Robert Kennedy Jr. to remain on New Mexico ballot despite withdrawal from presidential race

SANTA FE — Robert Kennedy Jr. will still appear on the ballot in New Mexico this fall, despite his withdrawal from the presidential race.

Kennedy announced last week he was effectively ending his independent presidential campaign and subsequently pledged his support to Republican Donald Trump.

After previously securing his spot on the ballot in all but a few states, Kennedy said he would seek to remove his name from ballots in battleground states.

But elections officials in Michigan and Wisconsin also confirmed Tuesday he would not be able to remove himself from the ballot in those states.

In New Mexico, Kennedy’s campaign succeeded in securing his spot on the ballot and did not take the necessary steps to have him removed before a Tuesday deadline to do so, a spokesman for Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s office said.

“He did not meet the withdrawal deadline, so his name will appear as a presidential candidate on the general election ballot,” Secretary of State’s Office spokesman Alex Curtas told the Journal.

Kennedy’s campaign had submitted more than 11,000 voter signatures in New Mexico in advance of a July deadline for independent, write-in and minor party candidates.

That total was nearly three times more valid signatures than necessary to qualify for the Nov. 5 ballot as an independent candidate.

In addition to Kennedy, other presidential candidates on the New Mexico ballot include Democrat Kamala Harris, Trump, Chase Oliver of the Free New Mexico Party and Claudia De La Cruz of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein has also submitted paperwork to appear on the New Mexico ballot, but it has not yet been determined whether she met qualification requirements, Curtas said.

The Secretary of State’s Office and county clerks around the state are expected to finalize the general election ballot by next week.

Meanwhile, the ultimate impact of Kennedy remaining on the ballot is not likely to be a game-changer in New Mexico, which has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 2004.

Longtime New Mexico political observer Brian Sanderoff said Kennedy’s name appearing on the ballot will allow some voters who are disillusioned with both Trump and Harris to still cast their votes for him.

However, Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump will probably not affect the final outcome of the race in New Mexico even if some Kennedy supporters end up voting for the former president, Sanderoff added.

“New Mexico is a blue-leaning state when it comes to presidential politics,” he said.

Sanderoff, who is the president of the Albuquerque-based Research & Polling Inc., also pointed out other members of the Kennedy family — including some of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s siblings — have distanced themselves publicly from him and are supporting Harris in this year’s contest.

The Kennedy family has traditionally been held in high regard by many northern New Mexico voters, due in large part to their Catholic faith.

Edward Kennedy, the longtime U.S. senator and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s uncle, campaigned for Barack Obama in New Mexico in 2008 before his death a year later.

And John F. Kennedy visited Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Alamos as president in 1962.

Kennedy Jr. himself, an environmental attorney and vaccine skeptic, traveled to Albuquerque this summer for the premiere of a documentary film focused on drug addiction.

Early voting in New Mexico is set to begin Oct. 8.