State leadership and delegation chairs from several Libertarian Party chapters, including those in Florida, California, Colorado, Tennessee, Minnesota, Vermont, Nebraska, and the District of Columbia, have extended an invitation to independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urging him to seek the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination.
The letter, published on Friday by Libertarians for Kennedy and signed by various party leaders, including an alternative region representative on the Libertarian National Committee, urges Kennedy to seek the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, with the understanding that the undersigned would consider voting for him in the first round if he accepts. Notably, the signatories clarify that the letter is not intended to be seen as a formal endorsement.
“Understanding your interest in the Libertarian Party presidential nomination and the shared concerns we have with the direction of the country that you highlight in your presidential campaign and the solution that only free market capitalism can bring, offer this letter as an invitation to you to seek the Libertarian Party presidential nomination,” the letter reads. “Should you agree to seek the presidential nomination, the undersigned will consider voting for you as the party’s nominee on the first or subsequent elimination rounds of voting until a candidate receives the majority vote of delegates. This letter is not construed as an endorsement.”
A full copy of the letter and its signatories is available below:
Further elaborating in a press release on the Libertarians for Kennedy website, the signatories emphasized the importance of Kennedy continuing to align with traditional Libertarian perspectives if he were to run. Additionally, any support that Kennedy garners in his hypothetical bid should not be viewed as merely a tool for his campaign’s benefit but something more sincere.
“While Mr. Kennedy has been excellent in his messaging that Free Market Capitalism is the answer for everything, I’d like to continue to improve his positions to be more Libertarian,” Florida state party chair Joshua Hvlaka states. “If Mr. Kennedy is serious about appealing to libertarians, I want to see him at our National Convention actively competing and showing he can actually beat out our current roster of very excellent candidates vying for our POTUS nomination.”
“The endorsement should not be used as a tool to get on the ballot with the resources the Libertarian Party has spent decades building,” wrote Minnesota state party chair Rebecca Whiting in her own supplementary letter referenced in the release. “If that is what you are seeking and only that, then I urge you to decline the invitation. People come and go, but the principles and ideas like ours are timeless and will be carried on by others long after we are gone.”
The organization states that the letter to Kennedy remains open for other party leaders to sign, and encourages Libertarians to contact their state chairs to express support for Kennedy’s nomination within the party.
He already said he won’t. Did they miss it?
If he can run simultaneously on the LP, the AIP and other parties, and as an independent — why wouldn’t he?
Or do some states forbid fusion candidacies?
The RFK Jr. campaign has already spent a lot of money and volunteer resources in getting him on the ballot. No way is he going to switch and run for the Libertarian Party’s nomination at this point.
I do not consider RFK Jr. to even be a libertarian, but neither do I consider anyone who was on the Libertarian Party’s 2008-2016 presidential ticket to have been a libertarian, but this did not stop them from being nominated, so if RFK Jr. had wanted the LP’s presidential nomination he probably could have won it, but it is too late now and it is obvious to me that he does not want it.
If Kennedy seeks my vote I will also consider voting for him. Odd little statement in the final analysis ????