{"id":2272214,"date":"2024-06-20T05:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T09:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rfk-jr-finds-2024-debate-stage-out-of-reach-ahead-of-midnight-qualifying-deadline\/"},"modified":"2024-06-20T05:28:25","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T09:28:25","slug":"rfk-jr-finds-2024-debate-stage-out-of-reach-ahead-of-midnight-qualifying-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rfk-jr-finds-2024-debate-stage-out-of-reach-ahead-of-midnight-qualifying-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"RFK Jr. unlikely to make 2024 debate stage as qualifying deadline looms"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frfk-jr-finds-2024-debate-stage-out-of-reach-ahead-of-midnight-qualifying-deadline%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2272214&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, is on the verge of meeting the polling requirements for an upcoming presidential \u2062debate but faces challenges in qualifying due to \u2063insufficient ballot access across \u2064states. As of now, Kennedy has achieved the necessary 15%\u200c in\u200c three out of four required national polls but lacks a fourth, along with adequate ballot access\u2014having confirmed his candidacy\u2063 in\u2062 only nine states.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy has argued that the CNN-hosted debate&#8217;s criteria, which\u2064 effectively exclude him\u200d from participating alongside presumed major party\u2064 nominees \u2064President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, represent a\u2063 breach of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aoc-embroiled-in-congressional-ethics-controversy-over-her-marital-status-5-year-prison-sentence-broached\/\" title=\"AOC faces ethics controversy on marital status - 5-year prison sentence mentioned.\">federal\u200b campaign finance law<\/a>. His campaign contends that CNN collaborated with \u200bthe Biden and Trump teams to \u200bkeep \u200bhim \u200doff\u200c the debate stage, a \u2064claim CNN denies, stating their criteria \u200dwere\u200d set prior to the invitation of any candidates.<\/p>\n<p>Despite efforts to\u2062 gain ballot access in \u200cadditional states, Kennedy&#8217;s current standing\u2064 would not automatically allot him a spot in the debate according to\u200d CNN&#8217;s rules, which \u200cstate \u200dthat the presumptive nominees \u2063of\u200c recognized \u200dpolitical parties are guaranteed ballot access without the need to petition, a luxury that does not extend to independent candidates. Kennedy\u2019s \u200dcampaign \u200dis \u200dattempting\u2062 to push through this\u2062 challenge\u2063 by filing a complaint\u2063 with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), alleging unlawful exclusion. However, it remains \u2062uncertain whether this move will influence his inclusion in \u2064the \u2063debate.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/rfk-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a> is close to reaching the polling threshold for next week\u2019s presidential debate, but the Thursday deadline to qualify, plus his difficulty gaining ballot access, virtually guarantees he will not make the stage.<\/p>\n<p>With days until the June 27 debate, Kennedy has reached the 15% polling threshold in three of four qualifying national surveys, underscoring he could be a spoiler in a presidential rematch between President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Joe Biden<\/a> and former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Kennedy, an independent who draws support from voters in both parties, lacks a fourth survey as well as ballot access in enough states to reach 270 electoral votes, the magic number for winning the presidency.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy claims that CNN, which is hosting the debate in Atlanta, is treating him unfairly, but with hours left to meet the network\u2019s rules, he is not expected to appear onstage with the two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nolte-polls-show-hobbled-biden-limping-into-sotu-trailing-trump-in-rematch\/\" title=\"Nolte: Polls Show Hobbled Biden Limping Into SOTU, Trailing Trump in Rematch\">major party candidates<\/a> for their first debate of the 2024 cycle.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/election-2024\/?utm_source=homepage&#038;utm_medium=banner&#038;utm_campaign=iowa_caucus&#038;utm_id=election2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ELECTION 2024: FOLLOW LATEST COVERAGE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While Kennedy\u2019s campaign is attempting to gain access in all 50 states, the process of collecting enough signatures is an enormous undertaking for third-party candidates given the financial disadvantage and groundwork required. Kennedy\u2019s campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennedy24.com\/kennedy_submits_signatures_ballot_nebraska\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>claims<\/a> it has been approved for ballot access in nine states: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign also states it has collected enough signatures in 14 others.<\/p>\n<p>In theory, that would give Kennedy access to 310 electoral votes but includes states that have not certified Kennedy and are not expected to do so in time for the debate.<\/p>\n<p>CNN <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/06\/15\/politics\/trump-biden-cnn-debate-rules\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>reported<\/a> on Saturday it is not likely that candidates other than Biden and Trump will qualify. The network says Kennedy is on the ballot in only six states, totaling 89 Electoral College votes.