The Florida Reform Party nominated RFK Jr. as its presidential candidate, and President Trump responded to Haley’s endorsement.
Reform Party of Florida nominates RFK Jr.
The Reform Party has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as its presidential candidate in Florida, his campaign announced Friday.
The centrist party, founded by independent presidential candidate Ross Perot three years after his loss to Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election, aims to offer a third alternative to Democrats and Republicans and its official color is purple.
“The driving force behind this pairing is principles,” Reform Party Chairman Nick Hensley said in a statement about the nomination. “While Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Reform Party do not agree on every issue, the Reform Party and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. agree on an understanding that we must listen to our opponents, debate the facts, and not ignore solutions put forward by our political rivals. True leaders listen to those around them and enforce consensus, regardless of party affiliation.”
The Reform Party has nominated several candidates for president in the past, including consumer rights activist Ralph Nader in 2004 and former White House communications director and Republican Pat Buchanan in 2000. Neither campaign was successful.
“I couldn’t agree more with the Reform Party’s motto: ‘Now is the time to put people first,'” Kennedy said in a statement. “I am thrilled to accept the nomination, to advance the independence movement and to carry our shared ideals to the White House.”
The Reform Party nomination allows Kennedy to raise up to $48,000 per donor in the state, six times what he could have raised as an independent.
Kennedy has been seeking nominations from various independent parties over the past few months in a bid to secure voting rights in all 50 states ahead of the November election.
In April, the American Independent Party in California nominated Kennedy-Shanahan, and in March the Natural Law Party nominated Kennedy in Michigan.
The Kennedy 24 campaign has been working to gain access to the ballot since January, when it launched the “We the People” party to get on the California ballot ahead of the Super Tuesday primary on March 5. The Kennedy-Shanahan campaign has since gathered enough signatures to get on the ballot in Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Ohio.
Kennedy-Shanahan is officially on the electoral rolls in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Oklahoma, Utah and Texas.
Kennedy, 70, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in April 2020 but switched to independent status in October last year, calling the two-party system “corrupt” and “rigged.”
Trump responds to Haley’s endorsement
Former President Donald Trump has said that former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will endorse him in the next presidential election.
Haley said she plans to vote for him in November.
The former president said it’s likely she’ll return to his team in some capacity.
“Well, I think she’d be on our team because we’re like-minded, like-minded in a lot of ways,” Trump said. “I appreciate what she said. You know, we ran a terrible campaign. A pretty terrible one. But she’s a very capable person and I’m sure she’ll be on our team in some capacity, definitely.”
No one has yet been announced as Trump’s running mate, but he has said he will choose one at the Republican National Convention, which begins in Milwaukee on July 15.
