Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks at the NALEO Presidential Forum in New York City on July 14, 2023. (Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times)
Posted on 07/20/2023 10:16:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is inspiring a crossover voting movement among Republicans similar to those seen in past presidential primaries but with a twist.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks at the NALEO Presidential Forum in New York City on July 14, 2023. (Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times)
Janice Foster, currently a registered Republican in Lexington, Kentucky, told The Epoch Times she is registering Democrat to vote in the primaries not because she sees RFK Jr. as an easier candidate for her party to beat in general elections, but because she sees him as a better candidate for America than President Joe Biden.
“I’d rather Kennedy than Biden,” said Mrs. Foster, “I’d rather sacrifice my vote for a Republican than not do my part to make sure he doesn’t get back into office.”
In crossover voting, which can only occur in states with open primaries, electors switch parties to vote in the opposing primary usually in an effort to put their weakest candidate on the ballot and then switch votes for their original party’s candidate in general elections.
There are currently 20 states with open primaries or semi-open primaries. They include South Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, Virginia, Ohio, and Illinois.
Semi-open primaries allow unaffiliated voters to participate in the party primary of their choice without affiliating with the party.
President Joe Biden (L) and First Lady Jill Biden (R) arrive at the White House South Lawn in Washington on May 30, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
There are also several states like New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York that have semi-closed primaries, which allows unaffiliated voters to vote in either primary, but they must register with that party on the day of primary voting.
Registered Republican Erin Fortin, a native of Maine where lawmakers passed legislation last year making the state’s primary semi-open, told The Epoch Times, she is “closing her eyes” and switching back to being a Democrat voter because she too wants to help foster Mr. Kennedy’s chances of beating Mr. Biden for the nomination.
“For me, the primaries are now more about protecting America against the worst candidate from the other party than trying to promote the weaker one for party gain purposes,” said Mrs. Fortin, who said she was a lifelong registered Democrat until the pandemic.
There have been several major attempts in modern politics to use crossover voting by one party to put a weaker candidate on the opposing party ticket to bolster the chances of winning for their party in the race for the presidency.
The two most prominent ones were dubbed Operation Chaos with the first one led by conservative talk show giant Rush Limbaugh, who has since died.
Mr. Limbaugh launched the crossover campaign in an effort to hand a win to Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama under the idea she couldn’t beat GOP contender Sen. John McCain.
Despite Mr. Limbaugh’s efforts, Obama won the primary and the White House.
The second was led by Tea Party Republicans in South Carolina in 2020 with Mr. Biden as the ultimate target.
According to an article by The Greenville News, the Greenville Republican Party called on supporters to pick Democrat contender Sen. Bernie Sanders and “vote for the worst Democrat.”
The scheme didn’t work. Biden not only overwhelmingly won South Carolina’s Democrat primary but went on to win the presidency.
Sen. Sanders eventually dropped out of the race after losing in several primaries.
A similar crossover campaign had been hatched by Democrats in South Carolina and Michigan two decades earlier in 2000 in the contest between Sen. McCain and George W. Bush.
Hundreds of Democrats in both states registered as Republicans in an effort to give Sen. McCain the party nomination under the idea that he would be easier to defeat by their party candidate Al Gore.
That crossover effort too failed and Bush went on to become president.
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He’s too anti-gun. Oh and F the Kennedys, especially that bloated and rotting corpse, Ted, who ruined the country with his legislation.
BS article. Democrats have been doing this for years.
That legislation was JFK’s political goal that Ted got through on his death.
Bkmk
When does the polling between Biden, Trump and RFK Jr start?
RFK, Jr: ‘We have so much to learn from Cuba’: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3243628/posts
Andrea Mitchell Applauds RFK Jr.’s ‘Impassioned Plea’ for Obama to Stop Keystone Pipeline by Fiat: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3120692/posts
RFK Jr: Right-Wing Controls American Media, Fox News Has Divided US to a Point not Seen Since Civil War: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2967311/posts
Robert Kennedy Jr.: right-wing hosts spread hate: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271218/posts
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: ‘There Is No Liberal Media’: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021728/posts
He has to say that or they will kill him.
> He’s too anti-gun. Oh and F the Kennedys, especially that bloated and rotting corpse, Ted, who ruined the country with his legislation.
Agree totally. I have conservative friends here in CA that just love this guy and I don’t see the attraction.
It was interesting watching in his opening statement as he lashed out at opening comments made by the ranking Dim member, including her reference to a letter signed by over 140 people, mostly Dims, denouncing him.
It was very clear the Dims on the committee were working all they could to slime him because he’s running against Biden.
Amazing how Dems circle the wagons in complete unanimity.
I’ve got Republican friends in Maryland who are doing exactly what the lady in the article is doing.
They are switching their party registration to Democrat. It’s just so they can vote for RFK Jr in the primary. It’s not that they love RFK Jr. It’s that they hate Biden more.
Don’t let the registration switch fool you. These folks will vote for Trump in the general election.
“Amazing how Dems circle the wagons in complete unanimity.”
Not complete unanimity; RFK is a Dims and has many Dims and independents considering his bid.
They're all on the "take," just like Biden. Neither Trump nor RFK Jr. are, so they have to be destroyed to protect the racket.
Just like Obama did when it was Hilary’s turn.
I still think him as VP might be the only way Trump can exceed the margin of cheat.
Donald Dems won’t for Kennedy.
Kennedy is Deep State.
“I still think him as VP might be the only way Trump can exceed the margin of cheat.”
I think RFK if he is chosen by the No Names group as their candidate - after “super Tuesday” - could create a 3rd party run that siphons enough idependents from Biden, just as I think Perot did favoring Clinton.
Democrats are petrified he’s going to make ground.
I love it. He’s anti gun, pro climate change, pro abortions up to a point, but main stream on a lot of other things. Keeping Trump out of this comment, I want him to win, but if something happens,and it could, I could live with RFK.
Operation Chaos (Rush) was the R try to even the score.
RFK Jr believes in the climate change crisis fraud, and wants to surrender to Vlad Putin, and probably Xi Jinping too. Other than that, he’s OK. LOL
It’s too bad Trump didn’t hire RFK to deal with FDA & CDC in 2017, but that’s spilled milk. Just another one of Trump’s unfortunate personnel decisions.
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