WASHINGTON: US presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is going to announce he is running as an independent instead of pursuing his long-shot bid to oust President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party nominee, a shift that could complicate the likely Trump, Biden 2024 Contest.
Anti-vaccine activist Kennedy, a member of a storied US political dynasty, via a video post on YouTube on Friday asked Americans to join him for a “major announcement” in Philadelphia on October 9.
“I’ll be speaking about a sea change in American politics,” he said, decrying corruption in “both parties.”
“How are we going to win against the established Washington interests?” he asks. “It’s not through playing the game” by the current rules, he added.
Kennedy is the nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, and the son of former US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential bid in 1968.
Kennedy announced in April he would challenge incumbent president Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination to run against the Republican nominee, most likely to be former President Donald Trump.
Since then, Kennedy has complained that the Democratic Party has “essentially merged into one unit” with the Biden campaign, denying him a fair shot in the nominating contest. Several opinion polls place Biden way ahead of Kennedy in single-digit percentages or low double digits.
Kennedy Jr’s plan to run as an independent instead was first reported by a politics website, Mediaite. Democrats have shown concern that any third-party bid could draw votes away from Biden, 80, who faces concerns about the economy and his age in an expected rematch against the Republican frontrunner and presumed nominee Trump, 77.
However, Republicans like Kennedy more than Democrats do by a wide margin, suggest the opinion polling compiled by FiveThirtyEight, suggesting he could impact Trump’s campaign as well. Trump faces four criminal prosecutions, including charges he illegally tried to overturn Biden’s 2020 election victory, and his campaign is bleeding cash for legal expenses.
