More than a dozen Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. family members will support the president Joe Bidenthe re-election candidacy during a campaign stop in PhiladelphiaThursday afternoon.
The endorsement is the strongest rebuke from his famous family members that Kennedy has faced since he mounted a Democratic primary challenge to Biden before leaving the party to run as an independent candidate.
Kerry Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s younger sister, will praise Biden as “a champion of all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncles stood for,” according to remarks prepared by the Biden campaign and shared with the Washington Examiner.
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She will also invoke her late father, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and her uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, while attacking the former president. Donald Trump during the amendment.
“I can only imagine how Donald Trump’s lies and outrageous behavior would have horrified my father, Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as Attorney General of the United States and fulfilled his promise to uphold the law and protect the country,” Kennedy said. ready to say. “Dad stood for equal justice, human rights, and freedom from want and fear. Just like President Biden does today.”
Voting for Joe Biden means voting to save our democracy and our decency,” Kennedy also said. “It’s a vote for what my father called for, in his own presidential statement in 1968… ‘our right to the moral leadership of this planet.'”
Former Democratic Congressman Joe Kennedy III will introduce Biden at the Philadelphia event on Thursday. Following the event, the President and members of the Kennedy family will join local supporters and volunteers in a grassroots organizing event where they will make calls and knock on doors.
It’s unclear whether any member of Kennedy’s family will mention him directly on Thursday.
Late Thursday morning, Kennedy addressed his family members’ endorsement of Biden in a social media post.
“I heard some of my family members will be supporting President Biden today. I’m glad they’re politically active — it’s a family tradition,” he said. written the. “We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for one another.”
“My campaign, which many in my family work on and support, is about healing America – healing our economy, our chronic disease crisis, our middle class, our environment, and our standing in the world as a nation peaceful.” he added.
The Philadelphia event is part of a three-day storm in the Keystone State that Biden is hosting while Trump is in court over a new York criminal proceedings.
Democrats fear a repeat of the 2016 election, when Green Party candidate Jill Stein contributed to the disaster Hillary Clintonin key swing states, have mobilized against third-party candidates in the run-up to the November elections.
Multiple polls have shown the public is unhappy with the 2024 Biden-Trump rematch, in which Democrats hope to prevent Kennedy from siphoning votes from the president.
The Democratic National Committee has already created a communications group to combat third-party candidates, including Kennedy, and has filed several FEC complaints against Kennedy’s efforts to gain state ballot access.
Kennedy remains the most dominant independent candidate in this field after No Labels abandoned his unity bid to challenge Biden and Trump. He is currently averaging 11.7% in polls, compared to Trump at 41% and Biden at 35.7%, according to RealClearPolitics.
Members of the Kennedy family have long expressed disdain for his 2024 campaign. After a pro-Kennedy super PAC aired a Superbowl ad evoking the legacy of his uncle John F. Kennedy, the candidate was forced to apologize to his family.
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“I’m truly sorry if the Super Bowl commercial caused any member of my family grief,” Kennedy wrote on social networks. “The ad was created and distributed by the American Values Super PAC without any involvement or endorsement from my campaign. FEC rules prohibit Super PACs from consulting me or my staff. I love you all. God bless you.”
More than 30 Kennedy members joined Biden at the White House to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in another show of force against Kennedy.
You can watch the Kennedy family and Biden event Thursday afternoon here.