The Democratic National Committee on Friday impeached Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of illegally cooperating with a super PAC to collect signatures for his independent presidential campaign.
IN complaint to the Federal Election Commission, the DNC alleged that American Values 2024, a super PAC supporting Kennedy, collected signatures to place Kennedy’s name on the ballot in several states. This violates federal law, which requires strict separation between campaigns and super PACs, the complaint said.
Democrats also noted that American Values, which as a super PAC is not subject to fundraising limits for candidates, received most of its financial support from conservative megadonor Timothy Mellon.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign “is flouting campaign finance law by outsourcing a key campaign function – collecting signatures required for inclusion on the ballot – to an outside super PAC funded this cycle by a major donor to Donald Trump,” Mary Beth Cahill, a senior adviser to the DNC, said in a statement.
“This pattern between American Values 2024 and the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaign. requires significant – and clearly illegal – coordination.”
Mellon has donated about $15 million of the more than $28 million raised through the American Values 2024 initiative, records show. FEC Records. He also made a major contribution to the work of Republican candidates, including former President Donald Trump, the main candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Attempts to reach Mellon on Friday were unsuccessful.
Collecting signatures
American values 2024 has he publicly promised spend $10-15 million to collect signatures to get Kennedy on the ballot in every state and the District of Columbia. His the website lists 12 states – Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Texas, South Carolina and West Virginia – where the focus is on ballot access.
The DNC complaint questioned signing efforts in those states, Colorado and Nevada.
The Democrats’ complaint says election laws in those states require a candidate’s campaign to sign petitions.
In an email to States Newsroom, Kennedy campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy called the matter “non-essential” and stated that the Kennedy campaign had not accepted any signature lists prepared by American Values.
Kennedy’s campaign website includes blank petition signatures from various states, along with instructions on how to collect and submit completed petitions, Fox Kennedy wrote. Kennedy’s campaign has not received signatures from any PAC, including American Values, and does not tell super PACs how to spend the money, it said.
“This is not an issue raised by a partisan political entity that appears to be increasingly concerned about its own candidate and his viability,” Fox Kennedy said.
Previous rulings
The FEC, the federal body responsible for enforcing campaign laws, has previously ruled that outside groups performing critical campaign functions violate the lack of coordination requirement, according to the Democrats’ complaint. Collecting signatures falls into this category, Democrats say.
The FEC complaint represents the most direct action Democrats have taken against Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and member of one of the most prominent families in Democratic politics.
The son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy considered challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, but instead decided to leave the party last year to launch an independent campaign for the White House.
In national polls with his name on him, he has an approval rating of 8 to 10 percent, far less than the presumptive candidates of the two major parties, but perhaps enough to sway election results in key states it’s not clear which of the major candidates would be more damaged by the votes Kennedy received.
The complaint does not specify what action Democrats are seeking from the FEC beyond “monetary, declaratory or injunctive relief necessary to remedy these violations.”
