Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who suspended his campaign last week and threw his weight behind Republican Donald Trump, won’t remove his name from Colorado’s ballot.
Kennedy’s campaign informed Colorado elections officials of its decision on Tuesday.
“We are not withdrawing in Colorado,” Kennedy’s campaign wrote to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.
Kennedy suspended his campaign Friday, saying he didn’t have a pathway to victory. He endorsed Trump as he exited the race.
In suspending his campaign, Kennedy said he would remove his name from the ballot in about 10 swing states. However, he never said which ones.
Colorado used to be considered a swing state but now is generally regarded as firmly in Democrats’ hands.
The Colorado Sun reached out to Kennedy’s campaign several times after the announcement Friday asking if it would keep Kennedy’s name on Colorado’s November ballot. We did not hear back.
Kennedy’s campaign can still change its mind. It has until Sept. 6 to remove his name from Colorado’s ballot. While Kennedy has verbally suspended his campaign, he will remain on the ballot in Colorado and other states until he formally withdraws his name.
Kennedy qualified Aug. 1 to appear on Colorado’s presidential primary ballot as an independent presidential candidate after gathering at least 1,500 voter signatures in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.
The Associated Press says Kennedy has withdrawn his name from the ballot in Arizona and Pennsylvania. But election officials in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin told The AP it would be too late for Kennedy to take his name off the ballot even if he wants to do so.
The Daily Sun-Up podcast | More episodes
Kennedy has said he has qualified to be on the ballot in about 20 states.
Kennedy’s decision to stay on the ballot in Colorado may be a play to help Trump.
Before President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid, Kennedy was, for a third-party candidate, polling relatively well in Colorado.
A poll conducted by Global Strategy Group among 800 registered voters from June 17-24 showed Kennedy capturing 12% of the vote in Colorado. Biden had 42% of the vote, according to the poll, while Trump had 36% and 5% were undecided.
The poll had a 2.5 percentage point margin of error. The Democratic firm accurately predicted 2022 election outcomes in Colorado.
Andrew Baumann, the Global Strategies Group pollster who conducted the survey, said at the time that Kennedy was the reason for Biden’s relatively low numbers compared to his 13.5 percentage point victory in Colorado in 2020.
The Colorado Sun has not seen public presidential race polling from Colorado since Biden dropped his bid and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Only four third-party presidential candidates have received more than 10% of the vote in Colorado since 1904:
- In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt, running under the Progressive Party banner after serving as a Republican president, won 27% of the presidential vote in Colorado. Democrat Woodrow Wilson won the state with 43% of the vote, while incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft got 22%.
- In 1924, Progressive Party candidate Robert La Follette, a former Republican, got 17.5% of the presidential vote in Colorado, while Republican Calvin Coolidge, the ultimate winner, got 49%. Democrat John Davis got 19%.
- In 1980, U.S. Rep. John Anderson, a former Republican, took 11% of the presidential vote in Colorado while running on the National Unity Campaign ticket. Republican Ronald Reagan got 55% of Colorado’s vote while defeating incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter, who got 31%.
- In 1992, Texas businessman Ross Perot took 23% of the vote while running as an independent candidate. Democrat Bill Clinton got 40% to defeat Republican President George H.W. Bush, who received 36%.
Colorado Sun correspondent Sandra Fish contributed to this report.