Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hoped to elbow his way into next Thursday’s debate on CNN and, at the very least, play spoiler.
Turns out, any spoiling he does will have to be done from the sidelines.
CNN announced Thursday that Kennedy did not qualify for the debate, and so the first presidential debate will feature President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Not that any of this is surprising. All along, Kennedy looked to be a long shot for the debate.
CNN’s requirements stated, “… a candidate’s name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency prior to the eligibility deadline; agree to accept the rules and format of the debate; and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting.”
For starters, Kennedy reached the threshold in only three of the national polls, one fewer than the minimum.
Geoffrey Skelley, a senior elections analyst at 538, wrote for ABC News, “Yet even if he had gotten a fourth poll, Kennedy sat well shy of CNN's requirement for ballot access at the end of the qualifying period. Unlike the major-party nominees, independent and third-party contenders aren't all but guaranteed ballot access in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, so they must navigate each state's rules for garnering a spot on the ballot — a process that usually involves gathering a sizable number of petition signatures. Kennedy's campaign claims to have made the ballot in 23 states worth 310 electoral votes, but CNN said last Saturday that it had only confirmed he'd made the ballot in six states worth 89 electoral votes.”
Kennedy has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that CNN “colluded” with the Biden and Trump campaigns to keep him out of the debate.
Skelley wrote, “(The Kennedy camp) also argued that CNN is using different qualification criteria for Biden and Trump by mandating that Kennedy meet the 270-electoral vote ballot status requirement even though the two major-party contenders won't be formally nominated — and thus secure ballot access as their respective parties' nominees — until their conventions happen later this summer. In response, a CNN spokesperson said in May that ‘the law in virtually every state provides that the nominee of a state-recognized political party will be allowed ballot access without petitioning. As the presumptive nominees of their parties both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement.’”
In a statement on Thursday, Kennedy said, “My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly. Americans want an independent leader who will break apart the two-party duopoly. They want a President who will heal the divide, restore the middle class, unwind the war machine, and end the chronic disease epidemic.”
