Arizona could have six presidential candidates on the ballot in November after a super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims to have obtained enough signatures for the independent presidential candidate to qualify.
The American Values 24 super PAC confirmed on Tuesday it “met the signature requirements” for Kennedy to get “on the ballot in Arizona and Georgia.”
Kennedy’s independent bid is only the latest new addition to the ballot in Arizona, where in 2020 voters were given the choices of the Republican Party, Democratic Party, or Libertarian Party candidates.
Though it missed the opportunity for voters to participate in a Presidential Preference Election (PPE), the Green Party gained ballot access for the 2024 general elections in Arizona in December 2023. Jill Stein, the party’s 2016 presidential candidate, is again seeking the Green Party’s nomination.
No Labels gained access to the Arizona ballot earlier in 2023 and has since accrued more than 25,000 registered members, with its rosters now exceeding the margin of victory enjoyed by President Joe Biden in Arizona during the 2020 election.
While the party has yet to find a presidential candidate, outgoing Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who is a proponent of the party, told The Detroit News that No Labels is “working very, very diligently” toward finding a presidential candidate.
He reiterated the party’s goal to find “a candidate that’s in the center, center-left, center-right,” to “try to bring the whole country together,” and revealed he is part of the effort to find such an individual.
“I’m going to go out and try to recruit the next president, the next congressperson, the next senator sitting back there,” he told the outlet during a meeting of the Detroit Economic Club.
Democrats have expressed concern that No Labels will hurt President Joe Biden’s bid for reelection, with the president acknowledging the party is likely to “help the other guy” in 2024.
The Libertarian Party held its first contest in Iowa on January 15, won by former Libertarian Senate candidate Chase Oliver, but the fate of the party’s presidential nomination may be complicated by the recent interest from Kennedy in running under the party’s banner to obtain ballot access in more states.
Should Kennedy reach an agreement to run as a Libertarian and receive the party’s nomination, he would likely appear twice on the Arizona ballot.
With the recent victory in New Hampshire by former President Donald Trump over former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Arizona Republicans, and Democrats appear poised for a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Robert Kennedy Jr.” by Robert Kennedy Jr. Background Photo “People Voting” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
