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(CNN) — A Michigan judge ruled Tuesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must remain on the ballot in the battleground state after he filed a lawsuit asking the court to remove him, inhibiting his plan to withdraw from key states to ease former President Donald Trump’s path to victory after endorsing him last month.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates dismissed Kennedy’s request to be removed after he qualified for the ballot through a minor party earlier this year. Kennedy had initially requested the Michigan secretary of state’s office remove him from the ballot, but that request was denied.
“Elections are not just games, and the Secretary of State … is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office,” Yates wrote in the ruling Tuesday.
The judge added that Kennedy’s request to withdraw as the Natural Law Party’s presidential nominee “at this late date is just a self-serving act that would cause harm to the party that nominated him by leaving the party with no candidate at the top of the ticket.”
The ruling undermines the strategy Kennedy is pursuing to withdraw his name from competitive states’ ballots in order to boost Trump’s chances of winning in those states. Kennedy is also continuing to push for ballot access in states where his name won’t likely have an impact on the outcome of November’s election.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a social media post Tuesday that candidates who accept the nomination of a minor party in Michigan “shall not be permitted to withdraw.” Her statement came in response to a post from Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, who claimed the decision to keep Kennedy on the ballot in Michigan is “election interference.”
While Kennedy has been able to remove his name from the ballot in several key states, he has encountered obstacles in other states besides Michigan. Wisconsin’s elections office ruled last week Kennedy will appear on the ballot despite his request to withdraw. And Kennedy filed a lawsuit last week against North Carolina’s elections board challenging their decision to keep him on the ballot.
CNN’s Jack Forrest contributed to this report.
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