RFK Jr. siblings endorse Biden as their brother pursues impartial bid in opposition to president

Over a dozen members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s household, together with six of his siblings, endorsed President Biden in Philadelphia Thursday, whilst he pursues an impartial bid for Mr. Biden’s job.

“The Kennedy household endorses Joe Biden for president,” stated Kerry Kennedy, a sister of impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as she stood alongside the president. 

“We wish to make crystal clear our emotions that the easiest way ahead for America is to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to 4 extra years,” she added. 

Kerry Kennedy praised Mr. Biden as a “hero,” and he or she referred to him as a frontrunner within the mould of her father, Robert F. Kennedy, who “stood for equal justice, human rights and freedom from need and worry — simply as President Biden does in the present day.” 

Her father served as lawyer normal in John F. Kennedy’s administration and was operating for president himself when he was assassinated in 1968.

Talking for the relations who’re endorsing Mr. Biden, Kerry Kennedy had harsh phrases for presumptive Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.

“I can solely think about how Donald Trump’s outrageous lies and conduct would have horrified my father,” she stated, and he or she accused Trump of “operating to take us backwards, attacking probably the most primary rights and freedoms which might be on the core of who we’re as People.” She accused Trump of planning to “use his energy to punish his enemies, silence his opponents and incite extra chaos.”

She didn’t point out her brother’s presidential run. On Thursday, RFK Jr. certified for the poll in Michigan, because the nominee of the Pure Regulation Social gathering, the workplace of the secretary of state confirmed. He’s now on the poll in two states, having certified in Utah, too.

Joseph P. Kennedy II, a former congressman and a brother of RFK Jr., replied, “In fact,” when requested by reporters if he would encourage his brother to drop out of the race. 

“We can’t do something that in any means, strips even one vote from President Biden. You place the identify Kennedy on the poll and Democrats are going to really feel torn. We try to make them perceive that this is a matter that they don’t have to really feel torn about,” he informed reporters whereas attending a post-rally meet-and-greet with Philadelphia voters. 

Throughout the rally, Mr. Biden known as the endorsement by the Kennedy relations “an unimaginable honor” and all through his speech, he spoke of about how Robert F. Kennedy had been a hero to him. He cited a speech Robert F. Kennedy delivered in Indianapolis the night time that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Mr. Biden additionally talked about that within the Oval Workplace, he has busts of each King and Robert F. Kennedy. “I preserve seeking to remind myself of what they might do in robust calls,” he stated.

He additionally stated he spoke lately with Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, to want her a cheerful 96th birthday. 

“Your dad, I by no means bought to satisfy him,” Mr. Biden informed the Kennedys, however recalled a go to by Robert F. Kennedy to Syracuse whereas he was in legislation college. “However he impressed me. And his ardour and readability impressed a era.” 

A number of of RFK Jr.’s relations have already expressed their opposition to their brother’s impartial candidacy. When he introduced in October that he would drop his marketing campaign for the presidency as a Democrat and run as an alternative as an impartial, 4 of his siblings — documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, former Rep. Joe Kennedy II and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend — known as his choice to oppose Mr. Biden “harmful to our nation.” In an announcement on the time, they stated, “Bobby may share the identical identify as our father, however he doesn’t share the identical values, imaginative and prescient or judgment.” The 4 stated of his choice to run as an impartial that, “We denounce his candidacy and consider it to be perilous for our nation.”

Along with Kerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.’s siblings, Rory Kennedy, Joe Kennedy II, Christopher Kennedy, Maxwell Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, in addition to a number of different relations, endorsed Mr. Biden Thursday.

Kennedy stated in a social media submit Thursday morning that he is “happy” his household is being politically lively, calling it a household custom. He added that they’re “divided in our opinions however united in our love for one another,” including that the sentiment is also shared by People to “restore civility and respect to public discourse.”

“My marketing campaign, which lots of my relations are engaged on and supportive of, is about therapeutic America — therapeutic our financial system, our persistent illness disaster, our center class, the environment, and our standing on this planet as a peaceable nation,” he stated. 

Final month, on St. Patrick’s Day, Mr. Biden gave members of the prolonged Kennedy household a non-public tour of the Oval Workplace and West Wing and celebrated with them and a whole bunch of friends at a vacation reception. Kennedy relations posted pictures with the president, signaling that they stand with him somewhat than with the Kennedy operating in opposition to him.

A number of of the Kennedys joined Mr. Biden for a grassroots organizing occasion and helped with voter outreach, based on the marketing campaign.

Gabrielle Ake, Kristin Brown, Allison Novelo and the Related Press contributed to this report.