RFK Jr. ballot access consultant promotes strategy to throw the election to Trump

A local activist working with the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaign to get him on the ballot in New York wants Republicans to unite behind Kennedy and defeat President Joe Biden in the general election.

“The Kennedy voter and the Trump voter, our mutual enemy is Biden,” said Rita Palma, who said in a political presentation to a local Hudson Valley group that she was hired by the Kennedy campaign as New York state director about three weeks ago and twice voted for former President Donald Trump.

“I’m going to vote for Bobby, however, if I wake up on Nov. 6 and Trump wins, I’m not going to be overly upset,” she continued in a video of the presentation seen by POLITICO. “But if Biden wins, we’re all going to be terribly upset.”

Palma, who is a local anti-vaccine mandate activist, believes convincing Republicans to tactically vote for Kennedy, who is running as an independent, is “a good strategy” and could force a contingent election in November.

The video was first reported by CNN and was shared on X earlier in the day with a date stamp of April 5, 2024.

If Republicans in New York united with Kennedy supporters to back the independent candidate, it could throw the state's 28 electoral college votes to Kennedy and threaten Biden’s own path to 270 electoral college votes.

“If Republicans accepted the fact that New York, Maryland, Illinois, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, most of the Northeast is going to go blue, why wouldn’t we put our vote to Bobby and at least get rid of Biden and get those 28 votes in New York,” Palma said. “Give those 28 electoral votes to Bobby rather than to Biden, thereby reducing Biden’s 270.”

As an independent, Kennedy is polling at an average of about 12 percent, according to RealClearPolitics. It’s significant support for a third-party candidate but not enough to win a state outright alone with just his own supporters.

If no candidate wins 270 electoral college votes, then each state delegation in Congress votes to elect the next president. The last contingent election was in 1836. It is widely believed that a contingent election today would result in a victory for Trump, given the current makeup of state delegations.

Palma declined an interview request.

The Kennedy campaign distanced themselves from Palma and her remarks in a statement to POLITICO.

“Rita Palma is a ballot access consultant responsible for scheduling volunteer shifts for our upcoming signature collection drive in the Empire State. She is not involved in electoral strategy, nationally or in New York," said Stefanie Spear, campaign spokesperson. "This was not a campaign event. Palma was speaking as a private citizen and her statements in no way reflect the strategy of the Kennedy campaign, which is to win the White House with votes from former Trump and Biden supporters alike.”

Spear said Palma was never a staffer with the campaign, only a consultant, contradicting Palma’s remarks.

But in the video, Palma said the campaign had hired her.

“I got a call from the campaign and they were going to hire me as their New York state director, and I said, ‘Okay, I want to take the job, but I’m going to tell you right now this is part of my messaging, that we want to get rid of Biden in New York state,’” she said. “If I’m allowed to preach that. If I’m allowed to get that message out there, then I will definitely work for the campaign … and my boss said, ‘Okay.’”

Palma said her boss, whom she did not name in the video of the presentation, asked her to tailor her message to Republican areas.

Palma is also listed as a co-host for an upcoming fundraiser for Kennedy in Melville, New York at the end of the month.

This is not the first time Kennedy supporters have floated a contingent election. Tony Lyons, co-founder of the pro-Kennedy American Values 2024 super PAC, also supports efforts to help Kennedy win just one state to force a contingent election in Congress.

“Kennedy has two clear pathways to the White House,” Lyons told POLITICO in December. “We will do everything we can, while working closely with our attorneys and without coordinating with the campaign, to make sure that the uniparty fails in any efforts to derail the peaceful, populist revolution that he represents.”

Lyons did not respond to an interview request, and the PAC did not respond to a request to clarify Palma’s role with the PAC, with which she said she worked last summer.

Lyons’ support for a contingent election came when the PAC announced it would work to get Kennedy on the ballot in 10 states, including several battlegrounds. But it has since abandoned that work.

“Right now, we have a majority of Republicans in Congress. If we keep that majority, personally, I think we’re going to increase it,” Palma said of her strategy. “And then Congress picks the president, who are they going to pick? Who are they going to pick? They’re going to pick Trump. So we’re rid of Biden either way.”