Biden Has Another Primary Challenger

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Democrat and anti-vaccine activist, is running for president
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 6, 2023 12:00 AM CDT
Updated Apr 6, 2023 1:47 AM CDT
Biden Has Another Primary Challenger
FILE - Attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the New York State Capitol, May 14, 2019, in Albany, N.Y.   (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

President Biden has his second primary challenger: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is almost as well-known for his anti-vaccine activism as he is for the political dynasty of which he is a member, has filed the paperwork to run for president as a Democrat in 2024. RFK Jr., 69, is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential run in 1968. "If it looks like I can raise the money and mobilize enough people to win, I’ll jump in the race," RFK Jr. tweeted last month. "If I run, my top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms. Together we can restore America's democracy."

A couple weeks after that tweet, he also posted a 13-tweet thread regarding "the spike in near-misses and narrowly averted airline accidents resulting from pilots incapacitated by health emergencies since 2021," and implies that those incidents could be related to pilots experiencing problems after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. He's also spread misinformation linking vaccines to autism and has been criticized by his own wife, actress Cheryl Hines, for his comments comparing vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Both Kennedy and Biden's other challenger, Marianne Williamson, are seen as longshot candidates, Politico reports. (More Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stories.)

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