Robert F Kennedy Jr takes leaf out of uncle JFK’s book to boost White House bid

Maverick third-party candidate launches copycat ‘Viva Kennedy’ campaign targeting Latino voters but siblings call him ‘a danger to the US’

Robert F Kennedy Jr is to revive JFK’s historic “Viva Kennedy” campaign for his 2024 White House run, despite his family’s claims that his candidacy is “dangerous to our country”.
The vaccine conspiracy theorist, 70, is hoping to explicitly trade off of his uncle’s campaign success by launching a similar appeal among Latino voters.
Mr Kennedy is the most high-profile of the third-party candidates running against Joe Biden and Donald Trump in November’s election, and has qualified for the ballot in several key swing states.
On Tuesday, he will announce his running mate – a requirement to get on the ballot in some states. His most likely pick is Nicole Shanahan, a donor to his campaign, attorney and former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Other options include Aaron Rodgers, an NFL player, and Jesse Ventura, a former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler.
Mr Kennedy has been polling at between two and 20 per cent in national surveys, while his campaign has attracted criticism from his own family members.
This week he launched a series of Spanish-language adverts and a series of clubs for Latino voters across the US, according to Axios, a political news website.
It is an attempt to replicate his uncle’s success in the 1960 presidential election, where John F Kennedy mobilised a large number of Mexican Americans for his winning campaign.
The bid comes despite objections from Mr Kennedy’s own siblings, who distanced themselves from his presidential bid when he launched it in October and said he did not share the same values as his uncle or father, Bobby Kennedy.
“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgement,” said four of his siblings, adding that his campaign was “deeply saddening” and “perilous for our country”.
Other members of the Kennedy family have thrown explicit or implied support behind Mr Biden, with dozens of them posing for a photo with the president at the White House on St Patrick’s Day.
Mr Kennedy has a colourful past, and has long stood out from other, more mainstream, members of his family.
The former environmental lawyer has been accused of spreading misinformation on vaccines, including the claim that they cause autism in children.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he suggested that the virus was a bioweapon “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people,” and claimed that the US had “put hundreds of millions of dollars into ethnically targeted microbes”.
He has long claimed that it is “beyond reasonable doubt” that the CIA was involved in the assassination of his uncle in 1963.
Mr Kennedy has an uphill battle to get on the ballot in this year’s election, qualifying in just eight states so far. In six, he established a new political party to secure a position on the ballot.
Rules for becoming a candidate vary by state, and established political parties are generally active in campaigning against third party politicians.
This year, the Democrats have established an anti-third party unit run by veteran operatives from the Democratic National Committee, who have described Mr Kennedy as a “stalking horse”.
Mr Kennedy has announced he intends to get onto the ballot in all 50 states – a daunting task that will require millions of dollars and signatures from voters across the US.
Although he has enjoyed surprising levels of support after his presidential launch in October, the latest polls show that voters may be coalescing around their traditional party preferences now that the Republican and Democrat primary elections have concluded.
The major parties are nonetheless concerned that his long-shot campaign could disrupt their strategy in the swing states of Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.
Pollsters generally agree that Mr Kennedy’s candidacy could harm Mr Biden and Mr Trump equally, drawing voters attracted to his unusual brand of anti-establishment vigour and conspiracy theories in an election where both main parties have accused each other of underhand political tactics.