BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. launches 2024 primary challenge against Biden

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

maylen

https://digital-stage.newsnationnow.com/

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241114185800

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241115200405

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118165728

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118184948

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and a prominent anti-vaccine activist, announced on Wednesday that he will run for president as a Democrat in 2024.

The news of Kennedy Jr.’s run for president was expected after filing paperwork to run for president earlier this month. He is the second Democrat to run for president in 2024; progressive Marianne Williamson formally launched her bid last month.

President Biden is widely expected to run for a second term, though the timeline of a formal announcement remains unclear. He told NBC’s “Today” co-host Al Roker in an interview earlier this month “I plan on running, Al, but we’re not prepared to announce it yet.”

Kennedy’s announcement was made at a campaign launch event in Boston on Wednesday. 

Kennedy, 69, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, has championed environmental causes. But his history of propagating anti-vaccine theories has made him well known, including his founding of a nonprofit that pushed such ideas.

In his announcement speech, Kennedy railed against the “corrupt merger of state and corporate power,” taking aim again at drugs and vaccines.

“It is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism on our country,” Kennedy said. “To commoditize our children … to poison our children and our people with chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs.”

While Kennedy’s campaign is seen as a long-shot bid, polling consistently shows that most Democratic voters want someone other than Biden to be the party’s candidate in 2024 and would be open to an alternative. However, the party has signaled it will stand behind the incumbent president if he seeks reelection, saying it would not hold presidential debates between Biden and any challengers that may surface.

It is unclear whether any major Democratic figures will step up to challenge the president for the nomination in 2024.

Updated: 12:51 p.m.

2024 Election

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

 

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241119133138

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Sunny

la

69°F Sunny Feels like 69°
Wind
6 mph SW
Humidity
27%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 47F. Winds light and variable.
47°F Clear to partly cloudy. Low 47F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
2 mph NNE
Precip
11%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waning Gibbous