Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, joined by three of her siblings, on Monday denounced their brother Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid for president, calling his candidacy “perilous for our country.”
One of 11 children of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and human rights advocate Ethel Kennedy, environmental lawyer and vaccine conspiracist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in April filed his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
On Monday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he is now running as an independent, saying he wants to write “a new Declaration of Independence” with the American people.
“[W]e declare independence from the two political parties, and the corrupt interests that dominate them and the entire rigged system of ranchor, of rage, of corruption, of lies that have turned government officials into indentured servants for the corporate bosses,” he said at a rally Monday in Philadelphia.
Minutes after their brother’s announcement, Townsend (D-MD) and three of her siblings – sisters Rory Kennedy and Kerry Kennedy, and brother Joseph P. Kennedy II – released a statement opposing their brother’s decision.
“The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country,” they wrote. “Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country.”
Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today's announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country. @roryekennedy @joekennedy @KKT_Kennedy pic.twitter.com/WJfGwSxN1z — Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) October 9, 2023
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. founded and serves as chairman of the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit that advocates against vaccines. Kennedy has promoted vaccine misinformation, including scientifically debunked claims that vaccines can cause autism and that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted.”
In a tight race that could likely see a rematch of the 2020 presidential election between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, politicos are already preparing for how Kennedy’s independent candidacy could impact the election.
Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee were vocal in their opposition to the news of Kennedy’s run as an independent.
RNC Chairwoman called Kenendy “a Democrat in Independent’s clothing,” while Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the indpendent candidacy was “nothing more than a vanity project,” the Washington Post reported.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the namesake of his father Robert F. Kennedy Sr., who was assassinated during his own run for president in 1968, and is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, who was also assassinated in 1963.
He and his siblings are part of the wide-reaching Kennedy political dynasty, whose family members have held various state and federal government offices.
Townsend became the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor in Maryland, alongside Gov. Parris Glendening, from 1995 to 2003. She is the eldest of her siblings.
Your liberalism is showing loud and clear. Maybe you need to read the Pfizer Reports.