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to supporters during a campaign event, Saturday, April 13, 2024, in West Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo\/Charlie Neibergall)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last month, Kennedy\u2019s campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3020944\/rfk-files-fec-complaint-claiming-cnn-biden-trump-engaged-flagrant-violations-planning-debates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>filed a complaint<\/a> with the Federal Election Commission alleging that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/cnn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CNN<\/a> worked in tandem with the\u00a0Biden and Trump campaigns to exclude him from the debate.<\/p>\n<p>The debate criteria were \u201cdesigned to result in the selection of certain pre-chosen participants, namely Biden and Trump, in a clear breach of federal campaign finance law,\u201d the complaint stated. <\/p>\n<p>Kennedy also argued that since Biden and Trump are the presumptive but not official nominees of their respective political parties, they do not have access to 270 electoral votes. In a previous statement to the <em>Washington Examiner,<\/em> CNN pushed back against the collusion allegations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe law in virtually every state provides that the nominee of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rfk-jr-files-fec-complaint-claiming-cnn-biden-and-trump-engaged-in-flagrant-violations-in-planning-debates\/\" title=\"RFK Jr. lodges FEC complaint alleging CNN, Biden, and Trump violated debate rules\">state-recognized political party<\/a> will be allowed ballot access without petitioning,\u201d a CNN spokesperson said. \u201cAs the presumptive nominees of their parties both Biden and Trump will satisfy this requirement. As an independent candidate, under applicable laws RFK, Jr. does not.\u00a0The mere application for ballot access does not guarantee that he will appear on the ballot in any state.\u00a0In addition, RFK, Jr. does not currently meet our polling criteria, which, like the other objective criteria, were set before issuing invitations to the debate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Kennedy campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but Tony Lyons, the co-chairman of the super PAC supporting him, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> he still expects the FEC to weigh in on the debate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe complaint has been filed with the FEC, and so they have time to actually rule on it and find it to be an illegal campaign contribution,\u201d Lyons, who leads American Values 2024, said. \u201cAnd if they do that, then I think they would be forced to include Bobby Kennedy in the debate. And even if the FEC doesn\u2019t rule on it, it\u2019s so clearly un-American and anti-democratic for CNN to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other political experts were skeptical of the FEC pressuring CNN to allow Kennedy onstage. \u201cThis is just American politics \u2014 when all else fails, sue,\u201d Bernard Tamas, author of <em>The Demise and Rebirth of American Third Parties<\/em>, said. \u201cAnd I can\u2019t imagine the FEC actually forcing CNN to change its rules, partially because it\u2019s dominated by the Democrats and Republicans, so that\u2019s problem No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut problem No. 2 is that the argument is a little bit \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t say flimsy but, I mean, very technically, he might have a point \u2014 but it doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s strong enough for them to force CNN to change what they\u2019re planning,\u201d Tamas, who also is an associate professor of political science at Valdosta State University, said.<\/p>\n<p>The Kennedy campaign pointed to an FEC spokesperson\u2019s comments to <em>Island News<\/em> that the term presumptive nominee \u201cis not in the FEC\u2019s debate regulation\u201d as proof that CNN is not exempted from \u201cexcessive campaign contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But again political experts expressed reservation. \u201cThe Federal Election Commission is not known for taking a vigorous stance on things, and I would expect that there wouldn\u2019t be much help for RFK Jr. from the FEC,\u201d Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington, said.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump campaign maintains the former president would welcome Kennedy on the debate stage. \u201cPresident Trump said repeatedly he had no problem debating RFK Jr. and he believes any candidate who qualifies for the ballot should be allowed to make their case to America\u2019s voters,\u201d Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary\u00a0for the campaign, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s Joe Biden and the Democrats who are using financial and legal resources to prevent RFK\u2019s access to the ballot because they know RFK Jr. is a radical leftist who pulls more votes from Biden than President Trump,\u201d Leavitt continued.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic National Committee declined a request for comment; the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>reached out to the Biden campaign. But the president\u2019s team has previously made the opposite case about Kennedy \u2014 that he will pull votes from Trump.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is nearing the polling threshold for the upcoming presidential debate. However, with the Thursday deadline approaching and challenges in securing ballot access, it&#8217;s almost certain he won&#8217;t qualify. Days before the June 27 debate, Kennedy has hit the 15% mark in three out of four required polls<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2658,"featured_media":2272215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kennedy-debate.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2272214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kennedy-debate.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2272214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2272215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2272214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2272214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2272214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}