Let me get this straight. A man born into the most famous political family in American history, a man who ran for president, a man who is currently serving in the Cabinet of the United States government, cannot legally cast a ballot anywhere in this country. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood in front of reporters in Los Angeles on August 11 and said a judge declared he has no legal residence. So the Secretary of Health and Human Services, a citizen by birth, a man who owns a $4.85 million house in Georgetown, is legally homeless. And the response from the people who run our elections? Crickets.
Now I’m just a mom with four kids and a group chat that’s been on fire about this since Tuesday, but I have some questions. How does a judge look at a man who owned property in New York and California, who ran a national campaign, who now lives in a house he bought in Washington, D.C., and conclude he has no residence? Not the wrong residence. Not a disputed residence. None. Judge Christina Ryba in New York called Kennedy’s claim that he rented a room in a friend’s Katonah home “highly improbable, if not preposterous.” Okay. But since when does renting a room from a friend without a written lease make you a man without a country?
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Public domain) via Wikimedia CommonsHere’s the part that makes me want to speak to the manager. The Democratic Party sued to kick Kennedy off the ballot in 12 states when he was running against their guy. Then, the minute he endorsed Donald Trump, the same party sued to keep him on the ballot in those same states, because having his name there would siphon votes from Trump. They wanted him off when he was a threat to them. They wanted him on when he was a threat to the other side. And somewhere in that whiplash of partisan lawsuits, a judge wiped out his legal residency entirely. They used the courts as a weapon, and the collateral damage was an American citizen’s right to vote.
And while all this was happening, the same political establishment that stripped a Cabinet secretary of his ballot has spent years telling us that requiring an ID to vote is “suppression.” Noncitizens have been barred from federal elections since 1924, and it’s been a federal crime since 1996. But as of right now, municipalities in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and two school districts in California let noncitizens vote in local elections. So let me make sure I understand the score. A Kennedy who works in the West Wing: no vote. A noncitizen in Takoma Park: here’s your ballot. Does that sound right to you? Because it doesn’t sound right to me.
Another Believer (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia CommonsKennedy said he’s “probably the only person in the country who’s a legal citizen who has that dilemma.” I hope he’s right. But I’ve been around long enough to know that when the system decides it can erase one person’s vote with a stroke of a pen, it can erase yours too. They just haven’t gotten to you yet.
My husband says I’m overreacting. I say I’m the only one paying attention. RFK Jr. ran for president of the United States and now can’t vote for school board. If that doesn’t make you sit up and ask what kind of country we’re running here, I don’t know what will. The 2026 midterms are coming, and a man who serves in the federal government won’t be able to participate. Tell me again how this is the land of the free.