In January, when Michigan Natural Law Party state chairman Doug Dern received an email from a top strategist for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign, it was a starter for his small political organization. I felt like it might happen. .
Dern, a bankruptcy lawyer with a small firm in suburban Detroit, has almost single-handedly kept the Natural Law Party on Michigan's ballots for 22 years. Each cycle, the party fields a small number of candidates in obscure state races to meet Michigan's minimum voting requirements for small parties.
“Please maintain access to the ballot,” Dern, 62, said in an interview Friday. “At some point, the right candidate will come along. At some point, third parties will become more prominent.”
That day may have come.
By gaining access to the vote in Michigan, a key battleground state for the 2024 election, Mr. Kennedy has thrown new uncertainty into what is expected to be the closest presidential election in history. And he did it without collecting a single signature, avoiding costly and arduous organizing efforts, not to mention potentially having to fight court challenges to those signatures. I avoided it.
Mr. Kennedy was formally nominated at a brief party convention held at Mr. Dern's law office on Wednesday morning. The only two people in attendance were Mr. Dern and his party secretary.
Kennedy campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Speer confirmed the campaign's schedule of activities and said simply that Kennedy and running mate Nicole Shanahan have been “formally nominated by the Natural Law Party.”
In recent elections, third-party parties have gained increasing prominence by allowing voters to express their dissatisfaction with the major party candidates, which has undoubtedly swayed some elections. Kennedy is hoping to do particularly well in this election, as polls show voters are deeply dissatisfied with their choices.
The Natural Law Party was founded in 1992 on a platform that included Transcendental Meditation, responsible gun use, a flat tax, and the promotion of organic farming. However, it has been decreasing over the years. Michigan is the only state branch heading into the 2024 election.
These days, the party is an empty vessel for independent candidates, but Dern sees that as a virtue in itself: a commitment to giving voters more choice. Every presidential cycle, independent candidates contact Dern seeking their party's nomination in Michigan. In 2008, the seat went to Ralph Nader, who was considered a spoiler in the 2000 election.
Mr. Dern, who works as a stage magician and a lawyer for DUI arrests, has made it his personal mission to keep the party active. “I've worked diligently every year to make sure people are on the ballot,” he said.
Natural law candidates, frequently including Dern himself, are running for secretary of state, a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court, lieutenant governor, and the state university board. Their mission is simple. It's about securing enough votes in the general election and keeping the party on the ballot for the next election cycle.
In Michigan, a small party can only hold a vote if the top vote-getting candidate for the statewide office listed on the ballot is at least 1 percent of the total votes cast for the last Secretary of State winner. only if it receives a total of votes equal to . state races.
He said Cornel West's independent presidential campaign approached Dern in January. Dern said under normal circumstances, West would have been a great candidate for the party.
But the next day, a better proposal arrived in the form of an email from Mr. Kennedy's campaign consultant, Nicholas Brana. Dern noted that his ideals, including their emphasis, are consistent with much of the Natural Law Party's original platform. About health. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and scion of a prestigious political family, is a leading figure in the anti-vaccination movement and has criticized the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Party affiliation is crucial to Kennedy's campaign. Independent candidates with no party support face a difficult path to get on the ballot in Michigan, with between 12,000 and 60,000 signatures each containing 100 signatures from at least half of the state's House districts. A signature is required.
Candidates can skip all of this if they are nominated by a small party with voting rights. The party simply needs to hold a convention, nominate a candidate, and submit certification to the Michigan Department of State. There are some other legal details, such as the requirement that presidential candidates submit electoral rolls, but that's basically it, Dern said.
So Dern said he and party secretary Kathleen Oakford held a convention Wednesday morning in a low-rise office building in Hartland, Michigan.
The proceedings were brief.
“She came in, and I picked up the gavel and banged on the desk.” He convened the state convention, signed the proposed nomination certificate, “and I left for Lansing. and submitted the documents,'' he said, closing the meeting.
Since Mr. Kennedy's campaign announced his position on the ballot, Mr. Dern has fielded calls and emails from other states and candidates. Dern said his interest in the Natural Law Party has been renewed.
“There is even talk of reviving the national chapter,” he said.