Democratic strategists are increasingly concerned about the possibility that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent candidacy in the 2024 presidential election will hurt President Biden’s campaign.
“Everyone thinks this is going to be decided on the head of a pin, so people are freaked out like never before,” said one senior Democrat told NBC News.
Other Democratic strategists said that they have long been warning against the danger of Kennedy as a third party candidate.
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“Since early January, it has not been difficult to convince people that this is a challenge and potential problem that needs to be taken seriously,” Biden’s former deputy campaign manager, Pete Kavanaugh, told the outlet.
Kennedy has proven to be especially popular with donors, Kavanaugh explained.
“He’s got a famous last name, he’s showing up in the numbers, and a lot of them have had personal interactions with him in the past, so there is significant interest in making sure these programs are funded,” he said.
Matt Bennett, executive vice president of Third Way, said that the No Labels campaign, which recently announced that it would not field a candidate for November, was good training for Democrats in how to beat a third party group.
“We have learned a lot in the No Labels campaign about how to make the case against third parties this cycle, and we’re deeply alarmed by the Kennedy campaign,” Bennett told NBC News. “Ultimately, this is going to look different. It’s going to be a persuasion campaign in swing states to not vote for him.”
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile said that the DNC must “keep a watchful eye” on candidates that it might not otherwise take seriously.
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Other Democratic strategists believe that ignoring Kennedy is a better strategy to beat him than speaking about him on the campaign trail.
“We’re not giving this guy oxygen,” a source told NBC News of Kennedy’s campaign.
“I like the fact that he’s interested in divorcing the corporate interests with government interests,” a Biden 2020 voter named Joanna told NBC News. “He has integrity, and he’s honest.”
“I’ve actually voted Democrat my entire life,” she said. “But I don’t think I’d do it this time.”
Kennedy has repeatedly argued that Biden is a “much worse” threat to democracy than former President Trump because the current president has been “weaponizing” federal agencies to censor his political opponents.
“I can make the argument that President Biden is much worse,” Kennedy said. “And the reason for that is President Biden is the first candidate in history, the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech or censor his opponent.”
Kennedy’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital also reached out to the Biden campaign and this article will be updated with any reply.
Fox News’ Bailee Hill contributed to this report.
