Presidential candidate 2024 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce that he will run as an independent on October 9 in Pennsylvania, Mediaite has learned.
Kennedy’s campaign machine is now planning “attack ads” against the Democratic National Committee in order to “pave the way” for his announcement in Philadelphia to run as an independent, according to a text reviewed by Mediaite.
“Bobby feels the DNC is changing the rules to exclude his candidacy, so an independent run is the only way forward,” a Kennedy campaign insider told Mediaite.
Kennedy, a notorious anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist challenging the incumbent president Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, has been flirting with a third party in recent weeks. The News from New York reported last week that he met with the chairwoman of the Libertarian Party, raising the prospect of an exit from the party that decades ago became synonymous with his last name.
Kennedy is still trailing Biden in the polls. However, while the time reported that “Democrats worry that a third party led by Mr. Kennedy could take votes away from Mr. Biden and help elect former President Donald J. Trump,” it is unclear whether such a bid would hurt the current president more than the candidate republican
In fact, polls show that Republicans have a much more favorable view of Kennedy than Democrats. Like the National Review Jim Geraghty pointed out in July, when a poll asked New Hampshire Democrats to describe Kennedy in one word, the top responses were “crazy,” “dangerous,” “crazy,” “conspiracy” and “unknown.”
Conservative media have also been more supportive of Kennedy’s campaign. Host of Fox News Greg Gutfeld proposed that the political scion is presented as third in July.
“I think he should run as a third party candidate because I think he should win, because the radical elements in his party, what we call the awakening, have embraced this fascist crackdown on language,” Gutfeld said.
Do you have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com