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U.S. President Joe Biden during an election event at the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
CNN
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President Joe Biden will receive formal endorsements Thursday from more than a dozen members of the Kennedy extended family, the Biden campaign said, drawing on the legacy of a prestigious Democratic family while implicitly underscoring the near-universal rejection of the third generation. There is a purpose to do so. The party's challenge was launched by one of their own, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The broader Kennedy family has shunned RFK Jr.'s campaign as “dangerous,” despite the candidate's own attempts to capitalize on his last name and family history.
But nevertheless, Thursday's event in Philadelphia brings highlights That's the threat Kennedy poses to Biden, who is seeking re-election in a race where even an underperforming third-party candidate could act as a spoiler.
In a speech introducing Biden, Kerry Kennedy, one of RFK Jr.'s sisters who has led the family's organizing efforts, called the president “a champion of all the rights and freedoms that our fathers and uncles protected.” The plan is to issue a warning at the same time as declaring, “Mr. The threat posed to democracy and freedom by Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump is trying to set us back, attacking the most fundamental rights and freedoms that are at the core of who we are as Americans,” she says, according to excerpts of the speech shared by the Biden campaign. Dew. “From day one he said he was going to be a dictator and even said he wanted to suspend the constitution.”
“I can only imagine how Donald Trump's outrageous lies and actions shocked my father, Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as United States Attorney General and kept his promise to uphold the law and protect our country. .” Kennedy is going to say.
Biden's re-election effort, she will say, should “unite all Americans, not just Democrats, but Republicans and independents.”
She and Biden will be joined by Philadelphia civil rights leader John White Jr., who will discuss how the Kennedy family influenced his public service work.
After the speech, the Kennedys will join Mr. Biden in a grassroots organizing event with campaign volunteers and local supporters, where Mr. Biden will be introduced by Joe Kennedy III. The family then plans to make campaign calls and knock on doors.
This is not the first time Biden has sought to highlight his ties to the Kennedy family. He cites Robert F. Kennedy Sr. as a personal inspiration in his political career. Busts of former attorneys general and senators are placed in the Oval Office.
He appointed three family members to diplomatic positions within his administration. He appointed Caroline Kennedy as Ambassador to Australia; Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, has been appointed ambassador to Austria. Joe Kennedy III becomes special envoy to Northern Ireland.
On St. Patrick's Day this year, the extended family was invited to a White House reception and posed for photos with Biden in the Rose Garden. And Biden invited Maria Shriver, the niece of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, to the State of the Union address to highlight her work on women's health.
Some members of the Kennedy family have already made it clear in November that they support Biden in public statements. Many people are trying to distance themselves from RFK Jr.'s presidential bid.
In an interview with CNN last month, Rory Kennedy, another sister of RFK Jr., said she was concerned that Biden could hurt his chances of defeating Trump.
“I feel very strongly that this is the most important election of our lifetimes and there's so much at stake. And I think it's going to be decided by a small number of votes in a small number of states, and I think that Bobby “I'm worried that just taking a few percentage points away from Biden could change the election and lead to Trump winning,” she said.
RFK Jr. tries to downplay the obvious family feud.
“I have a large family, about 105 cousins at last count,” he told CNN's Erin Burnett earlier this month. “We have a big family. I don't know anyone in America whose family agrees with him on everything.”
Members of the Kennedy family attending Thursday's Biden event include Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Joe Kennedy II, Beth Kennedy, Joe Kennedy III, Christopher Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Vicki Strauss Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Kerry Kennedy Meltzer, Max Meltzer, Ted Kennedy Jr., Stephen Kennedy Smith, Peter McKelvie, Rebecca McKelvie.
This story has been updated with additional information.