Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rallies hundreds in Iowa to try to get on the November ballot

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a daylong blitz Saturday to get onto Iowa’s presidential ballot as an independent candidate. Whether he succeeded is an open question.

Kennedy attempted to qualify by holding a convention with at least 500 eligible Iowa voters representing at least 25 counties. Before adjourning the convention Saturday, Chairman Dave Owen announced that 686 delegates representing more than 35 Iowa counties were in attendance, numbers that could not immediately be verified.

Kennedy and his allies are working to secure voting in all 50 states as they mount a campaign that has allies of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump worried about losing enough votes to swing the election . So far, Utah is the only state confirmed to be on the ballot.

A spokesperson for the Iowa Secretary of State’s office confirmed before Saturday’s event that the office had been contacted by the Kennedy campaign and responded by providing the candidate guide available to the public this year.

As people headed toward a concert venue Saturday, announcements from campaign staffers boomed through the speakers. The public was informed that there were 300 people there at 2:36 p.m. central time; 400 about 20 minutes later. At 3:08 p.m., a staff member announced that they had exceeded 500 people.

As he has at other campaign events, Kennedy attracted longtime fans of his message as well as people frustrated by the looming rematch of the 2020 election.

Jeremy Youngers of Waukee, Iowa, said he doesn’t like Biden or Trump. Youngers has been listening to Kennedy’s podcast and his appearances on other podcasts for years and said he was excited when Kennedy announced his candidacy.

“This is an opportunity we have to really make a difference,” said the 42-year-old, accompanied by his wife and two children.

Kristy Tierney, 45, drove about 175 miles from eastern Iowa to help ensure voters had another option on the November ballot.

“All it takes is 500 people to show up here for Bobby to be put on the ballot,” the Bettendorf resident said. “So I thought, you know, I can drive a few hours to get there.”

Tierney said she is tired of the two-party system and voting against candidates instead of for them.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said of her presidential pick in November, “but I just think it’s important to have another option.”

Kennedy is the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy, a former attorney general and United States senator. His father and uncle were murdered. Since then, he has built a reputation of his own as an activist, author and lawyer for environmental causes.

Over time, his activism turned into conspiracy and contradicted scientific consensus, particularly on vaccines. Some members of his family have publicly criticized his views.

Kennedy chose Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, both leaving the Democratic Party to launch an independent bid for the White House.

Kennedy is attracting attention, with the help of his famous name, as an alternative to major party candidates who are disappointing American voters, even though no independent candidate has won the Electoral College votes in decades. He took the stage to applause and cheers from a standing-room-only crowd, immediately explaining how his campaign — and the voters in the room who supported him — had been rejected.

“If you want the same thing again, you should vote for them,” Kennedy said of Biden and Trump. “Does anyone here still want the same thing?” » A chorus of “no’s” responded.

An anti-vaccine group led by Kennedy has filed a lawsuit against a number of news organizations, including the Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking steps to identify misinformation, including on COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave of the group when he announced his candidacy for president, but he is listed as one of his lawyers in the lawsuit.

Anne Charlson said she has Republican values ​​and Democratic values. She eats organic and wants to choose what goes into her body, so she was “dismayed” when the Biden administration talked about vaccination requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. She found herself “on the same side as people who wanted gun freedom,” she said — it’s not something she believes in.

“Kennedy is the best of both worlds,” said Charlson, 58, of West Des Moines. “I really believe in what he has to say.”

Republicans and Democrats came together to criticize Kennedy, motivated in part by fears that his candidacy could spoil Biden or Trump.

Iowa Republicans said Friday that Kennedy was a “distraction.”

“He peddles his toxic conspiracy theories instead of talking about the problems Americans are facing caused by the Biden administration,” President Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement. “Iowans want solutions, not distractions.”