Biden allies mobilizing against RFK Jr.
DNC highlights history of controversial statements
WASHINGTON – Haunted by election spoilers of the past, President Joe Biden’s Democratic allies have mobilized against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., intent on stopping his independent presidential bid from dooming them in November.
On the stump, Biden has ignored Kennedy, the anti-vaccine activist and son of the assassinated liberal icon. But behind the scenes, the Democratic National Committee recently hired a team of attorneys to monitor Kennedy’s efforts to get his name on the ballots of key battleground states.
And the DNC has expanded its efforts to paint Kennedy as a radical conspiracy theorist, rejected even by his family, whose campaign serves but one purpose: boosting former President Donald Trump’s chances.
“We’re not taking anything for granted. No one wants to see what happened in 2000 and 2016 happen this time around,” said Matt Corridoni, a DNC spokesman.
Seven months from the election, Kennedy has the support of 12% of likely voters, according to a RealClearPolitics poll average.
That doesn’t make him a serious contender. But it’s more than enough to swing battleground states.
“Any amount that RFK takes from either candidate is a danger to them and could, in fact, flip the election,” said Bernard Tamas, a political science professor at Valdosta State University and author of “The Demise and Rebirth of American Third Parties.”
Historically, third-party candidates have performed better in polling than in elections.
Still, “if I was working for the Biden campaign, I would take it very seriously because you don’t know what’s going to happen with him.” Tamas said. “The numbers will probably drop a lot. But you just don’t know. It’s an enormous uncertainty.”
Who hurts the most?
Political observers debate whether Kennedy takes more votes away from Biden than Trump, or whether it’s about the same from both.
Over the past week, Democrats seized on remarks from a Kennedy campaign consultant who said her “No. 1 priority” is defeating Biden. The campaign said Wednesday it terminated the consultant’s contract for “misrepresentation.” In a showing of support for Biden, dozens of members of the late President John F. Kennedy’s family visited the White House to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day − with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notably absent.
Trump’s super PAC MAGA Inc. has labeled Kennedy a radical far-left liberal in a push to pull progressive voters from Biden. However, Trump’s allies generally believe that independent and thirdparty candidates help Trump, and are seeking to elevate their campaigns, The New York Times reported last week.
“If I were a Democrat, I’d vote for RFK Jr. every single time over Biden because he’s frankly more in line with Democrats,” Trump said in a video Thursday.
Kennedy press secretary Stefanie
Spear said in a statement the campaign is “planning on being a spoiler for both President Biden and President Trump.”
“We also plan to be a spoiler for the war machine, Wall Street, Big Ag, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Energy, and the corporate media,” Spear said.
Higher favorability ratings
Democrats are convinced much of the electorate isn’t aware of Kennedy’s controversial positions and theories or that he’s boosted financially by a major Trump donor. They believe his poll numbers are inflated by his iconic last name.
Polling regularly finds Americans view Kennedy, whom many say they know little about, more favorably than Biden and Trump.
An early-April Marquette University poll found 60% of voters had an unfavorable opinion of Biden, 56% of Trump and 39% of Kennedy; 30% of respondents said they hadn’t heard enough about Kennedy to form an opinion.
Democrats see the unfamiliarity as an opening to define Kennedy.
Mobile billboards funded by the DNC − featuring doctored photos of Kennedy and his running mate Nicole Shanahan wearing red MAGA hats − followed Kennedy at fundraisers in Florida this month.
“MAGA’s spoiler candidate,” said a DNC ad in Los Angeles’ La Opinión newspaper ahead of a “Viva Kennedy” event.
On cable television, Democrats are increasingly flagging Kennedy’s long trail of conspiratorial statements. And they are highlighting his considerable financial backing from Trump donors. The largest donation to Kennedy’s main super PAC comes from Timothy Mellon, an 81-year-old who has also given the most of any donor this cycle to Trump’s super PAC.
Getting on the ballot
The scale of the DNC’s anti-Kennedy operation is still unclear. It could depend on whether Kennedy is successful in qualifying for the ballots in the six to eight battleground states that could decide the election.
Solidly red Utah is the lone state where Kennedy has officially qualified to run as an independent in November, though his campaign has touted collecting enough signatures in several others. Laws to qualify to run for president vary by state − and the DNC’s hired lawyers intend to scrutinize Kennedy’s efforts.
Kennedy has found traction in 2024 polling in part because of the 15-20% of the electorate who are “double haters,” disliking both Biden and Trump.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll taken in March found 44% of double haters back various third-party or independent candidates, led by Kennedy, who drew support from 21% of these voters.
However, Tamas, the Valdosta professor, said independent or third-party candidates who gain traction − most notably Ross Perot, who won 19% of the vote in 1992 − tend to tap into discontent from blocs of voters who feel underrepresented. They often zero in on a single theme; for Perot, economic populism.
Tamas questioned whether Kennedy’s candidacy has the right ingredients to take off given the hodgepodge of issues he discusses.