Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, will be on the Texas general election ballot this November.
The Texas Secretary of State's office announced Thursday afternoon that it had accepted Kennedy's petition to appear on the state ballot with 122,513 valid signatures. The Texas election code required a petition to have at least 113,151 valid signatures.
State Democrats said that Kennedy’s campaign didn’t have enough valid signatures and that his “attempt to overwhelm the system with bad signatures is just another example of his campaign’s disregard for the rules.”
Questions have been raised in other states about Kennedy signature gatherers and the use of misleading tactics while collecting signatures. This push from state Democrats to keep Kennedy off the ballot also aligned with national Democrats' efforts to keep the Independent candidate off state ballots as his campaign continues to try to get ballot access in all 50 states.
Kennedy polled around 9% nationally when the presidential matchup was between President Biden and Donald Trump. In Texas, Kennedy had the support of 8% of voters, according to polls.
However, once Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the race, Kennedy’s support dropped to 5% nationally. Kennedy has confirmed ballot access in 14 other states but claims he has access in about 29 other states.
Disclosure: Texas Secretary of State has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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