HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
was expected to appear in court Tuesday to defend his effort to get on the ballot for president in the premier battleground state of Pennsylvania, where Democrats are angling to force him off in what is expected to be a closely contested race. Democratic Party-aligned challengers say Kennedy's candidacy paperwork states a false home address — an allegation being aired in other state courts — and contains other damning shortcomings, such as the wrong names of people who supposedly attested that they gathered the signatures of thousands of voters. Kennedy's campaign has dismissed the legal challenge as “frivolous.
” Should Kennedy appear on Pennsylvania's ballot, he could siphon critical support from Republican nominee Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in a state where a margin of tens of thousands of votes delivered victory to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2016. Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes — tied with Illinois for fifth most — is of such importance that Harris visited the state Sunday and Trump visited both Saturday and Monday. “They say that if you win Pennsylvania, you’re going to win the whole thing,” Trump told a crowd in Wilkes-Barre’s Mohegan Arena on Saturday.
National Democrats in particular have been active in trying to undercut the candidacy of Kennedy, a scion of one of the party's most famous families. Trump has alternated between bashing Kennedy as liberal or courting .