Judge rejects man’s bid to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off of New Jersey’s ballot

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey judge on Monday denied an effort to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from running for president under the state’s sore loser law.

Judge Robert Lougy denied a request by attorney Scott Salmon, who sought to keep Kennedy from appearing on the Nov. 5 presidential ballot as an independent. He said the law compelled him to dismiss the case but that Salmon could still raise complaints to the state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Tahesha Way.

Neither Salmon nor Kennedy’s campaign immediately responded to messages seeking comment. Salmon brought a suit in 2020 saying that then-potential presidential candidate Kanye West gathered an inadequate number of signatures. At the time, Salmon said he was a registered Democrat. West eventually withdrew his petition to be on the ballot.

Kennedy’s famous name and a loyal base have buoyed his bid for the White House, and he could do better than any independent presidential candidate in decades.

Strategists from both major parties worry that he might negatively affect their candidate’s chances.

Salmon sought to keep Kennedy from the ballot as an independent under a state law that bars candidates who run for a major party nomination in a primary from seeking the same office in the general election as an independent. Salmon sought to use the statute, known as a sore loser law, because Kennedy had filed with the Federal Election Commission in April 2023 to run as a Democrat; he amended the filing in October to begin an independent bid.

Kennedy argued that Salmon didn’t have standing to sue because he isn’t a candidate for president himself, among other arguments.