Robert F. Kennedy Jr., currently a Democratic presidential candidate, is expected to announce a run as an independent next month, according to a Friday report from Mediaite. Kennedy’s upcoming party switch, reportedly planned for an October 9 event in Pennsylvania, could potentially lead to a worst-case scenario for Democrats in the 2024 election.
“Bobby feels that the DNC is changing the rules to exclude his candidacy so an independent run is the only way to go,” a Kennedy campaign insider told Mediaite. The campaign will now begin running “attack ads” against the Democratic National Committee, which has notably ignored RFK’s calls for primary debates against incumbent Joe Biden. Kennedy has also repeatedly been denied Secret Service protection by the Biden administration, even after a man disguised as a US Marshal infiltrated one of his campaign events in a suspected assassination attempt.
Kennedy’s growing disillusionment with the party of his historic predecessors has led to a flurry of rumors in recent weeks, further fueled by his private meeting with Libertarian Party leadership over the summer. His growing popularity with voters on both sides of the aisle has reportedly been a cause for concern among Democratic Party leadership, who fear that RFK may act as a spoiler for Biden’s reelection effort. If Kennedy takes a sufficient number of voters away from Biden, it could pave the way for a second term for former President Donald Trump. However, given the popularity of Kennedy’s anti-establishment outlook and vaccine skepticism among right-wing voters, he may just as easily tip the 2024 scales in the other direction.
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Historically, no third-party candidate has ever managed to win an American presidential election, though many have tried. But with recent studies suggesting that as much as 70 percent of the American population does not want a Trump-Biden rematch in 2024, third-party options may become increasingly attractive in the upcoming cycle. While Kennedy eyes an Independent run, the centrist No Labels Party has also been gaining ground, including in the key swing state of Arizona, where it has obtained ballot access and registered roughly 15,000 voters.
According to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Kennedy trails Biden by nearly 50 points in the polls, drawing 14.9 percent to Biden’s 65 percent.
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