By ZEKE MILLER, WILL WEISSERT and CHRIS MEGERIAN (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will receive endorsements from at least 15 members of the Kennedy political family during a campaign stop Thursday in Philadelphia as he aims to weaken Donald Trump and sideline the candidacy of independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, niece of former President John F. Kennedy and sister of the current presidential candidate, will deliver the endorsements of Biden, according to the Biden campaign.
The decision to emphasize the Kennedy family’s support more than six months from Election Day is an indication of how seriously Biden’s team is taking the threat of a long shot candidate using his last name’s lingering Democratic magic to siphon support from the incumbent.
Given Kennedy Jr.’s unrealistic political positions and the expectation this year’s campaign will be decided by thin margins, both Democrats and Republicans worry that he could play the role of spoiler.
Biden planned to use Thursday’s event, which caps a three-day campaign swing in a battleground state critical to his reelection effort, to also sustain the pressure on Trump, the former Republican president.
“I can only imagine how Donald Trump’s outrageous lies and behavior would have horrified my father, Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as attorney general of the United States, and honored his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country,” according to Kerry Kennedy’s prepared remarks. “Daddy stood for equal justice, human rights and freedom from want and fear. Just as President Biden does today.”
The endorsement was hardly a surprise. Members of the prominent Democratic family have been vocal that they don’t see eye to eye politically with Kennedy Jr., who started as a protest primary challenger to Biden in the Democratic Party and now is running as an independent. Biden last month hosted more than 30 members of Kennedy’s extended family at the White House for St. Patrick’s Day, when family members posed with the president in the Rose Garden and Oval Office.
After the formal endorsement, Biden and members of the Kennedy family were to meet with supporters at a campaign event, and members of the Kennedy clan were planning to make calls to voters and knock on doors on Biden’s behalf.
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