A third-party candidate hasn’t participated in a presidential debate since Ross Perot in 1992, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign is convinced he can qualify.
In a statement to the New York Post, an RFK Jr. spokeswoman said he “plans to take part in the presidential debates” later this year and “meets every threshold to warrant his participation.
RFK Jr. appears to be on track to fulfill one of the two requirements for the debates, the requirement for a candidate to be on enough state ballots to have “a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote in the Electoral College.”
He’s on or on track to be on the ballot in 13 states so far as his campaign aims to be on all 50 states’ ballots. RFK Jr. still has some time, the debates aren’t until mid-September, but it still looks to be an ambitious goal.
RFK Jr. recently said during a rally that the campaign will be on the ballot in every state by the end of July.
The other requirement for Kennedy to participate is for the candidate to poll at 15% nationally. A CNN survey and a Quinnipiac poll both had RFK Jr. meeting that threshold. However, RFK Jr.’s running poll average is 10% as of May 11, and has floated between about 9% and 10% since March.
RFK Jr. has offered to debate former President Donald Trump at the Libertarian National Convention, at which both candidates are speaking, though Trump has not responded yet.
He’s been the subject of escalating attacks from both parties as they seek to minimize the effect he has on voters in November.
Besides his penchant for touting various conspiracy theories, RFK Jr. made news this week when it was revealed he faced memory problems in the past likely caused by a brain-worm.
He joked about that fact in a short comedy set at the Kia Forum in California on Friday night.
“My brain worm wrote some jokes for me,” RFK Jr. said, after making a “spoiler” joke in clear reference to his potential role in the 2024 election.
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“He’s very funny, got a lot of information, this is where I get most of my facts,” he said.
“A lot of his stuff is conspiracy theories, you have to filter that out.”
