National
The political world was upended last week as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (pictured below), dropped his Independent presidential campaign to endorse Donald Trump (R-FL) for the White House.
The move comes somewhat unexpectedly, as Kennedy had just clinched ballot access in more than five hundred electoral votes worth of states, with just Kentucky, Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Wyoming showing as pending on his ballot access HQ webpage.
Kennedy said he would remove his name from the ballot in the ten battleground states so as to not act as a “spoiler” between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA). However, secretaries of state for Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan have confirmed Kennedy’s name will remain on the ballot due to withdrawal windows. In North Carolina, absentee ballots with Kennedy’s name have already been printed. Said ballots are set to be mailed to voters on September 6.
Kennedy’s name will not appear on ballots in perhaps the most competitive states of the election: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. He will also not appear in Florida, Ohio, and Texas.
Kennedy joined Trump on stage in Arizona on Friday, where he was warmly greeted by the tens of thousands of supporters in attendance.
Kennedy cited that his internal polls indicated his third-party candidacy would have hurt Trump’s electoral prospects and would have helped Harris take the election. Despite this, public polling has largely shown the opposite, with Kennedy’s presence on the ticket helping Trump in national and state polls.
Kennedy said that free speech, the Ukraine War, and a “war on our children” were the main reasons he removed his name from the swing state ballots.
“These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” said Kennedy.
The move is as close to a fusion ticket this election will get, with Kennedy describing their alliance as a “unity party.” Speculation now swirls around a possible Kennedy role in a second Trump Administration. At his Arizona rally, Trump called Kennedy a “man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share. We are both in this to do what’s right for the country.”
Trump then pledged to establish an independent commission to investigate the 1963 assassination of Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy (D-MA).
However, Kennedy’s family has been less than enthused about his support for the former president.
“Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear,” sister Kerry Kennedy posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Kennedy called the decision “agonizing” for him, mainly as it relates to difficulties between him and his family and friends.
“But I have the certainty that this is what I’m meant to do,” said Kennedy. “And that certainty gives me internal peace, even in storms.”
Some supporters are motivated to vote for Trump after previously vouching for Kennedy, with one Las Vegas rally attendee saying that the Democratic Party now is “not the party he [Kennedy] grew up in.”
Trump also picked up another cross-aisle endorsement this week, one from former Congresswoman and former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard (pictured above).
Gabbard grew estranged from her party when she ran for president in 2020. Although a progressive by some metrics, she took chagrin with her party’s modern stances on bigger issues, so much so that after she suspended her presidential campaign, retired from her U.S. House seat from Hawaii, she left the party and registered as an Independent.
Gabbard endorsed Biden in 2020, but has since stated that the Democratic Party is controlled by an “elitist cabal of warmongers” and “woke” demagogues.
Gabbard, a National Guard Veteran who served two tours in the Middle East before her congressional career, joined Trump on stage in Detroit on Monday.
“He understands the grave responsibility that a president and commander-in-chief bears for every single one of our lives,” said Gabbard.
Gabbard was not overly quick to criticize Trump during his time in the White House, even voting “present” in his 2019 impeachment trial in the U.S. House. Gabbard is now expected to become a campaign surrogate and is slated to moderate a town hall with Trump in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
In other election news, Texas Gover-nor Greg Abbott (R) (pictured above) has announced that one million names from the state’s voter rolls have been purged following a three-year-long “crackdown” on illegal voting.
“These reforms have led to the removal of over one million ineligible people from our voter rolls in the last three years, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and people who moved to another state,” said Abbott. “Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated. We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.”
Half of voters removed from the rolls are deceased, while others who were removed either requested to be taken off or are living in a different state. About 7,000 names were tied to noncitizens who had registered illegally, while 6,000 were convicted felons who were unable to vote.
Finally, Independent candidate Cornel West has reportedly been offered a position in a Harris administration by the campaign and even faced offers from the Harris-Walz team to have his campaign debts settled if he suspended his campaign.
West, a philosopher, author, social critic, and notable socialist, has been running a long-shot bid for the White House and currently has ballot access in nine states with write-in access in twenty-five other states.
West penned the 1993 social sciences book Race Matters and has been a member of the Democratic Socialists of America since 1982.
West has not registered a significant amount of support in state or national polls, but in tight races in a few key states, a percentage point or two his way could spoil the election for Harris.
State
Before coming to Suffolk County to view the extensive damage, Governor Kathy Hochul (D) stopped at the New York State Fair in Syracuse on Wednesday and informed reporters that the number of migrants entering the state is dropping.
The governor said that 4,000 migrants were arriving in New York City on a weekly basis at the peak of the crisis. That number is now hovering around 800.
“We’re seeing a huge decline in the number of individuals coming to our city and our state,” said Hochul. “Their adaptation to the communities have been great, and I want to commend all of our Upstate communities who’ve welcomed them with open arms.”
The State Department of Labor has not shared official numbers on how many migrants who applied for asylum are now employed, but the body has reportedly been working with over 10,000 migrants to help them find employment.
Hochul also said that the federal government’s legal red tape is haranguing the state’s response and the migrants’ abilities to have asylum granted to them.
“They have to bring in judges from elsewhere, it’s a lengthy process,” said Hochul.
Congressman Brandon Williams (R, NY-22) has said that “New York City has tried as hard as possible to export the migrant crisis in New York City to Upstate New York.”
Local
Congressman Nick LaLota (R, NY-01) is leading a call for state and local officials to request the State Department of Health to conduct a comprehensive study of the Calverton Grumman Site.
Health concerns swirl as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals,” possibly still reside at the site of the former plant on Grumman Boulevard. The plant was active until 1996.
In July, LaLota sent a letter to the Department of Defense regarding delays and lack of responsiveness from Naval Facilities Mid-Atlantic (NAVFAC MIDLANT) regarding the Calverton Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant (NWIRP) cleanup.
“I’m a lifelong Long Islander and I have seen firsthand the water quality issues our communities have faced. I am proud to have secured critical funding for the Town of Riverhead to address these issues and support residents but it is clear there is more to be done,” said LaLota. “Urgent action is necessary to safeguard the health and well-being of the Calverton community. Given the health risks associated with PFAS, including cancer and liver damage, it is imperative that the New York Department of Health quickly begin this study.”
The letter has been cosigned by Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), State Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio (R-Baiting Hollow), Suffolk County Legislator Catherine Stark (R-Riverhead), Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard (R-Aquebogue), and Riverhead Town Councilmembers Kenneth Rothwell (R-Wading River), Denis Merrifield (R-Wading River), Robert Kern (R-Riverhead), and Joann Waski (R-Jamesport).
