Scion of US political dynasty, who had been challenging Joe Biden for Democratic nomination, expected to announce on Sunday

Robert F Kennedy Jr is reported to be ending his challenge to Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination and run instead as an independent candidate, in a move that could upset the 2024 race for the White House.

Kennedy, 69 and a scion of a famous political dynasty – a son of the former US attorney general and New York senator Robert F Kennedy, and a nephew of the former president John F Kennedy – will announce his run in Pennsylvania on 9 October, according to Mediaite.

“Bobby feels that the Democratic National Committee is changing the rules to exclude his candidacy so an independent run is the only way to go,” the website quoted a “Kennedy campaign insider” as saying.

  • @SinningStromgald
    53•1 year ago

    To try and peel enough votes from Biden so Trump wins. And any Dem with more than two brain cells can clearly work out he’s only slightly less nutty than MTG or Bobert.

    Personally I think he’ll get voters from Biden and Trump but not fundamentally change the outcome.

    • @orclev
      28•1 year ago

      Hmm, running as an independent I think his odds of stealing Republican votes are higher than stealing Democrat ones. As I said it always seemed strange to me he ran as a Democrat in the first place since he parrots a bunch of the Republican talking points. I think what votes he does get are likely to come from independent voters that would have voted Republican or maybe a few MAGAts that still want Trumps nutty platform (such as it is) but without the legal baggage Trump carries.

        • @orclev
          18•1 year ago

          I don’t believe a word of that purely because it’s claiming 25% of Democrats they polled said they’d vote for RFK Jr. as their top pick. There’s absolutely no way a quarter of Democrats support that lunatic.

          • @njm1314
            3•1 year ago

            Most people are way dumber than you think.

            • @[email protected]
              10•1 year ago

              I don’t disagree, but with 998 people polled, it’s not that reliable. To add to that, Rasmussen reports ran the poll and they have a rightward lean, so definitely doubtful of this polling.

      • @Dkarma
        2•1 year ago

        Yep, ticket wise he may be closer to Dem but he’ll run in all the libertarian campaign circles and those are solid r votes.