(NewsNation) — What percentage of the vote did Robert F. Kennedy Jr. secure? After advising his supporters to refrain from voting for him, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. garnered nearly 594,000 votes (approximately 0.4% of the popular vote) with no electoral votes.
RFK Jr. appeared on the ballot in every state except Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming.
In late October, the Supreme Court declined an emergency appeal to remove RFK Jr. from the presidential ballot in two key battleground states.
Kennedy sought to withdraw his name from the ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan after terminating his independent campaign and endorsing Republican Donald Trump. He claimed that remaining on the ballot infringed on his First Amendment rights by suggesting he still aspired to be elected president.
Officials in Michigan and Wisconsin argued that eliminating his name so late in the election cycle — with early voting already in progress — would be unfeasible. More than 1.5 million people in Michigan had already returned absentee ballots, and an additional 264,000 had voted early, according to state attorneys in court documents. In Wisconsin, over 858,000 absentee ballots had been returned.
The justices did not provide a detailed explanation in their order dismissing the emergency appeal, as is customary. However, Justice Neil Gorsuch publicly dissented regarding the Michigan case.
RFK Jr. announced the suspension of his independent campaign in August.
Kennedy indicated that his internal polling suggested his candidacy would negatively impact Trump while benefiting Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
He cited concerns regarding free speech, the conflict in Ukraine, and “a war on our children” as key reasons for attempting to withdraw his candidacy in critical states.
Prior to Donald Trump’s victory on Nov. 5, Kennedy reported that Trump had requested him to reorganize federal health agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if he were to secure the presidency in 2024.
“He’s asked me to clean up the corruption, number one,” Kennedy remarked during a town hall with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo. “Number two, end the conflicts of interest, return those agencies to their rich tradition of gold standard, empirically-based, evidence-based science, evidence-based medicine, and to end the chronic disease epidemic in this country.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
