Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is blasting the Democratic National Committee for not wanting a “real primary” and turning the rules and schedule against him in favor of President Joe Biden.
Kennedy said in a Wednesday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that the DNC is willing to “disenfranchise Democratic voters from choosing their nominee” by refusing to host debates and stacking the primary schedule in Biden’s favor.
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He pointed to the DNC’s decision to replace New Hampshire with South Carolina as the first-in-the-nation Democratic primary state. Biden won South Carolina in 2020, but he lost in New Hampshire and Iowa that year. South Carolina’s primary will occur on Feb. 3, 2024. New Hampshire will move to second place and share a primary date of Feb. 6 with Nevada.
The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee said New Hampshire needed to overhaul its voting laws to secure the second primary date, as New Hampshire law states the Republican and Democratic primaries must be held on the same date. Otherwise, the Granite State could see the nomination convention decline to recognize its delegates in the voting process, according to the Boston Globe. The committee made similar demands of Iowa, which holds the caucuses before any state’s primary.
New Hampshire has not made any changes to the law as of Wednesday despite multiple deadline extensions, and Republican Secretary of State David Scanlan reiterated his position that New Hampshire would remain the first-in-the-nation primary state on Wednesday.
State law allows Scanlan sole authority to schedule the primary, which he has not done yet. But, on Wednesday, he announced that candidates can sign up between Oct. 11 and Oct. 27. However, Kennedy said the ramifications of entering an unauthorized primary contest could be significant for his campaign.
“The DNC has drafted rules that if candidates run in an unsanctioned primary in New Hampshire, the DNC chairman has powers to punish them for not following the official calendar. Regardless of margin of victory, such a candidate would receive zero delegates,” Kennedy said.
South Carolina hasn’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976, leading some to argue that the party shouldn’t be concentrating so many early primary resources there.
Kennedy claimed that he is also facing the hurdle of superdelegates, who he called “party leaders and elected officials,” or “Pleos.” The DNC voted in 2018 to remove some superdelegates from the first round of voting so as not to infringe on the people’s votes.
“Because no official will likely dare provoke the wrath of the DNC by pledging to me, only DNC-approved candidates will get any Pleos. Their net effect will be to impose the party insiders’ will on Democratic voters,” Kennedy said. “Assuming no Pleo backs me, I would have to win more than 70% of regular delegates to beat Mr. Biden.”
The Democratic candidate said the DNC seems to have “forgotten the purpose of the modern primary system, which is to replace backroom crony politics with a transparent democratic process.” He said his campaign has contacted the DNC to ask for information about the candidate selection process.
Kennedy said his campaign sent two letters this week asking to meet with DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison to “discuss voting rights” and claims he has not had any communication with the party since June.
“We live in a time when a growing number of Americans think that democracy is broken and that the political system is rigged,” Kennedy said. “The DNC’s recent actions confirm this outlook. It will better serve America to run a fair and free primary election.”
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A recent Morning Consult poll found that 76% of voters would select Biden as their candidate, compared to 9% who said they would vote for Kennedy. Three percent said they would vote for candidate Marianne Williamson and 5% said they would vote for someone else.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the DNC for comment.
