Biden-Aligned Super PAC Challenges RFK Jr.'s Illinois Ballot Petitions

CHICAGO — A super PAC aligned with President Joe Biden has challenged to the nominating paperwork of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in an effort to keep him off the ballot in November.

Two Chicago residents backed by the political action committee Clear Choice Action, which was founded earlier this year by Biden's former deputy campaign manager, filed an objectors' petition Monday with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

They are challenging nearly 66,500 of the 85,509 signatures the Kennedy campaign submitted to the Illinois Secretary of State, citing reasons like ineligible signers, incorrect or incomplete petition fields and likely fraud and forgery.

The petition also alleges that Kennedy has never been a resident of the home in Katonah, New York, where he claimed to live in his statement of candidacy.

"As such, not only has Candidate Kennedy falsely and perjuriously sworn to a false address on his Statement of Candidacy but has also attempted to defraud his petition signers by claiming a false residence on every page of the petition," it alleges.

"Candidate Kennedy has attempted to defraud the electoral process and violate the Constitution of the United States by perjuriously asserting residency in a state apart from his Vice-Presidential running-mate and, therefore, nefariously attempting to remain eligible for California’s electoral vote," according to the petition.

Kennedy's running mate, Nicole Shanahan, is a 38-year-old San Francisco Bay Area attorney and entrepreneur who reportedly received more than $1 billion in her divorce from Google founder Sergey Brin in the wake of a Ketamine-fueled sexual encounter with Elon Musk.

Shanahan contributed $4.5 million to super PACs backing Kennedy and another $10 million since he named her his vice presidential candidate. But the latest Federal Election Commission filings indicate she turned off the campaign contribution faucet in May.

The objectors to Kennedy's campaign, which has not publicly commented on the allegations in contains, suggest the nomination petitions show a pattern of fraud and disregard for the election code.

Among the allegations, forged circulators, ineligible circulators and signature deficiencies. According to Clear Choice, the campaign appeared to have deemed more than 22 percent of its own signatures to be invalid or fraudulent.

Kennedy's efforts to get his name on the ballot in all 50 states face headwinds, as Clear Choice has also filed petition objections in New York and North Carolina and Democratic Party operatives have filed lawsuits in several other states to block his November election bid.

Election attorney Scott Salmon filed a challenge under New Jersey's "sore loser law," which prohibits candidates from running independently after a failed bid for a major party nomination. A court hearing in that case is scheduled for July 17.

The Nevada Democratic Party filed a lawsuit there arguing that Kennedy’s affiliation with various minor parties in other states violates Nevada’s ballot access rules for independent candidates.

And in Delaware, the state Democratic Party claims the Independent Party failed to file certificates of nomination for Kennedy and Shanahan within the required timeframe.

Despite the legal challenges, Kennedy has vowed to be on the ballot in every state by the end of July. His campaign currently boasts ballot access in five states — Utah, Michigan, Delaware, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, and it has submitted signatures to appear in 11 others.

In a television interview, Shanahan declined to disclose the campaign's path to victory but it has a "5-inch-thick strategy document" that it is using.

"We have a very thorough strategy and a path towards victory. We will be on 50 ballots. We have a very strong legal team, one of the most motivated legal teams to defend every ballot petition lawsuit we're receiving from the DNC, its PACs aligned with the DNC that are undermining democracy, in my opinion, to try to keep us off the ballot," Shanahan told KTTV in Los Angeles.

"I've never met a party, that hates democracy more than the current leadership, within the Democratic Party, but regardless, we love democracy and we're fighting tooth and nail for it," she said, "and we will have success."

The Illinois State Board of Elections is set to assign hearing officers to review the objection to Kennedy's on July 9. Both sides will then present evidence and a report will be submitted before the full board on Aug. 23.

To remain in the Illinois ballot, at least 25,000 of Kennedy's signatures would need to be valid.

Read the full objectors' petition from Clear Choice Action »