Biden scores endorsements from Kennedy family, looking to shore up support against Trump and RFK Jr.
CTV
U.S. President Joe Biden will accept endorsements from at least 15 members of the Kennedy political family during a campaign stop in Philadelphia on Thursday as he aims to undermine Donald Trump and marginalize the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
U.S. President Joe Biden will accept endorsements from at least 15 members of the Kennedy political family during a campaign stop in Philadelphia on Thursday as he aims to undermine former president Donald Trump and marginalize the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, niece of former President John F. Kennedy and sister of the current presidential contender, will deliver the endorsements of Biden, his campaign announced.
The decision to highlight the Kennedy family endorsement more than six months from Election Day is an indication of how seriously Biden's team is taking the threat of the long-shot bid potentially using his last name’s lingering Democratic magic to siphon off support from the president.
Both Democrats and Republicans worry that Kennedy's candidacy could spoil their respective presumptive nominee's campaigns. Biden was using the event, which caps a three-day campaign swing in a battleground state critical to his reelection effort, to also sustain the pressure on Trump.
“I can only imagine how Donald Trump’s outrageous lies and behaviour would have horrified my father, Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as Attorney General of the United States, and honoured his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country,” Kerry Kennedy will say, according to prepared remarks. “Daddy stood for equal justice, human rights and freedom from want and fear. Just as President Biden does today.”
The endorsement was hardly a surprise, as the prominent Democratic family has been vocal that they don't see eye to eye politically with Robert Kennedy Jr., who started as a protest primary challenger to Biden in the Democratic party and now is running as an independent. Biden last month hosted more than 30 members of Kennedy’s extended family at the White House for St. Patrick’s Day, with family members posing with the president in the Rose Garden and Oval Office.
After the formal endorsement, Biden and members of the Kennedy family were set to meet with supporters at a campaign event, and members of the Kennedy clan were planning to make calls to voters and knock on doors on Biden's behalf.
