PHILADELPHIA CREAM — President Joe Biden will accept support from at least 15 members of the Kennedy political family during a campaign stop Thursday as he aims to undermine Donald Trump and marginalize the candidacy of independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kerry Kennedy, daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, niece of former President John F. Kennedy and sister of the current presidential candidate, will deliver the endorsements in Philadelphia, according to the Biden campaign.
The decision to highlight the Kennedy family’s support more than six months after Election Day is an indication of how seriously Biden’s team takes the threat of a longshot candidate using the lingering Democratic magic of his last name to siphon support from the outgoing president.
Kennedy Jr. downplayed those supports, writing on social media that his family was “divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.” He said his campaign was about “healing America.”
Given Kennedy Jr.’s quixotic policy positions and the fact that this year’s campaign will be decided by slim margins, Democrats and Republicans fear he could play the role of spoiler.
Biden planned to use Thursday’s event, which caps a three-day campaign in a state critical to his reelection effort, to also keep pressure on Trump, the former Republican president and his party’s presumptive 2024 nominee .
“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 honored his promise to uphold law and protect the country,” according to remarks prepared by Kerry Kennedy. “Dad stood for equal justice, human rights and freedom from want and fear. Just like President Biden is doing today.
The mentions are hardly a surprise. Members of the prominent Democratic family have said they disagree politically with Kennedy Jr., who started out as Biden’s primary protest challenger within the Democratic Party and is now running as an independent. Biden hosted more than 30 members of Kennedy’s extended family at the White House for St. Patrick’s Day last month, when family members posed with the president in the Rose Garden and Oval Office.
Later, Biden and members of the Kennedy family were scheduled to meet with supporters at a campaign event, and some Kennedys planned to call voters and knock on doors on Biden’s behalf.
Several notable family members did not approve, including Caroline Kennedy, the United States ambassador to Australiaand nonprofit executive Maria Shriver, which the Biden campaign said was due to their apolitical professional roles.
Shriver, however, has recently been a featured guest at the White House, attending the State of the Union ceremony and speaking at a reception to mark Women’s History Month last month.
Bernard Tamas of Valdosta State University, an expert on third parties, said it was unclear whether Kennedy Jr. would get more votes from Democrats or Republicans.
“He’s pro-science when it comes to the environment, but a conspiracy theorist when it comes to vaccines,” Tamas said.
Kennedy Jr.’s lack of a clear political line limits his potential impact on the electionTamas said, but Democrats appear more concerned because his last name might lead some voters to believe he is carrying on his family’s political legacy.
Other than that, Tamas said, “I don’t know what else he has to appeal to progressive voters.” »
Kennedy Jr. has spoken publicly in the past about disagreeing with his family on many issues, but maintains it can be done in an “amicable” manner. After a super political action committee supporting his campaign produced a television ad during the Super Bowl that relied heavily on footage from John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign, Kennedy Jr. apologized to of his loved ones on social media platform X, saying he was sorry if the place “caused pain to any member of my family.”
The Democratic National Committee has hired a communications team to combat the appeal of third-party candidates, chief among them Kennedy Jr.. The DNC also recently filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Kennedy Jr.’s campaign, accusing him of coordinating too closely with an affiliated super PAC to get his name on the presidential ballot in some states.
Kennedy Jr. is also viewed with suspicion by the Trump campaign. While Trump recently released a video saying, “If I were a Democrat, I would vote for RFK Jr. every time over Biden,” he has at times criticized Kennedy Jr. as being more “radical left” than Biden.
Supporters of the Kennedy family are the cornerstone of three days of campaigning in Pennsylvania.
Biden’s travels were an opportunity to reconnect with his roots, starting Tuesday in Scranton, where he lived until he was 10 years old. He passed by his childhood home, a three-story colonial building his family had rented, and remembered attending mass in St. Paul.
He seemed reluctant to leave town the next day, stopping for coffee before heading to the airport. “It’s good to be back in Scranton,” the president said when a customer greeted him.
Biden’s next stop was Pittsburgh, where he called for higher tariffs on steel and aluminum from China to protect U.S. industry from what he called unfair competition.
But even that event involved some nostalgia, as Biden recalled support from steelworkers when he was “a 29-year-old kid” from Delaware running for U.S. Senate.
“It changed everything,” he said.
