RFK Jr.’s sister ‘concerned’ his candidacy could hand Trump 2024 victory
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sister Rory said Monday she is “concerned” that her brother’s presidential bid will siphon off enough votes from President Biden to help elect Donald Trump, as recent polls have suggested.
Rory Kennedy, a documentary filmmaker, voiced her concern about her 70-year-old sibling’s long-shot independent bid during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” — after she and other members of the famed Democratic clan denounced RFK Jr.’s run, calling it “dangerous to our country.”
“My biggest concern with Bobby’s run is that he is going to take votes away from Biden, and I think this election is going to come down to a handful of votes in a handful of states,” Rory, 55, told host George Stephanopoulos.
“And I am concerned that voting for Bobby is going to take votes away from Biden and lead to a Trump election. And I’m very concerned what that will do to our country and to the world over the ensuing four years.”
The RFK Jr. campaign did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment.
In January, Rory joined with siblings Kerry Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to condemn their brother’s 2024 independent candidacy.
“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment,” the children of Robert F. Kennedy said in a statement posted on X. “Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country.”
RFK Jr., an environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic, had been leaching votes from Biden in the Democratic presidential primary before switching his party affiliation, with polling in key swing states last November revealing he had more than 20 percent support from registered voters.
Recent surveys have also shown that in a hypothetical five-way race, former President Trump, 77, is in the lead in battleground states and nationwide, followed by the 81-year-old Biden, RFK Jr., Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and independent candidate Cornel West.
“He is Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine,” Trump said about Bobby Kennedy on Truth Social, after RFK Jr. last week announced his running mate would be Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan, a former Democrat and donor to his campaign.
“I love that he is running!” Trump said of Kennedy.
“RFK Jr. is the most Radical Left Candidate in the race, by far. He’s a big fan of the Green New Scam, and other economy killing disasters. I guess this would mean he is going to be taking votes from Crooked Joe Biden, which would be a great service to America,” the former president added.
“His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, is even more ‘Liberal’ than him, if that’s possible. Kennedy is a Radical Left Democrat, and always will be!!! It’s great for MAGA, but the Communists will make it very hard for him to get on the Ballot,” Trump wrote.
The RFK Jr. campaign has only secured enough signatures to gain access to the 2024 ballot in New Hampshire, Utah, Nevada and Hawaii, and he faces an uphill battle in some of them to get the signatures approved while continuing to canvass for more support in critical states.
The Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee have teamed up to fight RFK Jr.’s access to the ballot, Axios reported, filing a complaint against the candidate’s super PAC and trying to smear him as a “stalking horse” for Trump.
No third-party candidate has won any Electoral College votes since the 1968 election, when segregationist candidate George Wallace took Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
In the 1992 presidential election, independent candidate Ross Perot nabbed 20 million votes from Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton and GOP President George H.W. Bush, but it remains unclear whether his entrance into the race eased Clinton’s path to victory.
“Our campaign is a spoiler, all right,” RFK Jr. acknowledged at his event announcing Shanahan as his vice presidential pick. “It is a spoiler for the war machine. It is a spoiler for Wall Street, Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Pharma, the corporate media and all of the corrupt politicians and corporations.”
