Robert F. Kennedy Jr. among independent candidates filing for spot on Illinois presidential ballot

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign filed candidacy petitions Monday with the State Board of Elections to appear on Illinois’ Nov. 5 general election ballot.

Also filing presidential candidacy papers before the 5 p.m. deadline for independent and third-party contenders was Green Party contender Jill Stein, the party’s 2012 and 2016 candidate, and candidates for the Libertarian and Constitution parties.

Kennedy, a controversial heir to the storied political family, filed along with his designated running mate, attorney and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan. He had initially sought the Democratic nomination before shifting to run as an independent.

Barring any potential objection to their candidacy papers, candidates who filed Monday would join Democratic President Joseph Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump on the Illinois fall ballot following the major party candidates’ anticipated formal nominations later this summer.

Trump’s formal nomination will occur during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in mid-July. Biden is expected to be nominated by Democratic leaders prior to the party’s national convention in Chicago that begins Aug. 19 to circumvent the timing of an Ohio law that would have kept the president from appearing on that state’s ballot.

Kennedy is the son of the late one-time presidential candidate and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy. But many family members have expressed opposition to his candidacy based on his controversial views on health-related issues.

Kennedy’s filing in Illinois came the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected without comment hearings on two COVID-19-related appeals brought by Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group that Kennedy founded and led until announcing his presidential candidacy.

The group has challenged the federal Food and Drug Administration’s emergency authorization of COVID-19 vaccines, claiming they were “ineffective and lacked proper vetting.” A lower court ruled the group lacked proper standing to file the suit.

The group also filed suit against Rutgers University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. A separate lower court had ruled the group failed to state “any plausible claim for relief.”

Kennedy failed to qualify for Thursday’s presidential debate between Biden and Trump on CNN. Kennedy needed to get at least 15% support in four approved national polls by Thursday but only met the requirement in three of them. As of the debate deadline he had not qualified in enough state ballots to get the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency

As of last month, Kennedy was certified for the ballot in 10 states.

To appear on the ballot, independent and third-party candidates needed to submit petitions signed by at least 25,000 valid registered voters.

Democrats who backed Hillary Clinton have viewed Stein as a spoiler in the 2016 election. Though she received only 1% of the national vote, if her vote totals in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin had gone to Clinton, it would have overcome Trump’s narrow victory margins in those three states.

Stein, who was born in Chicago and raised in Highland Park, is the Green’s presumptive nominee. Samson Kpadenou of Florida filed as her running mate. She and Kpadenou are to be formally nominated at the party’s virtual convention Aug. 15-18.

Also filing were Randall Terry of Tennessee, the Constitution Party presidential candidate, and running mate Stephen Broden of Texas, and placeholders for Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver of Georgia and Mike ter Maat of Florida as running mate.

Political activist and author Cornel West was the most noteworthy independent presidential candidate who did not file for the Illinois ballot.

Two Illinois residents also filed to appear as presidential candidates but will be formally removed due to a lack of valid signatures. One listed his address as the Ford County Jail. Another gave her address as a Peoria post office box.