Nevada election officials certify enough signatures for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear on ballot

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada election officials verified enough signatures for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign to appear on the Nevada ballot, the state’s top election official confirmed Friday, likely bringing his insurgent quest to shake up Republican and Democratic dominance of U.S. elections to a crucial battleground state.

Kennedy has gained traction with a famous name and a loyal base, and he has the potential to do better than any independent presidential candidate in decades. Strategists from both major parties fear he could tip the election against them, though a big blow to his campaign came when he did not qualify for the CNN debate in June. Instead, he held a separate event where he responded in real time to the questions that were posed to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

There still could be room for legal challenges. Last month, state and national Democrats filed a lawsuit challenging Kennedy Jr.'s standing on the Nevada ballot as an independent because of his affiliation with political parties in other states.

The verified signatures came in a petition that Kennedy Jr.'s campaign scrambled to submit after the Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s office clarified guidance that would likely nullify his original petition because he did not list a running mate.

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The campaign had filed a lawsuit against Aguilar’s office over the state requirement that independent candidates must name their running mate by the time they start gathering signatures. The campaign said that they received approval in January from Aguilar’s office allowing them to collect the required number of signatures for a petition that did not list his vice presidential selection.

Aguilar’s office had said in a statement that they sent correct guidance to all independent candidates that had filed petitions for ballot access “well in advance of the deadline to submit signatures.”

Kennedy Jr. picked California lawyer and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan as his running mate in late March.

State and county election officials verified over 22,000 signatures on the new petition, well over the requirement of just over 10,000.