By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Time is running out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to qualify for the first US presidential debate of 2024, with the independent candidate banking on a longshot bid with a US election agency to get him on stage.
CNN, host of the June 27 debate, only says president Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump have met the requirements to participate: appearing on enough state ballots to potentially win the presidency and also gain at least 15% in four separate national polls.
Kennedy has polled at least 15% in just three accepted polls so far and has qualified for the ballot in six states, making it impossible for him to win the presidency, said CNN, a division of Warner Bros Discovery.
Kennedy’s campaign says he is on the ballot in nine states and has collected enough signatures to be on the ballot in 14 more states, putting him on track to win the election.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has spread misinformation about vaccines, is drawing supporters from both sides of the political divide. It is not yet clear whether he would pull more votes from Biden or Trump.
The deadline for candidates to qualify for the debate is Thursday at noon ET (0400 GMT).
Kennedy has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that CNN’s debate is unfair and amounts to a prohibited campaign contribution to Biden and Trump.
Kennedy has said that Biden and Trump are “trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I might win.”
The Kennedy campaign asked the FEC to take action by Thursday and block CNN, Biden and Trump from holding the June 27 debate unless they make changes.
The FEC declined to comment. The agency recently struggled to rule on artificial intelligence in the 2024 campaign, and failed to rule on related issues in the recent election, experts say.
“The mere request for access to ballots does not guarantee that he (Kennedy) will appear on the ballot in any state,” a CNN spokesperson said. “Furthermore, RFK Jr. currently not meeting our election criteria, which, like the other objective criteria, were established before the invitations to the debate were issued.”
This election year presents an almost unprecedented situation. Since 1960, the era of televised presidential debates, news organizations have not had full control over the terms and parameters of two debates between the candidates. ABC, part of Walt Disney, will host a debate in September.
Most recently, the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has sponsored debates.
Biden and Trump, as the expected nominees of the Democratic and Republican political parties respectively, are eligible because most states automatically grant them access to ballots without filing a petition, a CNN spokesperson said.
Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame law school, said having an independent candidate like Kennedy on stage could make for a more substantive debate.
“If you say we’re looking for candidates who have serious support to discuss big issues, and who are dealing with two of the least popular major presidential candidates of all time, then the debate could certainly benefit from having a third party would be present. the stage. It all depends on your point of view,” Muller said.
About 41% of registered voters in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll said they would vote for Trump if the election were held today, while 39% chose Biden.
Ten percent of respondents would choose Kennedy if he were to vote with Trump and Biden, the poll showed.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Heather Timmons, Alistair Bell and Lisa Shumaker)
