Biden, in counter to RFK Jr., to get endorsement of other Kennedy family members

(WASHINGTON) —  President Joe Biden is wrapping up a three-day Pennsylvania campaign swing in Philadelphia on Thursday with an endorsement by 15 members of the politically famous Kennedy family — a counter to the political threat from RFK Jr.

In speech excerpts released by the Biden campaign from Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, she will say another Donald Trump presidency would “horrify” her father.

“We can say today, with no less urgency, that our rights and freedoms are once again in peril,” Kennedy is expected to say. “That is why we all need to come together in a campaign that should unite not only Democrats, but all Americans, including Republicans, and independents, who believe in what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature.”

She along with several of her family members have denounced her brother Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for president. The independent candidate, who officially launched his presidential bid last fall, is famously known for espousing conspiracy theories about the efficacy of vaccines.

The endorsement comes as no real surprise. Although he is the fourth Kennedy to run for president, RFK Jr. is the only one to have broken from the Democratic Party. Many of his relatives, like Kerry Kennedy, argue that not only is his run an “embarrassment” but that it could swing a close race in Trump’s come November.

“I think, you know, this is the most important election of my lifetime,” Kerry Kennedy told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America” on Thursday, listing Trump’s dictator remarks, his boasting of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and more as worrisome.

“The list goes on and on and on,” she said. “We must elect President Biden, and that’s where our energy has to be.”

Kerry Kennedy also said that “nobody competes for the President Biden when it comes to carrying on the legacies of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy.”

“I’ve listened to him, I know him, I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president,” Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, said about RFK Jr. in a video on Instagram last summer. “What I do know is his candidacy is an embarrassment.”

Rory Kennedy, RFK Jr.’s sister, told ABC’s “GMA” a couple of weeks ago that she’s “concerned” voting for her brother will “take votes away from Biden and lead to a Trump election.”

Realistically the candidate, who is currently polling at 7%, according to 538’s average, has a longshot path to getting into the White House. Although his campaign has claimed he has enough signatures to appear on the ballots of eight states, including battleground states North Carolina and Nevada, only Utah has confirmed that he has qualified.

But in a race that is expected to see small margin wins, any votes siphoned away from the Biden could theoretically help lead to another Trump presidency.

Biden, who has a close friendship with the Kennedy family, has steered away from commenting on RFK Jr.’s bid, but in a show of force against the candidate, the Democratic National Committee has hired a communications team to combat the legitimacy of Kennedy.

It has filed a federal complaint alleging RFK Jr.’s super PAC is working too closely with his campaign. And on a call with reporters in March, DNC surrogates called him ‘dangerous’ and a ‘spoiler.’

“A vote for Joe Biden is a vote to save our democracy and our decency. It is a vote for what my father called for, in his own presidential announcement in 1968,” Kerry Kennedy is expected to say at Thursday’s announcement. “Our right to the moral leadership of this planet.”

On Thursday morning, RFK Jr. responded to the news of his family’s appearance with Biden.

“I hear some of my family will be endorsing President Biden today. I am pleased they are politically active — it’s a family tradition,” he said in a statement. “We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.”

He said, as he has before, that other relatives are on his side.

“My campaign, which many of my family members are working on and supportive of, is about healing America — healing our economy, our chronic disease crisis, our middle class, our environment, and our standing in the world as a peaceful nation,” he said. “But this will only happen if we heal our national conversation, and move from rage and fear into love and respect.”

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