Cash crunch squeezes Kennedy amid costly fight for ballot spots

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign is spending heavily, amassing steep debts and resorting to layoffs as it becomes almost singularly focused on the costly effort of placing his name on state ballots.

The troubles, laid bare in federal filings and interviews with nine people with knowledge of the campaign’s activities, have left little money for events and other traditional campaign priorities, leading to a growing sense of alarm among some staff members and longtime supporters. Fundraising has slowed, and the campaign has become reliant on Kennedy’s wealthy running mate, Nicole Shanahan, who last month put $2.5 million more into their campaign.

As the campaign struggles, allies of Kennedy have been quietly raising money into a new organization to support legal challenges to ballot access, according to records and interviews, effectively creating a separate financing operation.

The ballot litigation group — called the Ballot Freedom Fund and set up in May in Delaware by a lawyer with ties to Kennedy’s campaign — could ease the financial pressure on the campaign, which otherwise would have to foot legal bills itself. The group, a tax-exempt political organization, can raise unlimited amounts of money but is not allowed to coordinate with the campaign.

The group’s formation underscores the extent to which the Kennedy campaign’s leaders increasingly see ballot access not just as necessary for his viability as a candidate, but as a rallying cry.

Five of the people who spoke with The New York Times were former campaign employees, including two who recently lost their jobs and said they were told it was because of financial shortfalls. All insisted on anonymity, with some citing nondisclosure agreements. Many said they still supported Kennedy, and were speaking partly out of concern that his campaign is foundering.

A spokesperson for the campaign declined to comment. On Thursday, the campaign sent out an email detailing its ballot-access efforts, including legal challenges in several states.

“The campaign’s aggressive ballot access operation has surpassed all its milestones to ensure the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket is on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” the email said. “The ballot access operation is fully funded with more than $15 million raised.”

One person briefed on the campaign’s operations said that as of early June, campaign officials had been told that the new fund had raised at least $500,000, with another million-dollar donor lined up.

The Kennedy campaign’s state-by-state scramble to get on ballots is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor that requires gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures and submitting petitions to local officials. Kennedy has so far officially obtained ballot access in seven states, including Michigan, a top battleground.

The campaign has paid its primary ballot access firm, Accelevate 2020, $5.4 million this year, as of the end of May.

The Ballot Freedom Fund lists a simple mission on a federal tax filing from May: “To create a fair and simple electoral system that fosters more choices and true freedom in America.” There is no reference to Kennedy.

But several of the people knowledgeable about the group said it was created by Kennedy’s allies principally to fight legal challenges by his opponents, including the Democratic National Committee.

The Democratic Party and its allies, fearing that Kennedy could peel away critical votes from President Joe Biden, have said they are closely monitoring Kennedy’s ballot petitions. The DNC has already quietly backed or coordinated court challenges to Kennedy’s ballot access efforts in at least three states — Hawaii, New York and North Carolina — according to two people briefed on the challenges.

Kennedy’s campaign, for its part, has filed federal lawsuits in at least four states, most recently in Nevada and New York, challenging restrictions on ballot access.

Kennedy’s campaign had $6.5 million on hand as of May 31, not taking into account $2.7 million in debts owed to his security team, the filings show. The campaign raised just $2.6 million in May, and spent $6.3 million, including more than $2.8 million to Accelevate 2020, its ballot access firm.

Five people, including two who were let go by the campaign in recent weeks, said they had been told directly by senior campaign officials and consultants that the campaign was running out of money for everything except ballot access. One person, who insisted on anonymity because of a nondisclosure agreement, said he had been told that the campaign, as of mid-June, was down to $600,000, after setting aside more than $5 million for unpaid bills.

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