RFK Jr. siblings endorse Biden as their brother pursues independent bid against 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 unbiased bid for Mr. Biden’s job.

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

“We need to make crystal clear our emotions that one of the simplest ways 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 pacesetter 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 at the moment.” 

Her father served as legal professional basic in John F. Kennedy’s administration and was working for president himself when he was assassinated in 1968.

Talking 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 habits would have horrified my father,” she stated, and he or she accused Trump of “working to take us backwards, attacking probably the most fundamental 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 Legislation Get together, 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, “After all,” when requested by reporters if he would encourage his brother to drop out of the race. 

“We can not do something that in any manner, strips even one vote from President Biden. You set 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 advised reporters whereas attending a post-rally meet-and-greet with Philadelphia voters. 

Through the rally, Mr. Biden known as the endorsement by the Kennedy members of the family “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 evening 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 hold trying to remind myself of what they might 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 obtained to fulfill him,” Mr. Biden advised the Kennedys, however recalled a go to by Robert F. Kennedy to Syracuse whereas he was in legislation faculty. “However he impressed me. And his ardour and readability impressed a era.” 

A number of of RFK Jr.’s members of the family have already expressed their opposition to their brother’s unbiased 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 unbiased, 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 determination 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 determination to run as an unbiased 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 kinfolk, 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 may be shared by People to “restore civility and respect to public discourse.”

“My marketing campaign, which a lot of my members of the family are engaged on and supportive of, is about therapeutic America — therapeutic our financial system, our continual 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 personal tour of the Oval Workplace 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 relatively than with the Kennedy working towards him.

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

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