Mercer County Assignment Judge Robert Lougy expects to have a decision by Monday morning on whether independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. may remain on the New Jersey ballot under the state’s Sore Loser Law.
Prominent election lawyer Scott Salmon has challenged Kennedy’s eligibility, saying that he clearly challenged Joe Biden in the Democratic primary first before changing his mind and mounting an independent bid.
“If you try to obtain the party’s nomination for office, and for whatever reason, you are unsuccessful in doing so, your petition to appear as an independent candidate in the election is invalid. That’s the difference,” Salmon said. “It is no longer limiting us just to the candidates who appear on the ballot themselves.”
Salmon told the judge that Kennedy raised and spent money in New Jersey, and when he changed his strategy, held on to the New Jersey money for his independent bid.
“There’s no question that New Jersey’s Sore Loser law is broad. It may be, as far as I can tell, the broadest in the country. Plenty of other states explicitly limit their Sore Loser laws to people who appear just on the primary ballot. They are not allowed to then run again,” said Salmon. “There are others that are more specific in that they talk that they refer to being defeated at the primary election, which I think implies that there was also more of an active campaign within the primary ballot itself, where the language of New Jersey’s Sore Loser statute just refers to whether or not you unsuccessfully seek the nomination.”
One of the precedents cited was from 2023 when Superior Court Judge Benjamin Morgan tossed Penns Grove Mayor LaDaena Thomas, an independent, off the general election ballot simply because she liked a Facebook post urging Democrats to write her in against their own candidate in the primary.
“I think the distinction is just whether or not they take any sort of steps after that to qualify,” Salmon said, arguing that Kennedy did take steps to run as a Democrat.
Kennedy’s attorney, Donald Burke, said Salmon lacked standing to challenge Kennedy’s nominating petitions.
“He has the same interests as 4.5 million voters,” he said.
Burke disagreed that Kennedy was ineligible.
“For the last nine months. Everyone knows Robert F Kennedy Jr is running as an independent for the presidency,” Burke stated. “It’s not at all like, township and city races elections that Mr. Salmon relies upon.”