Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. initially launched his presidential bid as a Democrat, setting up a potential rivalry with President Joe Biden. If he manages to secure a spot on the presidential ballot as a third-party candidate, both Republicans and Democrats are worried that RFK Jr. could siphon votes from their own candidates.

Straight Arrow News contributor Newt Gingrich contends that Democrats are taking extreme measures to prevent a “maverick” like RFK Jr. from running as a third-party candidate, with the goal of bolstering a weakened Biden in the 2024 election.

The Democrats are essentially the party of lawyers. And they had lawyers everywhere, trying to block Robert Kennedy Jr. from getting on the ballot, trying to minimize his chances, and I think he got fed up with it.

I’ve recently been talking with the No Labels people, who’ve been involved in a very serious, nationwide effort to develop a real third party. And they’ve talked to me about the fact that every single place they go, there are Democratic lawyers trying to stop them from getting on the ballot.

Combine that with the attacks on President Trump through the legal system, and what you find is the new Democratic Party model, which is you have the right to vote, but you don’t have the right to have anyone to vote for. Now, Robert Kennedy Jr.’s answer [to] that was to say, “Fine, I’m going to run as an independent.” He’s going to find it’s very challenging. You have 50 states — every state has a different set of rules for getting on the ballot as an independent. It often takes organizations several years to get this done.