Robert F Kennedy Jr. to Run for 2024 United States Presidential Election as Independent Candidate
Robert F Kennedy Jr. is running for the 2024 United States presidential election as an independent, not challenging Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. The advancement of the nephew of former president John F Kennedy will make the 2024 presidential election competition tighter.
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| Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a campaign event at Independence Mall, on October 9, 2023, in Philadelphia. (Photo: Matt Rourke/AP) |
Anti-vaccine activist Kennedy, who is a member of a US political dynasty, uploaded a video on YouTube on Friday, September 29, 2023, asking US citizens to join him in a "big announcement" in Philadelphia on October 9, 2023.
Kennedy to challenge Biden in Democratic nomination
"I'm going to talk about a major shift in American politics," he said, and denounced corruption in "both parties."
"How can we win against Washington's established interests?" he said. "It's not through a game" according to the current rules."
Kennedy was the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, who was shot dead in 1963, and the son of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was also assassinated in 1968 while he was running for president.
Kennedy said in April that he would challenge Biden in the Democratic nomination against the Republican nominee, thought to be former President Donald Trump.
Since then, Kennedy has complained that the Democratic Party "has essentially coalesced into one" with the Biden campaign, so he didn't get a fair shot at the nomination. Some polls put Biden well ahead of Kennedy by either single-digit or double-digit percentage margins.
Kennedy's plan to run as an independent candidate was first reported by Mediaite, a political website.
Democrats have expressed concern that any third-party nomination could draw votes for Biden, 80, who faces concerns about the economy and his age in a rematch against Republican frontrunner Trump, 77.
However, polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight showed that Republican sympathizers favored Kennedy over Democrats by a large margin. This suggests that the Trump campaign could also be impacted. Trump faces four criminal charges, including charges that he tried to illegally overturn Biden's victory in the 2020 election, and his campaign spent heavily on legal fees.