Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is celebrating in Detroit this weekend, toasting to his successful effort to appear as a Natural Law Party candidate on the presidential ballot in Michigan come November.

The development is bad news for President Joe Biden, who continues to struggle with both progressive and minority voters in the Great Lakes State.

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Kennedy, an Independent and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, will celebrate his ballot access win on Sunday at the Royal Oak Theatre, where he will host “A Night of Laughter” comedy show.

Kennedy was nominated for president in Michigan by the Natural Law Party, alongside vice presidential nominee Nicole Shanahan, an attorney and tech entrepreneur from California.

Democrats are already trying to disqualify Kennedy from the ballot. A group called Clear Choice has reportedly hired Mark Brewer, a former Michigan Democratic Party chairman and election attorney, to target Kennedy’s candidacy. Democrats failed at removing Republican Donald Trump from the ballot.

“He’s the most qualified candidate in the modern-day history of America,” Natural Law Party Chairman Doug Dern said. “We welcome Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Shanahan to the party.”

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Michigan is expected to be a pivotal swing state during the 2024 presidential election, with polling suggesting a third party candidate could change the dynamic of the race. A Fox News survey of 1,126 registered voters last week showed Trump ahead of Biden 49%-46%, shifting to 42% for Trump and 40% for Biden with three third-party candidates on the ballot – Kennedy at 9%, independent Cornel West at 2%, and the Green Party’s Jill Stein at 2%.

An Emerson College poll of 1,000 registered Michigan voters in mid-March showed a dead heat between Trump and Biden moving to Trump’s favor 43% to Biden’s 41% when the third party candidates are included, with Kennedy taking 5%, and Stein and West each at 1%.

In a Thursday press release, Kennedy’s campaign pointed to a Times/Siena poll of six key battleground states that put Kennedy at 26% in Michigan, just behind Biden at 31% and Trump at 34%.

Kennedy’s Western Michigan Regional Coordinator Bill Costantino highlighted the candidate’s history as an environmental lawyer and how that could benefit Michiganders.

“Kennedy is good for Michigan,” he said. “As an environmental champion for more than 40 years, Kennedy will work to restore our Great Lakes region, which holds 20% of the world’s freshwater. He will ensure a thriving fishing economy and ecosystem for commercial fishermen and individual anglers.”

The Kennedy campaign already secured ballot access in Utah and has submitted all the necessary signatures to appear on the ballot in New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska and Iowa, with plans in the works to ensure the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket is on the ballot in all states and the District of Columbia.

“We have the field teams, volunteers, legal teams, paid circulators, supporters, and strategists ready to get the job done,” said Stefanie Spear, Kennedy’s campaign press secretary. “We are exceeding all our benchmarks and will announce new states each week.”

Kennedy announced Shanahan as his running mate during a rally in Oakland, California last month, when the duo “pledged to restore the middle class, end the chronic disease epidemic, unwind the war machine, and unravel the corporate capture of our government agencies,” according to the campaign’s news release.

Kennedy’s growing momentum comes as Biden struggles in Michigan with more than 100,000 Democrats who voted “uncommitted” during the February primary to register their frustrations with the president’s handling of the war between Hamas and Israel. The “Abandon Biden” movement has since ballooned to more than 500,000 voters across numerous states who have vowed to oppose the president unless he calls for an immediate ceasefire and halts all military aid to Israel.

Several of Michigan’s top elected Democrats, meanwhile, are speaking out about how the Biden campaign and Michigan Democratic Party are leaving minority voters feeling “disaffected,” “disconnected,” and “neglected.”

“If Biden’s going to win this election, then disaffected and disconnected people are going to have to come out and vote,” Wayne County Executive Warren Evans told The Detroit News. “Give me something tangible that I can sell people to come out and vote. I mean, I would always say in the worst case scenario, Joe Biden is the lesser of two evils. But I don’t know that’s the decision people want to make in elections.”

Kennedy gives them a third option.