Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday he’ll announce his running mate on March 26 in Oakland, Calif.
And one name on his short list is — or rather was — New Hampshire’s own Scott Brown.
The The Washington Post first reported Brown was among the people Kennedy reached out to regarding the job. Also on the list: Former Hawaii congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, “Dirty Jobs” TV show host Mike Rowe, entrepreneur and presidential wannabe Andrew Yang, and, perhaps most surprising, four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers.
“It’s true,” Brown told NHJournal. “I respectfully declined and wished him well.”
RFK Jr. at the Scott Brown “No B.S. BBQ” in Rye, N.H. on September 13, 2023.
Brown, who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate and ran against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2014, hosted Kennedy at one of his iconic “No B.S. BBQ” events in Rye during the 2024 presidential primary season. Despite inclement weather, Kennedy drew the biggest crowd of the “No B.S.” events, with a large turnout from self-identified Republicans.
Kennedy’s announcement of a VP pick isn’t a random decision, according to the Post. Many of the states where the independent candidate is petitioning for ballot access require presidential wannabes to list their vice president. New Hampshire doesn’t, but Vermont does.
“The Kennedy campaign has launched a robust ballot access plan to ensure RFK Jr. is on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The campaign has exceeded all its ballot access benchmarks to date,” the campaign said in a statement Wednesday. “Kennedy is already on the ballot in Utah and has collected all the necessary signatures to be on the ballot in New Hampshire and Nevada.”
While political pundits generally dismiss the possibility of Kennedy winning enough Electoral College votes to become president, most agree his presence on the ballot could have a significant impact on the final outcome. While former President Donald Trump has led in national polling averages for more than 200 consecutive days, the lead is within the margin of error, and most political professionals expect a very close election.
And in a new Economist/YouGov poll, Kennedy has a higher favorable rating (45 percent favorable, 36 percent unfavorable) than either Trump (46/50 percent) or Biden (43/54 percent).
The question is whether Kennedy will draw more votes away from President Biden or Donald Trump.
In December, a Wall Street Journal poll found Kennedy cost Trump more votes than Biden. But a Monmouth University poll that same month found he took votes from both candidates equally.
