RFK Jr. loses attempt to withdraw from Michigan ballot

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the state’s November presidential ballot, ending Kennedy’s efforts to withdraw his name to help support former President Donald Trump.

Kennedy suspended his third-party presidential campaign and endorsed Trump in August. He sued Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, on Aug. 30 in an attempt to remove his name from the ballot so as not to siphon votes away from Trump, who won Michigan by about 10,000 votes in 2016.

Monday’s decision reverses an intermediate-level Court of Appeals ruling made Friday. It ensures that Kennedy’s name will appear on voters’ ballots in the valuable battleground state despite his withdrawal from the race.

The court said in a brief order that Kennedy “has not shown an entitlement to this extraordinary relief, and we reverse.”

“This plainly has nothing to do with ballot or election integrity,” Kennedy’s attorney, Aaron Siri, said in a written statement. “The aim is precisely the opposite — to have unwitting Michigan voters throw away their votes on a withdrawn candidate.”

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