Cash Crunch Squeezes Kennedy Amid Costly Fight for Ballot Spots

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign is spending heavily, amassing steep debts and resorting to layoffs as it becomes almost singularly focused on the costly effort of placing his name on state ballots.

The troubles, laid bare in federal filings and interviews with nine people with knowledge of the campaign’s activities, have left little money for events and other traditional campaign priorities, leading to a growing sense of alarm among some staff members and longtime supporters. Fund-raising has slowed, and the campaign has become reliant on Mr. Kennedy’s wealthy running mate, Nicole Shanahan, who last month put $2.5 million more into their campaign.

As the campaign struggles, allies of Mr. Kennedy have been quietly raising money into a new organization to support legal challenges to ballot access, according to records and interviews, effectively creating a separate financing operation.

The ballot litigation group — called the Ballot Freedom Fund and set up in May in Delaware by a lawyer with ties to Mr. Kennedy’s campaign — could ease the financial pressure on the campaign, which otherwise would have to foot legal bills itself. The group, a tax-exempt political organization, can raise unlimited amounts of money but is not allowed to coordinate with the campaign.

The group’s formation underscores the extent to which the Kennedy campaign’s leaders increasingly see ballot access not just as necessary for his viability as a candidate, but as a rallying cry.

Five of the people who spoke with The New York Times were former campaign employees, including two who recently lost their jobs and said they were told it was because of financial shortfalls. All insisted on anonymity, with some citing nondisclosure agreements. Many said they still supported Mr. Kennedy, and were speaking partly out of concern that his campaign is foundering.