Judge rules against RFK Jr.'s bid to appear on New York ballot this fall

A judge ruled Monday against independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s effort to appear on New York's general election ballot this fall.

New York Supreme Court Justice Christina Ryba invalidated Kennedy's nominating petition and directed the Board of Elections not to place Kennedy's name on the official ballot. Supreme Court is a trial-level court in New York state.

“The Democrats are showing contempt for democracy,” Kennedy said in a statement following the decision, adding, “They aren’t confident they can win at the ballot box, so they are trying to stop voters from having a choice. We will appeal and we will win.”

A Democratic-aligned group, Clear Choice Action, sued Kennedy over the New York address he claimed as his residence on ballot access petition forms. Kennedy resides in California with his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, but in testimony, he said the couple had always intended to move back to New York.

"The fact that Kennedy considers himself to be a 'New Yorker', has fond memories of the years he lived in the Town of Bedford and longs to return there someday, is utterly irrelevant to the issue of whether he resided in the spare bedroom of the 84 Croton Lake Road address during May of 2024 when he circulated and filed the nominating petition," the judge's ruling said.

According to an NBC News tracker, Kennedy is on the ballot in 15 states but faces similar lawsuits in Pennsylvania.

Clear Choice Action, the group that filed the New York lawsuit, said in a statement that "today’s ruling makes clear that Mr. Kennedy lied about his residency and provided a false address on his filing papers and candidate petitions in New York, intentionally misleading election officials and betraying voters’ trust."

The Democratic National Committee said after the ruling that Kennedy was a "deeply troubled, reckless, and dangerous man."