Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will reportedly seek the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination, according to a report on Tuesday from Citizens for Legitimate Government citing “several reputable sources.”
The report, published by Citizens for Legitimate Government editor Lori Price, cites “several reputable sources within the Libertarian Party” who claim that Kennedy “will or has already made a sizable donation to the [Libertarian Party].” Price’s report does not disclose specific information. Additionally, it states that “further sources” within the party have confirmed that he will passively seek the Libertarian Party presidential nomination for its May convention.
It’s worth noting that Lori Price, who published the article, is directly associated with the presidential campaign of Dr. Michael Rectenwald. According to documentation filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Price serves as Rectenwald’s campaign treasurer. Additionally, Rectenwald himself is the founder of Citizens for Legitimate Government.
“Given the enormous hurdles he faces for ballot access and the costs of obtaining it in 50 states, RFK Jr. is no doubt attempting to win the Libertarian Party nomination for the ballot access that the LP has secured in at least 48 states,” the report argues.
The article further includes commentary from Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Rectenwald, who deemed a potential Kennedy nomination “extremely unlikely” yet described it as an “utter travesty.” Readers can find the complete article on Citizens for Legitimate Government’s website.
Independent Political Report has reached out to the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presidential campaign for comment regarding the claims that he is seeking the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. The article will be updated with any response obtained from the campaign.
The Libertarian Party should not be nominating someone who is clearly not a libertarian. Johnson and Barr were in the 80+% category all things considered. However, Libertarians should consider supporting someone who is not a libertarian if they want to elevate the message and would expect a shift in the right direction should said candidateās policies be adopted. I believe Mr. Kennedy is such a candidate and I am active in the effort to place him on the ballot here in Texas. I urge everyone to consider what it would mean if this truly became a three-way race. How many of the issues that you really care about would have a champion in RFK Jr.?
There have always been people in the Libertarian Party who formerly supported a major party presidential candidate. I have not noticed an abundance of former Donald Trump supporters in the Mises Caucus.
It is unfortunate that we can’t compare a list of those who supported the Libertarians For Trump effort from Walter Block, Donald Miller, Ralph Raico, and Martin Moulton to the later supporters of the Mises Caucus. I strongly suspect nearly every endorser of the former movement has wound up at least a cheerleader for the latter.
The Mises Caucus is backing Michael Rectenwald for President.
The Mises Caucus is not and never has been pro-Donald Trump. Pro-Ron Paul, yes, but not pro-Trump.
Per Root’s Teeth, a Bob Jr. consultant openly said a couple of days ago that electing Trump was the goal. Of course, Bob Jr.’s campaign said Palma was speaking purely as a private citizen. That said, how many of his consultants or staffers agree with Palma? https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rfk-jr-s-campaign-goal-is-to-get-rid-of-biden-and-elect-trump-consultant-says-in-leaked-video/ar-BB1llpXJ
How did Gary Johnson and Bill Weld damage the Libertarian Party? They got more publicity raised more money, received more votes than any previous Libertarian national ticket.
After several national candidates who did not support reproductive freedom – Ron Paul and Bob Barr in particular – they defended that freedom which is a big issue right now.
Every alternative party has run candidates who were previously involved with one of the major parties. Eugene Debs was elected to the Indiana legislature as a Democrat before running for President as a Socialist. Ralph Nader ran in the 1992 Democrat primary before running for President as a Green Party candidate.
Really, you need a more substantial critique. In the case of Robert F Kennedy Jr, his comittment to statism is adequate reason to reject him.
1. Some have suggested the Mises Caucus is pro-Trump.
2. Running RFK will siphon votes away from Biden.
3. In which case, it might make sense for the Mises Caucus to get behind an RFK nomination.
*nothing useful AND damage the Party.
That’s what I get for having my train of thought interrupted by something else… š
Unlikely to happen.
He closed that door when he selected a deep-pockets leftist running mate that has the Democrats freaked out.
Besides, he isn’t close to libertarian.
Frankly, the delegates need to quit with the polished shiny item D/R retreads. They do nothing useful except damage the Party.
See also Barr, Root, Johnson, and Weld.
There really is no good way to spin this possibility. He is no more a libertarian than Bob Barr was. At least if this actually comes to pass the media will have to reevaluate their collective opinion that the Libertarian Party is just the minor league affiliate of the GOP.
RFK Jr. has ballot access drives going in a bunch of states and he has finished 2 or 3 states. His campaign has a large army of volunteer petition circulators and a lot of money to hire paid petition circulators. The only reason I think he would switch to running for the LP’s nomination would be if the people working on his campaign seriously mismanaged his ballot access and it looked like he waa going to fail to get on the ballot some places.