Yesterday Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s campaign submitted the necessary signatures to appear on the ballot for President as an Independent candidate. VTGOP Chairman Paul Dame had the following response:

“In Vermont we have a tradition of making it easy to run for office and easy to get on the ballot and it’s good to see another competitor gain ballot access in our state. This is in sharp contrast to several other states where Democrats control the process for ballot access. In the same way that Democrats tried to keep Trump off the ballot in the primary, Democrats have turned their attention to keeping Kennedy off the ballot for the general election. According to a Politico article, Kennedy is meeting resistance in New York, New Jersey and North Carolina. In Nevada it is the Democratic Party itself suing to prevent voters from having another choice at the ballot box. It’s encouraging to see that the Vermont Democrats aren’t lifting a finger to stop RFK as in other states.

But RFK’s entrance in the race as an Independent is another sign that the Democratic Party is losing some legacy members who don’t recognize what the party as become. If a Kennedy is no longer welcomed among modern-day Democrats, who is? With Joe Biden dropping out of the race last month due to cognitive decline, I’m sure there are many voters who now wish Democrats in leadership would have allowed for more competition during the primaries. With the independent streak Vermonters have, I would expect Kennedy to do better in Vermont than many other states because he provides an option for both centrist Democrats as well as Republicans who will not support Trump. Many Kennedy voters are going to find a lot of Phil Scott Republicans they can support down ballot in House and Senate races across the state to further signify that the Democratic Party no longer represents them.”