By Maria Ortiz
Apr 18, 2024, 18:29 PM EDT
More than a dozen members of the Kennedy family on Thursday endorsed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for a second term, overlooking family member Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at an election rally in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania.
“We want to make very clear our feeling that the best path forward for America is to re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for four more years,” Kerry Kennedy said in remarks she made at a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Kerry Kennedy, one of RFK Jr.’s sisters who has helped lead her family’s organizing efforts, declared President Biden “a defender of all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncles stood for,” while warning about the threats that Donald Trump poses to democracy and freedom.
“Donald Trump is running to set us back, attacking the most basic rights and freedoms that are fundamental to who we are as Americans,” Kerry Kennedy said. “He has said that he will be a dictator from day one, and he has even said that he wants to try to suspend the Constitution.”
The endorsement of Biden and Harris for their re-election was made on behalf of 15 members of the Kennedy family at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center.
The Kennedy family has intensified its participation in Biden’s election campaignworking to improve the president’s re-election chances, while Democrats fear that the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could pose a risk by taking votes away from Biden and this could hand the election to former President Donald Trump.
Biden said that Robert F. Kennedy Sr.’s legacy served as a lodestar for his own political career. Although Biden accepted a job at a prestigious Delaware law firm shortly after graduating from law school, he ultimately decided to become a public defender.
“I did it largely because I thought that was something your father would have done,” he told the Kennedys.
Kennedy family members attending Biden’s event on Thursday included Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Joe Kennedy II, Beth Kennedy, Joe Kennedy III, Christopher Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Vicki Strauss Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Kerry Kennedy Meltzer, Max Meltzer, Ted. Kennedy Jr., Stephen Kennedy Smith, Peter McKelvy and Rebeca McKelvy.
After the speech, The Kennedys will join Biden at a grassroots organizing event with campaign volunteers and local supporters, where it will be presented by Joe Kennedy III. Family members plan to make campaign phone calls and knock on doors afterward.
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