COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has failed to qualify for next week’s debate in Atlanta, according to host network CNN, falling shy of benchmarks both for state ballot qualification and necessary polling.
The missed markers mean that the June 27 showdown will be solely between Democratic President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. That denies Kennedy a singular opportunity to stand alongside the leading candidates in an attempt to lend legitimacy to his longshot campaign.
Both the Biden and Trump campaigns fear that Kennedy could play spoiler in what’s anticipated to be a close general election.
According to the criteria set out by CNN, candidates would be invited to participate in the debate if they had secured a place on the ballot in states totaling at least 270 votes in the Electoral College, the minimum needed to win the presidency.
Biden and Trump have easily cleared the polling threshold but won’t be certified for the ballot until their parties formally nominate them later this summer. Both have secured enough delegates to lock in their nominations.
Last month, Kennedy filed an election complaint alleging CNN is colluding with Biden and Trump to exclude him from the June 27 debate, alleging that the participation requirements were designed to ensure only Biden and Trump would qualify and claiming that he is being held to a higher standard.
CNN has said the complaint is without merit.
Last month, Biden and Trump agreed to the CNN debate and a second on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC, bypassing the nonpartisan commission that has organized debates for nearly four decades.
Kennedy has said he would cut military spending by half by the end of his first term as president, and said the United States should have a reduced role in global affairs.
“Military spending is a constant drain on our nation’s vitality,” Kennedy said in an hourlong speech last week at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in California, adding “obsessed with the idea of our nation’s strength, we ignore the growing infirmity at our core.”
He said the United States should accept a diminished role in global affairs, divert much of the nation’s security spending to domestic programs, and prepare for a multipolar world — where other powerful countries like China and Russia would have increased influence and America would not be the sole global superpower.
Kennedy, as an independent, would have few allies in Congress to help him fulfill his goals. There has typically been strong support for military spending in Congress and the goals of not ceding power to communist-led countries.
