Who’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and why is he working for president?

The shortage of pleasure many Individuals really feel a couple of presidential rematch has heightened curiosity in options to the major-party candidates, none extra so than Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose well-known identify has helped him construct buzz for his unbiased bid.

Kennedy is a large longshot to win Electoral Faculty votes, a lot much less the presidency. However his marketing campaign occasions have drawn massive crowds of supporters and folks curious about his message. He plans to announce his vice presidential nominee later this month in Oakland, California, and is stoking expectations that he would possibly decide New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers or former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

Here’s a have a look at his marketing campaign and what he’s stood for:

Who’s RFK Jr?

Kennedy, 70, is a member of maybe the nation’s most well-known political dynasty. His uncle was President John F. Kennedy. His father served as lawyer basic and a U.S. senator earlier than looking for the Democratic nomination for president. Each have been assassinated.

RFK Jr. constructed a repute of his personal as an activist, writer and lawyer who fought for environmental causes comparable to clear water.

Extra not too long ago, his activism has veered into conspiracies and contradicted scientific consensus, most infamously on vaccines. Some members of his household have publicly criticized his views.

Kennedy based Waterkeeper Alliance, which works to safe clear water, and Kids’s Well being Protection, an anti-vaccine group that noticed its attain develop quickly in the course of the pandemic.

Kids’s Well being Protection has a lawsuit pending towards quite a few information organizations, amongst them The Related Press, accusing them of violating antitrust legal guidelines by taking motion to establish misinformation, together with about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took depart from the group when he introduced his run for president however is listed as considered one of its attorneys within the lawsuit.

He’s married to actress Cheryl Hines.

What does Kennedy’s marketing campaign seem like?

Kennedy’s want to gather 1000’s of signatures to get on the poll has taken him to locations that hardly ever see presidential candidates, together with Hawaii, Wyoming and West Virginia.

At occasions in Phoenix and Las Vegas, lots of of supporters queued up exterior hours earlier than he was scheduled to reach. He attracts a legion of followers, lots of whom have listened extensively to Kennedy’s interviews on podcasts or YouTube movies.

In Nevada, large graphics and pictures have been projected on three partitions as upbeat music performed. Drinks and merchandise have been on the market.

Kennedy speaks in a quiet, strained voice, generally haltingly, the results of a neurological situation known as spasmodic dysphonia.

What does he speak about?

Kennedy frames himself as a truthteller with a monitor report of preventing for the center class towards highly effective pursuits. He factors to lawsuits he’s gained towards company behemoths comparable to Monsanto and DuPont.

“I can repair this nation,” he stated in Las Vegas in February. “All these businesses that intimidate regular politicians, I’ve sued each considered one of them. … If you sue these businesses, you get a Ph.D. in company seize and find out how to unravel it.” Company seize refers to personal pursuits utilizing their affect to regulate authorities decision-making, as once they assist draft laws.

Kennedy has been vital of U.S. assist for Ukraine and supportive of Israel’s struggle towards Hamas. He needs to cut back navy and well being care spending due to the affect on finances deficits, and fight rising housing prices so younger individuals can afford to purchase properties.

Kennedy has discovered a loyal following amongst individuals distrustful of establishments and those that consider the federal government has been captured by companies, particularly pharmaceutical corporations.

He hasn’t shied away from his controversial views on well being care and vaccines. He needs to dismantle the general public well being forms, saying he’d instantly inform the Nationwide Institutes of Well being to refocus analysis away from infectious illnesses and vaccines and towards power illnesses.

Kennedy insists he isn’t anti-vaccine and claims he has by no means informed the general public to keep away from vaccination. However he has repeatedly made his opposition to vaccines clear. He stated on a podcast “there’s no vaccine that’s protected and efficient” and has urged individuals to withstand CDC pointers on when youngsters ought to get vaccinated.

Whereas there are uncommon cases when individuals have extreme reactions to vaccines, the billions of doses administered globally present real-world proof that they’re protected. The World Well being Group says vaccines forestall as many as 5 million deaths annually.

Can he win?

The US has an extended historical past of rejecting unbiased or third-party presidential candidates. In actual fact, the final president to win with no celebration’s backing was George Washington, and he did it earlier than there have been political events.

The final third-party candidate to make it to the White Home was Abraham Lincoln with the newly fashioned Republican Get together.

The final third-party candidate to tug greater than single digits within the in style vote was Ross Perot, a businessman who gained 19% in 1992 and eight% in 1996. However he gained zero electoral votes.

And whereas the unbiased share of the voters is rising, it’s nonetheless dwarfed by voters who constantly assist Republican or Democratic candidates, even when they establish as unbiased.

In different phrases, the chances are lengthy.

Kennedy’s case for optimism hinges on his comparatively sturdy displaying in just a few nationwide polls. Polls in the course of the 2016 presidential marketing campaign usually put libertarian Gary Johnson’s assist within the excessive single or low double digits, however he finally obtained solely about 3% of the vote nationwide.

Horse-race polls are additionally notoriously unreliable this far out from an election, and lots of Individuals don’t know who Kennedy is. A February AP-NORC ballot discovered, as an illustration, that 29% of Individuals don’t know sufficient about Kennedy to have a view about him.

A few of the individuals who say they’d assist him can also be reacting to his well-known final identify reasonably than his precise pitch as a candidate. A CNN/SSRS ballot performed final spring discovered that 20% of people that stated they’d take into account supporting Kennedy for the Democratic nomination — for which he was working on the time — stated that their assist was associated to his final identify and Kennedy household connections. Solely 12% stated it was due to assist for his views and insurance policies.

However for any of that to matter, he has to get on the poll.

How does he get on the poll?

Neglect getting elected; merely working for president is an arduous course of, particularly for candidates like Kennedy who don’t belong to a celebration.

Each state has totally different guidelines, requiring a military of legal professionals to ensure every part is completed proper. Most states require 1000’s of signatures.

A professional-Kennedy tremendous PAC is serving to pay for Kennedy’s poll entry work in a number of states. His allies have created a political celebration to ease the method in some states by getting acknowledged as a celebration and making Kennedy its nominee.

He has been accredited for the poll in Utah. His marketing campaign and tremendous PAC say he’s collected sufficient signatures to qualify in a number of different states, together with the battlegrounds of Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, although election officers in these states haven’t but affirmed his candidacy.

Kennedy has additionally stated he’s talked with officers from the Libertarian Get together, although it’s not clear what a tie-up between the 2 would possibly seem like.

Who’s working for him?

Kennedy is seeking to his household and his allies within the anti-vaccine world to workers his marketing campaign, constructing a management group that’s mild on expertise working in politics.

His marketing campaign supervisor is Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, his daughter-in-law who served as a CIA officer and has not labored in politics earlier than.

His communications director, Del Bigtree, is founding father of the Knowledgeable Consent Motion Community, an anti-vaccine group. He additionally produced “Vaxxed,” an anti-vaccine movie that promoted the discredited concept that the vaccines trigger autism.

Press secretary Stefanie Spear was an editor for the Kids’s Well being Protection information web site. Charles Eisenstein, a New Age writer, is an adviser.

Kennedy additionally has workers and volunteers unfold all through states and targeted on gathering signatures to get him on the poll.

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Related Press author Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.