Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. visiting Nashville. Will he be on Tennessee ballots?

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is visiting Nashville Wednesday night. But will he be on ballots in Tennessee?

Kennedy, who is running as an independent in the 2024 presidential election, is coming to the Ryman Auditorium at 7 p.m. Wednesday for a comedy event with his running mate Nicole Shanahan and several comedians.

Kennedy, 70, currently has ballot access in six states, but he is not yet on Tennessee ballots, according to a news release from his campaign. He'll have to gain 275 signatures once petitions for independent candidates become available.

How can Kennedy and other independent candidates get on Tennessee ballots?

Independent presidential candidates in Tennessee have to get signatures and addresses of at least 275 registered Tennessee voters in order to appear on ballots for the 2024 general election.

Petitions for ballot access for independents are first available from the Tennessee Secretary of State's Division of Elections this Friday, May 17, and are due by noon Aug. 15.

Why is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. coming to Nashville?

The Ryman Auditorium is hosting "A Night of Country & Comedy" with Kennedy and Shanahan and featuring performances from comedians  Rob Schneider, Dave Landau, Jim Breuer, Tre Stewart, Jeff Dye, Mike Binder and Russell Brand.

Poll shows how Kennedy is performing in Tennessee

In an April 2024 poll from the Beacon Center, a conservative think tank, 15% of likely voters in Tennessee would vote for Kennedy in a three-candidate matchup between President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and Kennedy. The poll indicates Kennedy would draw more likely votes away from Trump than Biden in Tennessee.

Nationwide, Kennedy is performing stronger than any third-party candidates has in decades, pulling in 10% of registered voters in battleground states, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Kennedy has already made stops in Tennessee, visiting Knoxville in October as part of his "Independence Tour."

Kennedy has made headlines recently after The New York Times reported that he revealed in a 2012 deposition that a parasitic worm "got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died." Kennedy at the time of the deposition said the worm, as well as mercury poisoning he suffered from around the same time, had affected his memory, but in an interview with The Times said he had recovered from the memory loss.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, has railed against the two-party system and the "corrupt merger of state and corporate power" in his campaign. He has also been a strong critic of the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including rejecting the science behind vaccinations for COVID-19. He has also spread the debunked theory that childhood vaccinations cause autism.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMealins.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Robert Kennedy Jr in Nashville, but will he be on Tennessee ballots?