Kennedy Family Endorses Biden Over Their Own Relative, RFK Jr.

More than a dozen Kennedy family members appeared with President Joe Biden Thursday to endorse his reelection over a member of their own family, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the Biden campaign’s biggest effort yet to stem leakage of progressive support to Kennedy’s independent candidacy.

“President Biden has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for. That’s why nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden,” said Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy, niece of President John F. Kennedy and brother of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “That’s right — the Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president.”

The Kennedy name has been iconic in Democratic politics for some 75 years, and especially so after brothers JFK and RFK were assassinated in the 1960s. Democratic consultants worried that a candidate with that famous name could pull voters away from Biden, helping Donald Trump’s effort to win back the White House.

Initially, Trump’s advisers also believed that Kennedy would help the coup-attempting former president. But they’ve come to see him as cannibalizing Trump’s support, as Kennedy’s embrace of vaccine conspiracy theories and support for the pro-Trump mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, have become better-known.

“Interestingly enough, six to eight months ago RFK Jr. pulled more support from Biden than Trump, but now he’s pulling more from Trump,” said GOP pollster Neil Newhouse, who is not affiliated with Trump’s campaign. “Democratic voters figured out his issue positions weren’t in line with theirs and, in the meantime, some Republicans seem drawn to him because of his positions.”

Trump himself released a video last week reflecting this altered