Over a dozen members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s household, together with six of his siblings, endorsed President Biden in Philadelphia Thursday, at the same time as 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 she or he referred to him as a frontrunner within the mildew of her father, Robert F. Kennedy, who “stood for equal justice, human rights and freedom from need and concern — simply as President Biden does at this time.”
Her father served as legal professional basic in John F. Kennedy’s administration and was operating for president himself when he was assassinated in 1968.
Speaking for the members of the family 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 she or he accused Trump of “operating to take us backwards, attacking essentially the most basic rights and freedoms which are on the core of who we’re as Americans.” 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 Natural Law Party, the workplace of the secretary of state confirmed. He is now on the poll in two states, having certified in Utah, too.
Mr. Biden referred to as the endorsement by the Kennedy members of the family “an unbelievable 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 Office, he has busts of each King and Robert F. Kennedy. “I maintain trying to remind myself of what they’d do in robust calls,” he stated.
He additionally stated he spoke just lately with Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, to want her a cheerful 96th birthday.
“Your dad, I by no means acquired to fulfill him,” Mr. Biden informed the Kennedys, however recalled a go to by Robert F. Kennedy to Syracuse whereas he was in legislation faculty. “But he impressed me. And his ardour and readability impressed a era.”
Several of RFK Jr.’s members of the family 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 a substitute 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 — referred to as his resolution to oppose Mr. Biden “harmful to our nation.” In a press release on the time, they stated, “Bobby would possibly 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 resolution to run as an impartial that, “We denounce his candidacy and imagine it to be perilous for our nation.”
In addition to 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 kin, endorsed Mr. Biden Thursday.
Kennedy stated in a social media put up 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 Americans to “restore civility and respect to public discourse.”
“My marketing campaign, which lots of my members of the family are engaged on and supportive of, is about therapeutic America — therapeutic our financial system, our power illness disaster, our center class, our surroundings, and our standing on the earth as a peaceable nation,” he stated.
Andrew Harnik / AP
Last month, on St. Patrick’s Day, Mr. Biden gave members of the prolonged Kennedy household a personal tour of the Oval Office and West Wing and celebrated with them and tons of of company at a vacation reception. Kennedy members of the family posted pictures with the president, signaling that they stand with him quite than with the Kennedy operating in opposition to him.
Several of the Kennedys joined Mr. Biden for a grassroots organizing occasion and helped with voter outreach, in keeping with the marketing campaign.
Gabrielle Ake, Kristin Brown, Allison Novelo and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
