President Joe Biden campaigned in Philadelphia on today with members of the extended family of former president John F. Kennedy, is what was called a rebuke of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
More than a dozen Kennedy family members endorsed Biden for reelection, expressing sharp disapproval of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., widely known as RFK Jr., whose independent candidacy they argue could help return disgraced former President Donald Trump to the White House.
Kerry Kennedy, the younger sister of RFK Jr., addressed a group of Biden supporters in Philadelphia, joined on stage by the president and other members of her family.
“In 2024, there are only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency,” she said, referencing Biden and Trump and implicitly dismissing her brother’s White House chances.
“We want to make crystal clear our feeling that the best way forward for America is to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to four more years,” she added, flanked by a sign that read “We’re on Board.”
Kennedy outlined ways she said Biden’s agenda and political career have aligned with that if her father, US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was Attorney General under President John F. Kennedy.
Citing Biden’s commitment to union workers, his efforts to reduce student loan debt, and his focus on protecting democracy, Kerry Kennedy said, “President Biden has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncles stood for.”
“That’s why nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden. That’s right: The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president,” she added.
Fifteen members of the Kennedy family were in attendance at Thursday’s event, including Kerry Kennedy, Joe Kennedy II, Christopher Kennedy, Maxwell Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, all of whom are siblings of Robert Kennedy Jr.
Joe Kennedy III, who is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nephew and serves as the Biden administration’s envoy to Northern Ireland, was also in attendance.
Long prominent in politics, public service, entertainment, and business, the Kennedy family is an political dynasty that is as close as American gets to having royalty.
In 1884, 35 years after the family’s arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph “P. J.” Kennedy became the first Kennedy elected to public office, serving in the Massachusetts state legislature until 1895.
At least one Kennedy family member served in federal elective office from 1947, when P. J. Kennedy’s grandson John F. Kennedy became a member of Congress from Massachusetts, until 2011, when Patrick J. Kennedy II (JFK’s nephew and the youngest child of long-time Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy) retired as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island.
Now residents of Brigantine, New Jersey, Patrick’s wife Amy Kennedy was a candidate against Democrat-turned-Republican incumbent Jeff Van Drew in the 2020 election for the U.S. House of Representatives, but she was defeated.
The president and members of the Kennedy family were scheduled to join local volunteers at a grassroots organizing event, where they will participate in voter outreach efforts, including phone calls and door knocking.
Thursday’s endorsement did not come as a surprise, as Kerry Kennedy and other family members have sought to distance themselves from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid.
Thursday marks the third day in a row that Biden has made appearances in Pennsylvania, a presidential battleground state, striking a populist tone.
Biden last month hosted more than 30 members of the Kennedy family at the White House for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not in attendance.
RFK Jr. on Thursday acknowledged the endorsements for his political rival on social media, likening the divide within his family to the political divisions across the country.
“I hear some of my family will be endorsing President Biden today. I am pleased they are politically active — it’s a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other,” wrote Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I hold this as a possibility for America too,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Can we disagree without hating our opponents? Can we restore civility and respect to public discourse? I think we can.”
An activist and lawyer, Kennedy Jr. has sparked controversy by fighting corrupt corporations and government agencies and he has raised the spectre of a rising aristocracy thatis working influence the demise of American democracy.
“Bobby Jr. was a lifelong Democrat but became increasingly estranged from the party in the 2010s as it drifted away from its traditional values. He made his final break on October 9, 2023, when he announced his candidacy as an independent for President of the United States,” says his website, but the truth is that Biden’s allies worked to prevent any challenger from getting a fair shot at the nomination.
Now running an independent campaign for the White House, RFK Jr. is arguing Biden is not up to the job for another term and that Trump “failed” as president and would be bad for the country.
Democrats have expressed concerns that his candidacy might pull votes away from Biden in November and help elect Trump in a close race. A pro-Trump super PAC earlier this week launched a website that labels Kennedy Jr. a “radical liberal” and highlights his views on tax policy, gun laws, and the climate.
During his tenure at RiverKeeper, RFK Jr. successfully sued dozens of municipalities to force compliance with the Clean Water Act. He won cases against corporate giants too, including a suit against General Electric for toxic runoff from its corporate jet hangar and a court order against ExxonMobil mandating they clean up tens of millions of gallons of spilled oil in Brooklyn, NY.
Building on the success of the local Riverkeeper model, RFK Jr. co-founded the WaterKeeper Alliance and served as its president for 21 years. Under his direction, it became the world’s largest nonprofit devoted to clean water and now protects 2.7 million miles of waterways with over a million volunteers in the United States and 46 other countries.
A New York Times/Siena College poll published Saturday found Trump polling at 46 percent support to Biden’s 45 percent, with the president closing the gap from February, when Trump had a 5 percentage point lead.
A Decision Desk HQ average of national polling of a three-way race between Biden, Trump and Kennedy Jr. shows Trump leading Biden by less than 1 percentage point, with Kennedy Jr. polling at roughly 7 percent.
“I can only imagine how Donald Trump’s outrageous lies and behavior would have horrified my father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as Attorney General of the United States, and honored his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country,” Kerry Kennedy said Thursday. “Daddy stood for equal justice, human rights, and freedom from want and fear. Just as President Biden does today.”