news RFK Jr. leaves Democratic primary, launches campaign as Independent

[jakeisphat]

Quote

 

In a move that could alter the dynamics of the 2024 election, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday that he would continue his presidential run as an independent candidate, ending his long-shot pursuit of the Democratic nomination against an incumbent president.

 

“I am here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Mr. Kennedy told a crowd of supporters outside the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

 

Since announcing his candidacy in April, Mr. Kennedy, 69, has been a sharp critic of Democratic leadership, which he has accused of “hijacking the party machinery” to stifle his challenge to President Biden. He has also said, in interviews and in public appearances, that the party has abandoned its principles and become corrupted.

 

Running as an independent will entail an expensive, uphill battle to get on the ballot in all 50 states. Last week, Cornel West, a liberal academic and presidential candidate, said he would run as an independent, abandoning his efforts to secure the Green Party’s nomination.

 

The scion of a liberal political dynasty, Mr. Kennedy has alienated family members and many Democrats with his promotion of conspiracy theories, his rejection of scientific orthodoxies and his embrace of far-right political figures.

 

Mr. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, has been lionized by a movement that has expanded beyond anti-vaccine sentiments, including opposition to the mandatory vaccination of children, to push back more broadly against state public health measures. In recent years, his open suspicions about the government’s handling of the coronavirus and his criticism of lockdowns and vaccine policies gave him a new platform and earned him popularity among many Americans who wearied of the pandemic.

 

As a candidate, he has built a base of support made up of disaffected voters across the political spectrum, but some Democrats have worried he poses the biggest threat to their party, fearing that any third-party candidacy could peel off voters from Mr. Biden.

 

Shortly after Mr. Kennedy entered the race, some polls showed him with up to 20 percent of Democratic support — which was in large part a measure of the desire among some for an alternative to Mr. Biden. Mr. Kennedy’s numbers have sagged in recent months, though his campaign, which dwells as much on nostalgia for his political lineage as it does on skepticism about the scientific and political establishment — continues to appeal to a particular cross-section of skeptical Democrats, political conservatives and independents.

 

Mr. Kennedy has raised two main complaints about the Democratic National Committee, which is supporting Mr. Biden’s re-election effort. First, he said, Mr. Biden and the party pushed to change the first primary state from New Hampshire — where Mr. Kennedy, who has New England roots, enjoys a base of support — to South Carolina, the state that rescued Mr. Biden’s campaign in 2020.

 

Second, the party has refused to arrange for debates between Mr. Biden and Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Biden’s campaign and the D.N.C. have also essentially refused to acknowledge Mr. Kennedy’s candidacy, and have avoided saying his name.

 

“It should be a party’s voters who choose a candidate, not party insiders who anoint one,” Mr. Kennedy wrote in a letter to the D.N.C. last month.

 

“The DNC is not supposed to favor one candidate over another,” he added. “It is supposed to oversee a fair, democratic selection process, and then support the candidate that its voters choose.”

 

Mr. Kennedy had teased Monday’s announcement in a video last week, though his campaign held off on confirming that he was changing parties. But in the hours before he got on stage in Philadelphia, there was a subtle change on Mr. Kennedy’s campaign website. Where it had once read “I am a Kennedy Democrat,” with the family name in italics, it was changed to: “I am a Kennedy American.”

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/09/us/politics/robert-f-kennedy-jr-independent.html 

 

 

[tili33]

wasn't that the goal from the get-go?

[Maroonx]

He will lose, people don't rly vote for independent candidates.

[Redstreak]

King taking away votes from Trump

[khalyan]

Yeah this really won't affect anyone too much, he'll get like 2% in the general and it'll be equally from those who would vote for Democrats and Republicans 

[getBusy]

Good luck with booking that POTUS you speak of 

[Bears01]

1 minute ago, khalyan said:

Yeah this really won't affect anyone too much, he'll get like 2% in the general and it'll be equally from those who would vote for Democrats and Republicans 

Cornell west is more of a threat of taking away democratic votes from Biden than Kennedy was 

 

The only “democrats” who would vote for Kennedy are in like West Virginia 

[Reginald]

no one moved 

[brooklyndaddy]

I do think this’ll take more Trump votes than Biden 

[Archetype]

No one moved

[Bloodflowers.]

Good. Now it's just Marianne vs Biden.

 

 

[Gov Hooka]

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Gov Hooka

[shoganai]

Kennedys in 2023. Why is american politic stuck in 1900s?

[Communion]

8 hours ago, brooklyndaddy said:

I do think this’ll take more Trump votes than Biden 

This will impact Biden only really if Biden is more concerned with woo'ing over "anti-Trump suburban Republicans" who slurp up Kennedy's anti-vaxx / anti-COVID mandate rhetoric like crack. 

 

It can only really hurt Biden if Biden is politically illiterate and... well.... *gestures*

[spree]

I don't think this will do much of anything cuz people are already set in their ways for the most part.  I don't think Independents are suddenly going to vote for him cuz he switched parties.   Vast majority know it's really only between Biden and Trump. 

[Apolonio]

He’s a failure no matter what. 

[Monster Megamind]

1 hour ago, Communion said:

This will impact Biden only really if Biden is more concerned with woo'ing over "anti-Trump suburban Republicans" who slurp up Kennedy's anti-vaxx / anti-COVID mandate rhetoric like crack. 

 

It can only really hurt Biden if Biden is politically illiterate and... well.... *gestures*

Absolutely not. Suburban anti trump voters are rich and educated voters and they are vaxxed. Look at phoenix suburbs for example. They are just fiscally conservative. But socially liberal. 

[Monster Megamind]

I could see him get 5 percent if he runs a serious campaign by collecting proper signatures. But somewhere in my heart, I feel it's a grift. He will appeal ancestral Dems of Midwest, WV, KY and also Jimmy Dore type anti war leftists. But what's shocking is RFK is not even for M4A. In fact he is more right wing than Biden on it. He wants total privatization. I hope people see through. Question him more about these policies and strip him naked. 

[nadiamendell]

I have a friend that voted for Biden in 2020 but he's all in for RFK now.  I think people are underestimating the affect this may have on Biden. All it takes is a very small amount of votes in swing states to swing the electoral college in the other direction. 

[harwee]

There's a banner ad on this thread thats shows a giant "NEXT -->"

 

 

[GhostBox]

8 hours ago, nadiamendell said:

I have a friend that voted for Biden in 2020 but he's all in for RFK now.  I think people are underestimating the affect this may have on Biden. All it takes is a very small amount of votes in swing states to swing the electoral college in the other direction. 

Anyone who’s a democrat or a Biden voter wouldn’t vote for him 😂 your friend must believe in some Tod the insane things he spouts. 

[nadiamendell]

2 hours ago, GhostBox said:

Anyone who’s a democrat or a Biden voter wouldn’t vote for him 😂 your friend must believe in some Tod the insane things he spouts. 

Sadly he does. 

[Happylittlepunk]

This will do nothing. 
 

and I agree what another user says Cornell west is a bigger threat too Biden than this guy. 
 

cornell west can actually steal the progressive vote.