Florida Democrats are demanding details about the state’s approval of the party that plans to nominate its presidential candidate. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear on the ballot this fall.
In June, the Florida Department of Elections It recognized the Reform Party as a minor political party, giving it a path to field a candidate in November’s presidential election.
The party said it plans to nominate Kennedy, an independent who Democrats fear could flip seats in swing states. Democrats are also suing to block him from running in other states, including Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia.
Lawyers for the Democratic National Committee have requested the elections office release the records. State government documents related to the Reform Party’s registration and interactions with the office were submitted in May. The party said the state has not turned over the records or responded to the committee’s lawyers.
The elections department is led by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a former Republican who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“It’s not surprising that Byrd has not responded to our requests to explain how RFK Jr. ended up on the ballot,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a statement.
“Sunshine laws don’t actually exist in the Sunshine State because Republicans chose to hide information from the public to avoid accountability,” she said.
Florida law allows citizens to request a wide range of information from state government agencies, but the DeSantis administration has repeatedly delayed or intentionally obstructed the release of that information. record.
A spokesman for Bird did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The Florida Reform Party has nominated various candidates since its formation by Ross Perot for the 1996 presidential election. In 2000, Donald Trump considered running for president as the Reform Party’s candidate.
However, it is currently listed as “inactive” in Florida, even though the Reform Party of America wrote Byrd in July that it is an active affiliate of the national organization.
Instead, a new Florida-based Reform Party was formed in May and recognized by the state’s elections department. Both the Florida and Florida versions of the party are chaired by the same person, Jennifer Desatoff.
Without a record of how the new party was chartered, it could be harder for Democrats to challenge the formation of the new party and, ultimately, Kennedy’s candidacy in Florida. In 2004, Democrats challenged Reform Party candidate Ralph Nader’s candidacy in Florida, but the Florida Supreme Court ruled in Nader’s favor.
“Florida voters have a right to access this information,” Fried said. “We demand an immediate response to this public records request to ensure we are all playing by the same rules.”
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Kennedy challenged Biden in this year’s Democratic primary but dropped out to run as an independent. In some states, including Florida, only Biden could appear on the primary ballot.
Since then, Kennedy has worked with various third-party campaigns to run in various states. In Florida, he initially teamed up with the Natural Law Party to run, but distrust and nasty infighting killed the effort, according to The Bulwark. The Florida Natural Law Party is currently nominating professor and activist Cornel West as its candidate.
If Kennedy is not nominated by a registered party, he would need to gather signatures from 1 percent of Florida’s registered voters to appear on the ballot — an unusual hurdle so close to an election.
Now, Kennedy only needs to submit electors to appear on Florida’s ballot. by Aug. 24, according to state law.
Mr. Kennedy will appear on the Florida ballot, said Roger Hayes, the campaign’s state field director, who blasted the possibility that Florida Democrats would challenge Mr. Kennedy’s candidacy.
“It’s ludicrous that they claim to be the vanguard of democracy,” Hayes said.
It’s by no means certain that Kennedy will actually appear on the ballot: He has canceled recent events and is considering withdrawing from the race to support a Republican candidate. According to reports, Trump.
Even less clear is Kennedy’s If she were to run, she would likely alienate a significant number of supporters from Democrat Kamala Harris or Trump’s campaigns this fall.
Hayes said Kennedy has drawn support from people who are disgusted by both parties and their candidates. Kennedy is a longtime environmental activist who has challenged corporate power and vowed to cut military spending — issues that have made him popular on the left and right. Some of his comments have been questionable, such as blaming the rise in mass shootings on the spread of antidepressants. He also disputes the efficacy and safety of vaccines, which DeSantis and the surgeon general have maintained.
Democrats are concerned about the candidacy of a member of the family of party heavyweights. Mr. Kennedy is the nephew of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy and longtime Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy, and the son of former attorney general and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who was killed while running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968.
On Thursday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley told reporters in Tampa that the impact of Kennedy’s campaign was “negligible.”
Trump campaign adviser Longtime Florida activist Brian Hughes called Kennedy a “hard-left liberal” and rejected the idea that he would support the former president.
“It seems odd that RFK Jr. would endorse Trump, given the differences in their views,” Hughes said.
Tampa Bay Times reporter Nina Moske contributed to this report.
