Democrats appear to be in a panic over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for the presidency as an independent candidate, according to a Democratic National Committee call hosted on Tuesday.
Kennedy is currently trending in the news with Tuesday’s announcement of tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his vice-presidential pick, which has generated increased momentum for his campaign.
With Shanahan’s history of supporting far-left candidates, analysts predict that this will entice left-wing voters not happy with Biden to vote for Kennedy, allowing Trump to keep most of his independent voters. In application, this would make Kennedy a spoiler for the Biden campaign.
In fact, some speculate that this is actually Kennedy’s purpose in running for president in the first place.
Democrats point out that Kennedy and Trump share a common donor in businessman Tim Mellon, further validating their fears that Kennedy is running to siphon off votes from the Biden campaign.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said “third-party candidates are a huge, huge, huge problem” and went on to detail how Kennedy has a lot of name recognition in Georgia and could do “serious damage.”
Jen Psaki Is In Full Panic Mode Over Risk RFK Jr. Poses To Biden Re-Election https://t.co/kJWfX1V3kH pic.twitter.com/1Rm86pcE44
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) March 21, 2024
The DNC call with members of the press took place just after Kennedy announced Shanahan as his running mate. Several prominent Democrats were present, including Lieutenant Gov. Austin Davis (D-PA), who said, “We are doing everything in our power to get President Biden and Vice President Harris reelected. It’s critical that we take seriously every possible obstacle to that goal. And let me be clear, that’s exactly what Robert F. Kennedy is in this election. He’s a spoiler.”
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) was also present and labeled Kennedy a “tin foil hat conspiracy theorist” for his positions on vaccines and the COVID response and by extension said that Shanahan has an “anti-health agenda.” He then accused Kennedy of running simply to get Trump elected.
As for Donald Trump, he posted on Truth Social that Kennedy’s candidacy is “great for MAGA,” saying that he is “Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine. I love that he is running!”
With Kennedy’s voter visibility increasing and his campaign now just really getting started, reactions from both sides indicate that Biden stands to lose, leaving Democrats scrambling.
