SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A New Jersey attorney has filed a lawsuit to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off the ballot this presidential election, claiming he is violating the state’s “sore loser law.”
The sore loser law is designed to prevent someone from running in a general election after they lose a primary, attorney Scott Salmon said. But according to an update to the law in 1998, candidates in New Jersey just have to actively seek the nomination, not actually lose a primary.
“It’s no longer the rule that you actually have to submit the paperwork and all that stuff to appear on the ballot to be disqualified under it,” said Salmon.
Salmon, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit because Kennedy actively sought the Democratic nomination before switching to an independent, which he said clearly violates the sore loser law.
“He filed with the Federal Elections Commission as a Democrat. He started raising money and spending money,” Salmon said. “There are countless examples of newspaper articles, radio spots, TV ads and all sorts of things where he talks about running as a Democrat.”
Salmon said it’s important to uphold the rule of law — and the suit isn’t anti-democracy.
“Democracy doesn’t mean that every single person who wants to run for office is able to do it,” he explained. “There are certain minimum requirements.”
Salmon filed a similar lawsuit in 2020 to keep Kanye West off the ballot.
Kennedy’s campaign said he is mounting the strongest independent challenge to corporate-funded parties in more than 30 years, including legal battles in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The campaign said the candidate never filed with any state as a Democrat, so he remains eligible as an independent.
The New Jersey Division of Elections said no decision has been made on ballot eligibility for independent candidates. Officials did not comment further, as the case is pending and a court hearing is scheduled for later this month.
Salmon said the situation with Bob Menendez potentially running as an independent for the U.S. Senate isn’t a clear violation of the sore loser law in his view, and it is not a case he’s currently pursuing. Menendez is currently on trial for charges that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold and cash in exchange for favors benefiting three New Jersey businessmen.