During a rally in Iowa on Saturday Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he has decided against running as a Libertarian candidate to aid in his quest to secure ballot access in all 50 states, a departure from his previous stance of keeping the door open.

Kennedy told ABC News:

We're not gonna have any problems getting on the ballot ourselves so we won't be running Libertarian.

Kennedy's West Des Moines event served as a victory lap after using a loophole in state law to gain ballot access by holding a one-day convention instead of gathering signatures on a petition. State law requires a minimum of 500 eligible voters from at least 25 of Iowa's 99 counties. Kennedy's campaign cleared that benchmark, reporting 686 credentialed delegates from over 35 Iowa counties, while those numbers are still pending approval from the Iowa Secretary of State's office.

Kennedy thanked Iowans in a post to X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, writing:

Thank you Iowa for showing up and getting me on the ballot in your state. What an incredible day. I love your passion and commitment for reviving the American dream and restoring democracy to our great land. #KennedyShanahan24

An undecided voter who expressed frustration with the two-party system, Kristy Tierney, 45, drove about 180 miles from eastern Iowa to help voters have another option on the ballot in November, telling ABC:

All they need is 500 people to show up here to get Bobby on the ballot. So I thought, you know, I can drive a couple hours to make that happen.

In an interview, Kennedy told ABC that he found the single-day event to be easier than collecting the 3,500 signatures required to appear as an Independent on November's ballot, saying he has "100% confidence" in the campaign's ability to replicate the success it found it the Hawkeye State nationwide.

Kennedy said: "We're going to add probably two to three states a week."