Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s strategy to gain ballot access as an independent presidential candidate in every state ahead of the 2024 election is proving to be similar to that of Ross Perot, the independent candidate who, in 1992, received more votes than any nonmajor party candidate in U.S. history. During a press conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday, Kennedy told attendees his campaign had collected “more than double the signatures we needed” to qualify for the ballot, a tactic that Perot’s own campaign used during his bids for the Oval Office, according to Russell Verney, who was Perot’s campaign manager in 1996.
According to Verney, who was also a top adviser to Perot’s 1992 presidential campaign, Perot’s campaign would aim to gather double the number of signatures needed in any given state to secure access to the ballot. In 1992, Perot garnered 19% of the popular vote with 19,742,267 votes. The former campaign manager echoed Kennedy’s claims that states used heightened scrutiny over validating each signature. He explained to the Washington Examiner that many signatures would ultimately be “thrown out” for a variety of reasons, including “discrepancies between the signatures on petitions and the verification of them.” This, among other things, makes gaining ballot access in every state “a very daunting task.” However, Verney isn’t convinced that Kennedy is someone who could achieve Perot-like success. “You can’t just come out of the blue and say, ‘I want to run,'” he said. He emphasized the importance of being somewhat established nationwide in a way that can be translated into presidential support. “Mr. Kennedy, other than having a famous name, has never done any of that.” The former Perot campaign manager said Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance is “the closest thing he’s come to creating a reputation.” “But from what I understand, his family wouldn’t even vote for him,” he added, referencing Kennedy’s siblings’ denunciation of his candidacy. Perot’s unique notoriety and support grew out of his strategic media use, his own personal fortune, and his appeal to fiscal conservatives, social moderates, and critics of deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.