point to “keep getting your 3% [of the national vote] every four years,” adding “maybe you don't want to win.”

Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party's nominee in 2020, got 1.85 million votes, under 1.2% of the popular vote. And in 2016, Gary Johnson, the party's nominee that cycle, received 4.48 million votes, about 3.3% of the popular vote.

 


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