Democrat-turned-independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump last week, will be on the ballot in Virginia despite his effort to remove his name from ballots in “10 battleground states.”
The Virginia Department of Elections on Thursday approved Kennedy’s placement on the November 2024 general election ballot while informing independent candidate Cornel West that he did not qualify, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Virginia’s election officials said West, a socialist and race activist, did not file the necessary paperwork.
Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, told the Times-Dispatch that West’s exclusion from the Virginia ballot is “significant.”
“This is one of those things that flies under the radar for many people, but it is a potentially critical factor in the outcome of the election in some places,” he said.