LOS ANGELES — The campaign for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he has won ballot access in California.

The American Independent Party of California nominated Kennedy and his vice presidential running mate Nicole Shanahan over the weekend and filed paperwork Monday with the Secretary of State.

What You Need To Know

  • The independent Kennedy-Shanahan ticket has gained ballot access in California

  • The American Independent Party of California nominated Kennedy-Shanahan over the weekend and filed paperwork Monday with the Secretary of State

  • Kennedy has been working to gain ballot access in all 50 states since January when he launched the We the People party

  • Kennedy-Shanahan has collected enough signatures to get on the ballot in seven states and has won ballot access in three others

“What I’m trying to do during this election is to get people to step away from their narrow self interest, to transcend their lower impulses of anger and bigotry and fear and see themselves as part of a big adventure, see themselves as heroes that are willing to take a risk,” Kennedy said in a video statement announcing his ballot access win in California.

The Kennedy 24 campaign has been working to gain ballot access in all 50 states since January, when it launched the We the People party to get on the California ballot before the Super Tuesday primary election on March 5. The Kennedy-Shanahan ticket has since collected enough signatures to get on the ballot in Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

Utah has already granted his We the People party ballot access. Last month, the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket won ballot access in Michigan as the official nominee of the Natural Law Party.

Kennedy, 70, filed his candidacy for the Democratic party presidential nomination in April 2023 but switched to run as an Independent in October last year, saying the two-party political system was “corrupt” and “rigged.”

In a three-way presidential race between Kennedy, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, 13% choose Kennedy, 39% are for Trump and 38% are for Biden, according to a Quinnipiac poll taken March 21-25.